The Sky Opened
Pastel | Plein Air | 10×10”
This artwork was created on location in Victor, CO, during the 2026 Victor Celebrates The Arts, a plein air show and exhibition.
🥇 Professional Artist, Honorable Mention Award - Victor Celebrates The Arts
🥇 Sponsor’s Choice - Laura Gilpin Enduring Photographer Award
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I knew from my previous plein air show trips to this area that it has excellent conditions for captivating skies. It’s funny how a place can spoil you, offering beautiful clouds and sunsets almost every day. I grew up in New Mexico, which is also famous for its stunning skies. My favorite part of long road trips during my childhood was gazing at the clouds and daydreaming. It’s a bit surprising that it took me so long to start painting this source of inspiration. I think part of that delay could be because I lived near Denver, which doesn’t provide the same daily inspiration to look up.
This is only my second cloudscape, but something about these last two paintings felt so right that I know I will continue creating many more. I loved the different processes involved in painting moving objects. If you fight it, it can become a huge challenge. Fortunately, it has gone surprisingly well for me both times, much like how some animals instinctively know how to swim. I consider myself lucky to be at the right point in my art journey to effortlessly enjoy painting clouds, and I realize that this probably wouldn’t have been true for an earlier version of myself.
I’m really glad this painting sold at Victor Celebrates the Arts, and it even won me two awards! Our juror was Lorenzo Chavez, a fellow pastelist with much more experience than I have. I discovered his work early on while teaching myself the medium, and I always thought it was cool that we are both sort of dual residents of New Mexico and Colorado. He had such kind and encouraging things to say about this piece.
