Nov 29, 2016

Aspen Days Watercolor Painting

Driving between Steamboat Springs and Aspen Colorado you cross Gore Pass and that is where I spotted the cattle grazing in the shade of the aspen trees. This was an exciting subject with the sunlight streaming through the trees and the cows were quite curious when I walked up with my camera. The white aspens afforded me the chance to use pastel colors like cobalt violet and rose dore then I used rich darks such as perylene green and indigo in the deep parts of the forest. Warm greens in the tops of the trees were contrasted with cool greens in the tall grass and painting some of the aspen trees from the bottom border to the top border gave a nice depth to the painting. Most of all I was interested in capturing the curious looks on the faces of the cows and the dappled sunlight on their bodies. Subjects like this abound in the ranching communities of Colorado and that is one of the reasons I love living here.