Cougar Peak #353

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Today the valley was pummeled with freezing rain, the snow that was on the mountain is becoming saturated like a heavy wet sponge, and the mountain is enveloped in a fog of haze...and a haze of fog. For this painting I tried to purposefully keep most of my lines vertical, especially in the area of the clouds to help sell the look and feel or rain or some type of falling moisture.

Cougar Peak #352

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

This morning we were greeted once again to another dusting of fresh snow. The mountain itself was mostly enveloped in a thick layer of clouds and the fresh snow quickly turned to rain as the morning progressed. I started the image by doing a quick sketch in blue pencil and then first concentrating on my darker values and shapes, lightening up and concentrating on details towards the end.

Cougar Peak #338

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

The fierce battle of rain has ended and all that is left is the hazy fog of battle. The mountain was almost completely obscured this morning as I began to paint, and I tried to give a sense of it as it loomed behind all of that rising moisture.

Cougar Peak #337

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Wet, stormy, and wet, wet, wet. Today the area was bombarded by warm rain that melted off a great portion of the new snow that had accumulated, as well as creating a soggy mess of what was left. On this painting on wanted to capture that rain and those heavy wet clouds as they surrounded Cougar Peak and laid siege to it.

Cougar Peak #322

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Nilly Willy my it's chilly!......as you can tell another cold and rainy day with snow on the way.....we will see. I worked pretty much monochromatic for this piece, other than the foreground field which has just a touch of green in it. On this painting I concentrate basically on getting the values I wanted and trying to give the appearance of the mountain being attacked by sheets of rain.

Cougar Peak #321

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

On today's painting I started out by blocking in all of the mountain in a single value of color. After that was completed I came back in over the top with a value for the parts of the mountain that are bare on not covered by trees. Finally I added in the low hanging clouds, concentrating on giving them a stylized "sharp" look to give the painting just a slightly different look.

Cougar Peak #320

4.75" x 6.75" Gouache on Paper

I busted out the gouache again this morning as the mountain was once again socked in by heavy wet rain clouds. For this painting I kept my paints real soupy and let the paint bleed and puddle across the paper. Later I came back in with a smaller detail brush and added in the tree, barn, final touches, etc......

Cougar Peak #319

4.75" x 6.75" Gouache on Paper

The drizzles were back today, bringing more clouds and rain, rain, rain. On this painting I mixed the base of the mountain in a slightly green tint, and then gradated it up into more blue and finally gray instead of a more monochromatic piece. It ends up making a nice separation between the trees and the onslaught of the storm.

Cougar Peak #316

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

A rather rainy and wet day with a chill wind blowing in an oncoming furry of snow. I started this image out with a quick loose sketch in pencil and then came back over the top of it with paint, keeping my strokes loose and random until the cloud shapes took on a character of their own.

Cougar Peak #313

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Down low hung the fog today, pushing on the mountain with a weight of water. On this image I immediatly started blocking in my darker values on the parts of the mountain that were showing. After that was done I laid in the clouds and fog and then proceeded to soften the transition between the two. Finally I came in and added in all the little details, barn, tree, etc....

Cougar Peak #311

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

There was a bit of rain today moving through the valley and it covered the mountain in blankets of fog and water.....or water and fog.....or just water. This painting I kept my strokes real loose, concentrating on trying to get the feel of the all of that cloud cover and falling rain.

Cougar Peak #303

4.75" x 6.75" Pastel on Paper

I tried to capture a bit the those overcast clouds and their wild random energy. For this image I started out doing a quick sketch, blocking in all of my main shapes, After I had my sketch, I came back in over the top with my pastels, trying to keep them wild and work quickly, to pin down a bit of that beautiful chaos on paper.

Cougar Peak #292

4.75" x 6.75" Gouache on Illustration Board

The mountain was foggy and gray today as rain and a bit of snow attacked the peak once again. For this painting I kept my palette pretty limited, first starting on the canyon and darkening my values as I came forward then. To finish it off I added in the tree, barn and finally the clouds up above.

Cougar Peak #280

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Cold blues and grays once again dominated the color palette of the mountain, and you could feel those colors leech down into the depths of your bones. For this image I worked with my oils, keeping my paints thick and creamy, smearing, blending, scraping, and pushing my paint until I was able to come up with an impression of the chilly mass towering in front of me.

Cougar Peak #278

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

The valley was getting hammered today by rain, and the mountain itself was wrapped in layers of clouds and mist. Behind all of the cloud cover as it moved and undulated you could catch a glimpse of the every creeping snowfall. I decide to paint this one with my oils, keeping my paints thick and chewy as I smeared it and moved it among my panel.

Cougar Peak #277

4.75" x 6.75" Oil on Paper

Farther down the hill it goes, white if falls, and cold it flows. This morning the snow on the mountain had sunk even farther down the mountain. Down in the bottom of the valley it was raining and there was a nice mixture of clouds undulating and moving among the mountain.

Cougar Peak #275

4.75" x 6.75" Acrylic on Paper

Again the top of the peak is obscured by clouds, but underneath it's shadowing blanket of haze is hiding a white brilliant snow. I started this image out doing a quick sketch and then painted laid in my mountain, canyon and bottom field. Finally I painted in the clouds that covered the peak, and added in all of the little details.

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 #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 #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.