Estes Park 1

 

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - not available

Last October we took a trip out to Estes Park, CO and this time I remembered my plein air supplies! Our cabin, located off Elkhorn Ave, was surrounded by glorious mountain faces and beautiful pine and birch trees. Watching the sun rise through the freshly orange leaves and warm up the mountain faces was a treat I just couldn't pass up. I poured myself a cup of coffee, set up my easel and painted away. This plein air truly feels like a diary entry: listening to the river flow, the leaves blow and even a flock of wild turkeys running by on the trail! Unfortunately this was the only painting I made on the trip, but next time I'll make more! This painting is part of my personal collection.

Sunset on Lake Mozingo

 

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

In September of 2023 we went on a trip to Lake Mozingo, MO. Later on in the day the sun started to set, creating beautiful and magical reflections on the lake. I know in this moment that I had to paint what I saw.

Lake Mozingo

 

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

In September of 2023 we went on a trip to Lake Mozingo, MO. Filled with bass and fisherman chasing after them, the water rippled and the wild grass swayed. Bugs flittered about and fish slapped the surface of the lake. We set out for a lovely family picnic filled with grilled food, cornhole and myself plein air painting. Family members came up to me to check on my progress and it was great to have their company. The temperature was hot but the breeze was nice, and I didn't get attacked by too many mosquitos, but unfortunately one was given the "landlord special" from my wet paint. Oops (and ew).

Duck Lake

 

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

On a trail near me there is a lovely little park with a lake. The lake houses fish, a grand water fountain and many ducks. The ducks love to float around and walk around on the grass but they don't seem to care much about the people who sit on the benches nearby. I painted this painting en plein air with a delicious pumpkin spice latte from Dunkin' and I had a sun hat with bug netting on. A few spiders bungee jumped from the tree I was sitting under and landed on me, but they seemed to be more interested with their surroundings and not with me (thank goodness). Wrapping up the painting I had a wonderful moment of mindfulness and gratitude - the breeze was cool and the air smelled like warm grass. It's currently in the 90s (more like 98 degrees with a feels like of 115, goodness) so I can't wait for it to cool down to go on some bike rides soon.

Cornfield 2.0

 6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

Another one of my October Plein Air Challenge paintings! I wanted to re-do my Cornfield painting to see my skill growth, and holy cow, I've grown so much! I love painting en plein air. I live near a cornfield so it's my most frequent source of practicing en plein air. This day was a little foggy and very overcast, and a little bit windy. Combatting the weather is always something to keep in mind while painting en plein air, but it wasn't too bad.

Lost Home 2.0

 

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - sold

Another one of my October Plein Air Challenge paintings! I wanted to re-do my Lost Home painting to see my skill growth, and holy cow, I've grown so much! I love painting en plein air. This location means a lot to me - it is a park that was close to the house I spent a considerable amount of time living in as a kid so its's a very special place. I love the dappled light against the shadow, which this painting is mainly in.

Cornfield, Winter

 

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - NSF

Winter is a rather tough season for me. With the limited sun, the cold wind and the car scraping in the morning, it can seem like a lifetime to get through. However, with winter brings snow. Here in the Omaha greater area we don't tend to get a lot of snow during the winter season, but this year seems to be an outlier. We've already had a few blankets of snow which bring some very rare and beautiful landscapes. Readers will recognize this composition as the same as my other painting Cornfield. Seeing the snow on the cornfields was a very new sight for me. The serene landscape brings geese to the fields, pecking at any crops left over from harvest season. You can even occasionally see wild turkeys on the field. I love that the shadows from the trees still stretch across the fields even in very muted overcast light. I did have to fight with the temperature by switching my normal quick-drying medium with refined linseed oil. It was interesting, my quick-drying medium started freezing and gumming up with my paints.

Fall on the Keystone

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - NSF

This is the fourth and last painting out of the four for my October Plein Air challenge! I've never completed an October challenge that I've started before (like Inktober or Peachtober) but having finished this one makes me feel really good. I'll make another post later with my final thoughts on the entire challenge. This bridge is out on the Keystone Trail, one that I've ridden quite a large amount of times! I love being on the trails here, people were very nice to me when they passed me on their walks and bike rides. Some brush strokes I kind of regret placing, but overall I really like this piece.

Under the Bridge

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - NSF

This is the third out of the four plein air paintings for the October challenge! The section on the left where the rocks are with the darkest shadow was such an eye-catching area to me and I wanted to give it a try. This is my first plein air attempt of concrete forms! This painting started out pretty ugly but it quickly pulled together in the end. I also really liked the section of the overgrown dead grass. The highlights stand out against the darker orange-brown base and I feel like it really works.

Lost Home

 

8x6in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - NFS

This is the second out of the four plein air paintings for the October challenge! This is my first attempt at dappled light and it's definitely tough. I had a lot of fun making this and the weather was so nice. I had a kind of tough time editing the color balance of this image to match the painting itself, my phone's camera leans heavily blue. I had a bit of a hard time painting the dappled light on the ground, but once I internalized that it's just color blocks against a darker background, I feel like I started to understand the subject better.

Cornfield

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - sold

This painting marks the beginning of my 2022 October Plein Air painting challenge! This month I plan on making four 6x8in. plein air paintings, starting with this one. I really liked the way the shadows stretched on the harvested cornfield from the rows of trees. I'm very lucky to live right across from a very interesting-looking cornfield. I just loved the way the rising sun cast the long shadows from the trees and how the hills influenced the crop lines.