Cougar Peak #273

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

The rain passed and the sky cleared up, bringing cold temperatures and a view of the mountain peak covered in snow. I started this image out doing a quick sketch with pastel and then came back over the top of it with my acrylics, finally adding in the details and the snow on the peak.

Also once again this marks the end of another month....so here are the thumbnails for the whole month of September.

Cougar Peak #272

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Tyvek

Today we were greeted by our first real snow on the mountain, as well as a chill wind that cut through the body reminding us that summer is definitely gone, and that fall better watch itself as well. I did this painting on a piece of blue tyvek that sort of resembled one of those blue heavy duty shop towels, or those fiber type dishwashing cloths. The oil paint sucked into the tyvek giving the painting a softer blended look opposed to the sharper look of some of my other paintings.

Cougar Peak #271

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Rain invaded the valley today, like the tenticles of an octopus the clouds enveloped the peak of the mountain, and wrapped it in a blanket of cold. I started this image out doing a quick sketch in pencil and then came over the top of it with my paints working down low first and then finishing off the image with the cloud mass

Cougar Peak #270

4.75" x 6.75" Digital

I decided to jump back over to the computer tonight and do a bit of digital painting. I started out the painting with Painter X, and then switched over toward the end to Photoshop to do a bit of color correction. I found a previous painting that had a color palette similar to what I was wanting, so I used it as a foundation to sample bits of color to build my image up with.

Cougar Peak #269

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Once again another beautiful evening on the mountainside in which I fail to even begin to do justice the beauty before me. Towards evening the light on the mountain changes so drastically, that I could literally do a new painting every few minutes and have them all look wonderfully different.

Cougar Peak #268

4.75" x 6.75" Pastel/Acrylic on Paper

There was this wonderful bit of cloud overshadowing the top of the peak. For this painting I started out working in pastel, and once I had gotten to a point that I was happy with, sealed it, and then painted over the top of it with acrylic. I tried to keep a bit of the underlying pastel, but yet still add strokes of acrylic where I thought would be appropriate.

Cougar Peak #267

4.75" x 6.75" Pastel on Paper

For this painting I decided to switch things up once again and work exclusively with pastel, or Nupastel to be the case. I started this image with a dark brown stick and then moved over to dark blue and purple to block in the canyon. Finally I came back in with my warmer hues or oranges, pinks to finish up the image and add in all of the final details.

Cougar Peak #266

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Cold and rainy again, as a thick layer of clouds presses down upon the peak with a weight of dreariness. I begin that painting by laing in the darker blues and grays hidden in among the canyon and then worked my way out from there. Finally coming in at the end to lay in the blanket of clouds and the final details.

Cougar Peak #265

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Today is another big milestone for me.....100 paintings left to go! For this painting I tried something a bit different. I was cleaning out my thinner jar today and ended up with a nice pile of blueish gray sludge, so instead of throwing it away I decided to paint with it. It was pretty gritty, but I added a bit of Neo Meglip to help give it a little more body, and hopefully binding power. I painted the whole image using a palette knife, so as to not have to load up one of my brushes full of sludge.

Cougar Peak #264

4.75" x 6.75" Digital

I decided to have a bit of digital fun tonight while I tried to capture some of those last fading rays of sunlight as they fell upon the the mountain tall. For this image I started out working over a nice chocolaty brown. I then worked on establishing most of my darker values, finally coming back in and laying in my highlights and detail work.

Cougar Peak #263

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Another day of welcomed change on the mountain, as well as having some most welcomed rain. It's amazing how the whole color palette shifts over to the cold blues and grays as soon as the rain clouds roll in. For this image I started out blocking in the blueish gray of the canyon, working out from there while still being conscious of leaving enough white space for the clouds. After that I concentrated on finishing up the foreground elements, and then finally put some finishing touches on the clouds thenselves.

Cougar Peak #262

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Ahhh...cold and wet was the misty mountain, and terrible was her summit. There was more rain to greet me this morning, and the mountain looked to be besieged by an army of mist and clouds. Just ever so briefly we had a slight touch of snow that cover the very top of the mountain. It was just in June that the last of the snow dissapeared, and now at the middle of September it is wanting to return.

For this painting I purposefully left bits of white paper showing through, using them for the clouds and the highlights of the field, similar to a more traditional watercolor technique.

Cougar Peak #261

4.75" X 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Finally this morning we were blessed with a bit of rain.....I was starting to think that Earth was just going to shrivel up and die, but it looks like there might be hope, at least for the time being. Also it was a nice change, from what seems like the never ending days of sunshine.

Cougar Peak #260

4.75" x 6.75" Digital

Today I decided to take a break from the traditional and switch on over to the digital, or that is Photoshop. For this image I worked up a nice sienna colored bg using a large brush, much like I would prepare a traditional painting. After that was done I blocked in some of my main values, the shadow in the valley, sunlit side of the mountain, sky, field etc. Once that is completed all that is really left is tying together the image, adding details, subtle values, highlights, etc.

Cougar Peak #259

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

For this painting there was a bit of a smoky haze on the mountainside which lent a nice bit of atmosphere to the mountain. I attacked this one again in oils, trying to keep my palette a bit more limited because of the atmosphere, and also keeping my value changes a bit softer and gradated.

Cougar Peak #258

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Today was a quite spendid day to be outdoors painting. If only they were all this nice. Unfortunately, I had a nasty head cold, and it left me rather in a daze and bummed out that I could take more advantage of the wonderful weather.

Cougar Peak #257

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Ahhh....those oranges and purples again. What a combination they create as they clothe the mountain in majesty. On this image I started to directly laying in the canyon with it's hues of deep purple and blue, and then slowly let it spread out out from there. Once this was done I came back in blanketing it in oranges and greens, setting it ablaze then with it's final highlights.

Cougar Peak #256

4.75" x 6.75" Pastel on Paper

This evening I decided to bust out a bit of pastel and get my fingers dirty. I started out the image laying doing the trees by the horizon with a nice stick of warm green. From that point I moved on up the mountain, laying in the canyon and then coming back and adding the highlights and warmer yellows and oranges.

Cougar Peak #255

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

I decided to take my acrylics out with me this evening and take a break from the oils once again. Grabbing a sharpie marker I very quickly laid in a rough sketch of the mountain. Once I had my sketch completed I came in with my paints, keeping my brush strokes fast and spontaneous so as to help keep up the energy of the moment.

Cougar Peak #254

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

This morning I thought my poor fingers were going to fall off while I was painting. The temperature was again below freezing and by the end of the painting I was sure I had lost a couple digits to frostbite.....but I endured.

Cougar Peak #253

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Once again another beautiful evening. This is my favorite time of the day to capture the mountain. I find myself mesmerized by the deep shadow colors, contrasted by those oranges and the warm glow of the evening light.

Cougar Peak #252

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Today definitely felt like fall. The last couple of day there has been a heavy frost in the mornings, and the garden has curled up and shriveled like the feet of the Wicked Witch of the West. I grabbed my oils this evening and tried to capture a bit of that wonderful late evening light, as it blasted the mountainside in shades of orange and violet.

Cougar Peak #251

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Frosty chilly cold this morning as the temperature hovered right around the freezing mark. The valley was covered in a layer of heavy dew and fog this morning, so I headed out to paint while the fog was quickly burned off by the rising sun.

Cougar Peak #250

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today I was greeted once again by another beautiful morning, and by a mountain that stood strong and tall. I started out the painting laying in a quick sketch using a chunk of 6B lead. After that I came back in over the top with light washes of acrylic, allowing bits of the pencil sketch underneath to show through.

Cougar Peak #249

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

For today's painting I started out with a big thick brush, quickly laying in my shapes. Once that was completed I came in with a bit smaller brush adding bits of light as it streamed out over the mountain top and landed on the face of the peak.

Cougar Peak #248

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

This morning I played around with my oils once more, experimenting a bit with the way I applied paint and doing more scrubbing over areas with thinner. The sunlight was hitting the mountain this morning and lighting it up in this great intense green which I tried to capture as well.

Cougar Peak #247

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic/Pastel on Paper

This evening I started out my image with a brown prismacolor pencil, and then worked over the top of that with a 6B lead pencil. Once I had completed that stage I came back in with pastel and worked over the top of my initial sketch, and then sealed it to get ready for my paints. Finally I came worked in my acrylic paints, darkening up the canyon, and adding bits of color here and there, as well as the final details.

Cougar Peak #246

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

This day ended up turning out much nicer than last evening turned out. Luckily I didn't have to battle stinging, biting, nasty, vicious insects today. I grabbed my paints and headed out early this morning to capture the mountain before they even had time to wake up. Taking time to relax I spread on my oil paints like creamy butter, first concentrating on my big shapes, and then coming in with the details. After I had gotten to a point that I was happy with, I came back in with pure thinner and washed over parts of the painting, smoothing and blending out certain areas.

Cougar Peak #245

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Summer is back with a fury, and it's legs are strong and hot. I was starting to think that we might get an early fall, but the way things have been the last few day's I don't think my predictions will pan out....but one can never tell. This is my first painting of the series where I have been attacked. I've dealt with the cold and the heat, but while I was painting today I was stung by a yellow jacket on my little toes. So where my painting started out with peace and tranquility, I completed the last half of it in anger and pain.

Cougar Peak #244

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Today marks once again the beginning of another month. For this image I decide to switch back over to my oils, partly because I had oils that needed to be used up, and partly because I had been painting with my acrylics all day and was ready for a change. I approached this image pretty much the same as I do my others, first blocking in my big shapes concentrating on my values, and then coming back in with highlights and finishing touches.