Wallsburg

12" x 16" Oil on Panel

The turnoff to Wallsburg is usually just a place I pass on the way to Midway. Last week, however, I took that turn. Wallsburg is a rural town tucked into a beautiful little valley full of great places to paint. At least, that's my point of view. The picture shown above is of the first painting of mine to come out of that valley. I think there will be more.

The Spring City Plein Air Competition is this week. More about that in my next post!

Edge of the Trees

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

There will always be good things to paint. I'm drawn to places out in the country and into wild places, as I have been all my life. It's not that I can't paint urban areas, that's just not what draws my interest. Even in heavily developed areas, however, one can find little patches of nature to paint. 

It seems like this entire valley is being developed. From the base of the Wasatch Mountains to the edge of Utah Lake; from Point of the Mountain to Santaquin. More neighborhoods are going in. More big buildings are going up. I realize there's a need for much of this, but there's less of the close by open space and stands of trees that I like to paint. 

There's a little pocket of Springville between I-15 and the lake where I've painted many times. It's a favorite place of mine. Ranch land there is slowly being squeezed out by businesses. A stand of big willow trees I've painted before and wanted to paint again has been knocked down and piled in a giant heap. There's still lots to paint in that area, but I feel like I'm in a race with the bulldozers. 

Hopefully I can keep ahead of the bulldozers for a while. There's still lots of good places to paint in that westernmost part of Springville; places like the one depicted in the painting shown above. While it's still there, I'll keep painting there.

Shade Tree

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

There's a place on the otherwise treeless bench trail where a tree provides welcome shade in the summertime. For anyone venturing onto the trail during the afternoon hours, that shade is sweet relief indeed from the searing pressure of the sun's rays. 

The irony is, to paint that shade I had to stand out in the sun, and in front of an outcrop of pale rock that reflected the sun's intensity. During the course of the painting I emptied every water bottle from my day pack and still ended the session thirsty! 

But then, hot sun notwithstanding, it was good to be out painting.

A passerby stopped briefly to visit and take a picture of my painting. Later that evening he sent a copy of his photo to me.

Photo courtesy of Bryan Dahlberg

Thanks Bryan!

Mostly Cloudy, with Scattered Rain

6" x 8" Oil on Panel

Went out painting in variable weather conditions recently. Some sun, a little rain, mostly clouds. Also hot. Passing storms, with their dark clouds and curtains of rain, changed the appearance of the landscape dramatically while I painted. It was important to establish a plan for the painting and remember to stick with it in spite of the constantly changing weather. 

West of Springville, between the interstate and the lake, there's a lot of good places to paint. That's where I found these hay bales stacked neatly beneath a row of tall cottonwoods. Mountains visible through the trees contributed to a color combination of blue, green and gold.

One From Last Week

16" x 20" Oil on Panel

Found this nice secluded spot in a neighborhood on the east side of Salt Lake Valley last week. The sound of traffic could still be heard, but the place had the appearance of being out in the wild, in the middle of nowhere. 

Partly Sunny

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

It was a great day to go painting, in spite of the threat of storms and my own, well, inertia. Most of the afternoon had passed when I drove out to find a place to paint. It took a bit of exploring to find a spot convincing enough to get me stop and set up a pochade box. Storms moved in over the mountains behind me, but stayed out of the valley where I was. Forecasted strong winds others had warned me about never became a problem, either. I painted until after sunset. Most of the storms had cleared by then. That was when soothing milder temperatures settled in, replacing the heat of the afternoon. Then the underside of clouds reflected a brilliant red from a sun already below the horizon, and a big full moon rose over the Wasatch Mountains. It was a great day to go painting.

Painting on Decker Road

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

When I did this painting for Midway's plein air competition this year, I took some in-process photographs of it. These photos not only show some of my painting process, but also give an idea of some of the challenges of painting outdoors. You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger image.

At the Trailhead

The day of the painting, skies were partly cloudy. I parked at the gated trailhead in the Wasatch Back and proceeded to walk down the trail to a spot I knew of from previous hikes.

Headed Down the Trail

Some of the Wildflowers Along the Way

Upon arriving at the place I wanted to paint, a mile or so down the trail, I set up an easel with an 11" x 14" panel on it. That's when I discovered I had forgotten paints and brushes! There was nothing to do but march a mile back up the trail to the car and return to the easel with the previously forgotten items.

Headed Back Down the Trail

Might As Well Enjoy More of the Wildflowers

My Set Up

Finally I could get to painting! With everything needed at hand this time, I laid out the colors on my palette and mixed up the dark purple I like to use in place of black. I use a "split primary" palette, and add a cool green. You can read more about the paints and palette I use here. 

The panel is toned with a thinned film of the dark purple mix, then wiped. Before that layer can dry, the painting is sketched onto the panel with a brush, and general areas are painted in with the approximate color and value I want. The darks are placed first, then I work progressively towards the lights, generally - but not always - from front to back. Once that is done, I begin to refine the painting, working from back to front.

In the next photo, you can see that the sky and the mountains have been developed further. You can also see something else. Tiny dark specks. This was the beginning of ...

The flies and gnats were pretty bad that day. The flies were big enough that when they landed on the painting or palette, they usually stuck only momentarily before freeing themselves from the gooey colors. The gnats, however, stuck to the painting like iron filings to a magnet. I was beginning to worry I would have another experience like one I wrote about in one of my earliest blog posts. The little winged pestilences affected my painting rhythm, too. My rhythm was like: paint, paint swat swat swat, paint, paint swat swat swat, This went on for most of the painting. One big horse fly was particularly bothersome. Surprisingly, none of the flies bit me, but the gnats did. Plenty.

The next photo shows how the foliage on the trees was built up. You can also see more gnats stuck to the painting.

In the next photo, the foreground begins to be developed. I've also removed most of the gnats and repaired the damage. That was done two or three times during the course of this painting. 

At this point, the weather had gone from partly cloudy to completely overcast. That caused a shadow across the top of the painting from the easel. There was no way to avoid the shadow, so it shows up in most of the remaining photographs. Hopefully, the shadow won't hinder your ability to see the painting process.

The foreground and other areas continue to be developed, as seen in the next picture. The painting is almost finished. Also, more gnats have stuck themselves all over the painting.

The wind began to increase. I braced the easel to keep it from blowing over. The painting was finished, the final gnats removed (well, most of them), and their damage undone. The painting and equipment was packed up for the hike back. The sky grew darker and the wind increased dramatically. I was sandblasted by blowing dust as I walked back up the trail to the car, but the painting made it home safe and sound. The last photo shows the painting after it had been photographed a day or two later in good lighting, and a gnat-free environment. The painting sold that Saturday at the show.

Decker Road, 11" x 14" Oil on Panel