I recently went hiking in Shenandoah National Park. This waterfall was on a nine mile hike with nine waterfalls. I did not have a chance to do any sketching on site because I was with a group, but I took many photographs. I did this quick study in the studio after returning. I have been working on getting quicker at establishing a painting and being more efficient. I think I’m going to do more time limit sketches in the future.
It’s wonderful when the weather turns and it’s warm enough to enjoy being outside again. I painted this small painting in a creek near my house early this spring when the redbuds were blooming and the leaves of the undergrowth were just starting to pop. There’s an interesting contrast in the woods at that time between the achromatic trees, ground and rocks and the very highly saturated new growth of the buds and blooms. The greens of the woods for those couple of weeks becomes an almost fluorescent green.
After a couple of hours painting plein air, the painting still needed some work. I spent a couple of more sessions on it in the studio bringing it a bit more up to snuff.
We hiked through the moors to this stone circle last summer in Dartmoor National Park, England. While this stone circle only includes fairly small stones (3-4 feet high), we were completely alone in this vast open field. I sat on a tuft of grass to sketch the circle while Kerry wandered off to explore a creek.