Foggy Hillside Morning_colorado, mountain,meadow, cottonwood

Foggy Hillside Morning__Sketch #14 from my Colorado sketchbook
Before I talk about this one, here is a note from a "bird-expert-friend" about yesterday's "mystery bird"
Your drawing looks like a white crowned sparrow ...
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/id
I URGE you to go look at this link about birds....there are sounds and everything!...
So, THANK YOU to ALL my friends who QUICKLY identified this bird for me!...as I said, I never need worry about being an expert as long as I can call on friends!
The sketch above is a view across the river to a meadow below Black Mountain in Colorado...After a rainy night there are often clouds skipping along halfway up the mountain...These cottonwood trees are so distinctive, and each one is different (for you artists: notice how I contained the SHAPES of the different groups of leaves on each tree...rather than doing each leaf!)
Tomorrow I will teach a lesson at G.S's workshop in San Antonio. G is a friend of mine, and asked me to talk and teach about a limited palette...if any of the students in the workshop read this before class I will give you a "prize"!

Aspen Here, Aspen There

Aspen Here, Aspen There___6x8 oil study on linen panel___$150 wet

This Colorado scene is just north of the scene I posted yesterday....I was waiting for Pat to finish her larger painting, so I grabbed another small canvas to depict this: layers of Aspen trees ascending this part of the San Juan range...

I have probably told this story before, but here goes again....If you are an artist you probably understand!...When I first started painting in oils about 10 years ago, I took on "green", being inspired by a beautiful location in Colorado...the outcome was a disaster...back then I thought that green was only blue + yellow...and add white to make it lighter....Being a SERIOUS, committed artist, I saved the disaster, showing it to no one (I have my pride, you know!)...I also still have the awful painting...one day when the pride will let me, I will show the awful green mud I created in my "inspired" moment...I am still humbled by green....

Plains Boundary

Plains Boundary___8x10 drive-by oil study on linen___click to see details

If you saw yesterday's post, I explained that the painting was started as we drove into Denver, but I finished it the next morning...the light was much better...so it's not a TRUE "drive-by" painting...I called it "Little Denver" because the city of Denver, a great and sprawling metropolis looks pretty tiny in contrast to the awesome Rocky Mountains...The plains settlers seeing these mountains for the first time after ENDLESS distance must have been awe struck!...The painting above was ALSO completed at the hotel, which had a nice view of the mountains. I was most impressed with the EDGE of the plain and how it abruptly STOPS at the foot of the mountain. ...I hope you will follow up this week to see some of the actual works painted on the road west from Omaha. We touched base in 5 states: Iowa, Nebraska (and MORE Nebraska), South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado...

Notes:

-Saturday - Monday is the Phippen Museum Western Art Show in Prescott, AZ. I will be there in Booth 77. PLEASE come meet me and see my newest works.

-June 14-17 is my next workshop. I will teach a lot of drawing (the basis of my work!) and will help you to paint faster....and BETTER! Fredericksburg, TX. email for details vvaughan8@yahoo.com

-my friend Adele Earnshaw has 75 small works she is selling for $75 each. See her WONDERFUL bird studies! ...

Little Denver

Little Denver____8x10 drive-by oil study on linen____click for details
I started this last night as we drove into Denver airport area, completing our journey through the plains....FOR NOW!
I liked the light this morning better, so I finished it from the hotel just now, and am posting it from the hotel...people are waiting for the computer, so I will talk about it later!!