October 8 - More from Paint the Aspens in Arizona

Although I might be back home again, I still have such wonderful memories of my time camping at Hawley Lake, and painting the beauty that is the White Mountains of Arizona. I have already marked my calendar for next year (first full week in October) and plan to host a three-day Mini Color Boot Camp before the official event! What a great way to learn to paint that glorious color.

The painting (left side) came about after the storm up above Escuadilla, and was painted in the camper. I used a small 5 x 8 inch canvas, and used many of the fun additives to give the surface additional texture. There are glass beads and fibers underneath the paint layers, and I also used palette knives to apply many of the color areas. And, being an acrylic canvas, it was dry enough to varnish and frame before day's end.

What better place to spend the end of that day though, than at Hawley Lake? The spot where I chose to park was surrounded by water on three sides, and very quiet and mysterious after nightfall. There was only one other camper in the entire area, and that made for a dark night! However, a good bonfire with the scavenged wood from the other camp sites light the night, and I sat with guitar and sang to the stars. Musta chased all the night birds away, ha!

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October 7 - Diptych in Acrylics, 12 x 24 inches, aspens on location

Here's the acrylic 12 x 12 diptych which was/were the first paintings started at Escuadilla Mountain. I taped them together across the back, and drew in the design of what I saw (see yesterday's image of Gwen and Suzanne painting to see my view). I wanted each one to stand on it's own, even tho' they were painted to be a duo, to hang together. They are gallery-wrapped, painted on the edges, which are 1.5" deep. Right now both are in the Joyous Lake Gallery in Pinetop-Lakeside for this month's show.

The process was to paint the largest shapes, in three major values (dark, middle and light) establishing the basic value plan in the inherent colors. Then breaking down each area into smaller and smaller bits, using either lighter or darker values to make each shape more interesting. For example, the aspens were laid in with a mid-value of sap green and cad yellow and white, and then subsequent layers came in to define the lighter and darker areas.

When I turned around in my seat, I could see behind me to my camper. That's where I took shelter as we literally ran from the lightning from the thunderhead that appeared so quickly. Sure doesn't look like it in this image! I just love the darks under the aspens, and those light trunks. Paintings in all directions!

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