Cougar Peak #120

4.75" X 6.75" Gouache on Paper

For today's painting I jumped back over to a bit of gouache. I have been having fun playing with the acrylic, but I felt like something different today. There is still a bit of smoke in the air from all of the burning and it had settled down in the bottom of the canyon.

Also, as you have probably noticed this marks the end of the month of April, so I have again included another month in review image......and now onto the beautiful month of May!

Cougar Peak #119

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today the valley was even smokier....a lot of prescribed burning going on for elk and deer habitat. When I first started doing the painting there was quite a bit of smoke adding some great atmosphere, but by the time I was finished most of it had blown away. So the painting didn't end up having quite the look I initially wanted, but still it was fun sitting out in the sun painting away the day.

Cougar Peak #118

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Another beautiful morning today, there was a hint of smoke in the air which helped create a nice bit of atmosphere, and also help to push back the canyon a bit farther in the distance.

Cougar Peak #117

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

The mountain was beautiful as it was being bathed in the warm evening light. There was a slight bit of smoke in the air that caused things to go a bit red that usual. For this one I did an initial sketch with pastel and then painted over the top of it with just opaque acrylics, no washes, or thinned down paints for this one.

Cougar Peak #116

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

There was a lot of fog this morning rolling up from the river at the base of the mountain....unfortunately which I cannot see from my vantage point. Also there was this great cloud moving through that ended up getting snagged on the top of the peak and as the early morning light appeared it just sort of lit up. I kept this painting really loose in the beginning, painting mainly with a cotton pad. I then came in with a brush and defined a bit of the mountain, tree, and barn.

Cougar Peak #115

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Another beautiful spring morning greeted my eyes today as I set brush in hand. For this image did my initial sketch and then painted over the top of it with a wash of hansa yellow before I came in with my opaque paints.

Cougar Peak #114

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

There was the most lovely light hitting the mountain side this evening right before the sun went down. I love the warm oranges and deep violets that end up showing up at this time of the day, they are always a pleasure to paint. Sunsets always remind me of fall in many ways, partly I guess because they share the same color palette, and partly because they are an ending of things so to speak.....maybe it is God's way of going out with a bang, reminding us of how awesome life really is?

Cougar Peak #113

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today was one of the very few days so far that I did not want to paint the mountain. I acquired a lovely head cold and it feels like there is a grizzly bear grinding his teeth across my skull....so needless to say I wasn't really in the mood. But I was able to overcome my misery and complete my painting for the day....now back to bed.

Cougar Peak #112

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

For this image I did an initial sketch with blue pencil, and after that a sketch with pastel, then laying over the top of that a wash of Transparent Red Oxide. This allowed me a nice medium value to begin working off of, and it also gave me a nice warm hue to start with. After getting the sketch completed and the under painting I continued along with opaque acrylics and the rest is history.

Cougar Peak #111

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today started out with a bang and then everything just started to get colder and drab looking. Fortunately I was able to get a decent window of painting opportunity and capture something with a bit of feeling to it.

Cougar Peak #110

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today was a mixture of beautiful and gorgeous all wrapped up in one.....one of those days where you feel like spring has arrived finally. As with the last couple of paintings this one again was first painted with a cotton pad with a very diluted acrylic and then gone over the top of that with more opaque paint. I suppose the same technique could be done with traditional watercolor paints and then either acrylic or gouache over the top of that.

Cougar Peak #109

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Another dusting of fresh snow on the mountain to greet my eyes this morning. I love the horizontal bands of clouds and fog on this one. Also the fact that the mountain is pretty much cold and gray, and then the foreground has this rich vivid green hue to it.......pretty cool.

Cougar Peak #108

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

As with yesterday's painting, I did my initial sketch of the mountain and then came back over the top of that with a very diluted acrylic that I wiped on with a pad. Once that initial quick under painting was completed, I then painted the rest of the image with more opaque acrylics using my brushes.......fast, big, and loose at first, then gradually getting slower, smaller and a lot tighter

Cougar Peak #107

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

More snow and and a blanket of clouds smothering the mountain were on the menu for today. For this image I took wet napkin and painted in all of my main values in a super diluted wash of acrylic. I then painted over the top of that with brushes using a more opaque acrylic.

Cougar Peak #106

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Chipboard

For this image I started out with an initial pastel sketch and then painted over the top of that with acrylic. The day started out blue, clear, and crisp, but by the end of the day the clouds started moving through, and the deep chill started to set in again.

Cougar Peak #105

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

A lot of wind and clouds are moving through today, so much so that the wind wants to pick you up like Dorthy and carry you away to Never Never Land. Unfortunately I had things to paint and didn't have time to fight the Jolly Green Giant, so I opted out and stayed on the ground. The clouds moving through the valley created a patchwork of interesting shadow and light shapes upon the mountain.....everyday is something different.

Cougar Peak #104

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today the clouds rolled back into the valley and the temperature of the palette changed from the warm hues of yesterday to a cooler palette with blues and purples. Clouds always bring and interesting dynamic to a painting....I wish at times I had selected a composition that more favored the sky around the mountain, but since the mountain was my main subject I wanted to keep it's peak up towards the top to help give it that sense of grandeur.

Cougar Peak #103

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

I am always fascinated by the lovely golden light that is present towards the end of the day. For me it is one of those wonderful things to try and capture with paint if but in the end it is a hopeless en devour......still it is fun to try.

Cougar Peak #102

4.75" x 6.75" Gouache on Paper

A clear crisp morning today as the sun peeked over the mountain top and bathed the valley in a fresh warm light. There was a light frost on everything so it even made everything sparkle that much more.....ahhhhh, what a great way to start the day.

Cougar Peak #101

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

The rain and snow have decided to go away, but they will surely be back another day. For this image I did an initial sketch with pastel and then painted back over the top in acrylic. It is amazing to me how the palette keeps changing as everything starts to green up and come alive, one day is blue and drab, and the next day shades of green and yellow and warmer hues start dominating the scheme.

Cougar Peak #100

4.75" x 6.75" Gouache on Paper

The BIG 100!!!....another milestone, or at least 100 has always seemed like a milestone to me. There was another dusting of fresh snow on the mountain top and with those gray brooding clouds overhead everything had a cold chilly feel to it. And being number 100 I wanted to jump back onto some gouache since that is what I had started the project with....call me sentimental.

Cougar Peak #99

4.75" x 6.75" Digital

Yet again it seems that we are not done with winter. Today we were treated to a mixture of fog, rain, and fresh snow upon Cougar Peak. For this image I jumped onto photoshop and then created different value layers slowly building up the fog, snow, wind, texture, etc...

Cougar Peak #98

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

On this Resurrection Sunday morning I was treated to a beautiful sunrise. Luckily I was up with paints in hand, because by the time I was finishing up my image the dark clouds were moving in and not long after that all was gloomy and gray in anticipation of oncoming rain.

Cougar Peak #97

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today the sun is out in full force and it finally is starting to feel like spring. The early morning light lays delicately across the eastern face of the peak lighting it up in tones of green yellows and blues....indeed the palette is changing. I am excited to see what spring and summer have in store.

Cougar Peak #96

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Sunny and beautiful was the way to describe today....except I guess everyday is beautiful if a person thinks about it whatever the weather may be. The color palette is changing as things are starting to green up. Especially now that things are getting warmer things will really start coming alive.

Cougar Peak #95

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Heavy fog is the dish being served up today, and the mountain is gorging itself on it like a rabid dog. For this image I did an initial sketch with pastel on a chunk of comic backer board, sealed it, and then I ended up painting over the top of that with acrylic. I like how the texture on the fog turned out on this one, and it was hard not to change it because I painted it really quickly, and deep down I felt I should have to work harder for it.....luckily I didn't give into my guilty feelings.

Cougar Peak #94

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today was cold and rainy with snow being dumped behind the scenes. This image hark ends back to the some of February's work. The great thing about spring in Montana is that it can fluctuate to such extremes where you have snow one day, and then the next day it can feel like summer.....it is those extremes that make it an exciting place to live, but at times a hard place to live as well.

Cougar Peak #93

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

I love the look of the mountain towards the end of the day, the lighting and the way it changes temperature so quickly, the shadows, and a calm that usually comes over the valley as everything prepares for evening.....except the last one is hard to capture on paper. I suppose some things are just meant to be experienced in person.

Cougar Peak #92

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Winter is back! So much for spring as today the mountain was barraged by one snow attack after the other. I believe the surface of the mountain was warmer than the air, so none of it really stuck, but a good portion of the day the mountain was whited out in a crazy flurry of snow.....pretty cool!

Cougar Peak #91

4.75" x 6.75" Digital

So ended the month of March and behold the month of April. Today was a rather gorgeous day, with all of that rain yesterday everything had a fresh feeling to it. There was a mixture peaking through the clouds lighting up parts of the mountain....one of those days where you just want to paint all day and never quit.