Here’s a painting from my trip to the Swiss Alps last summer. We stayed in Gimmelwald in the Bernese Oberland Region. My husband and I joked that every place we stood was a 45 degree angle. This painting became about the sharp angles of the mountains. I tried to balance the negative slope of the foreground grass with the positive slope of the distant mountains. I was also trying to keep each slope a slightly different angle for variety.
Tag: Abby Laux
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.
Oberhofen sketch
This is the last sketch from my Europe trip sketchbook. I sat in the gardens of the Oberhofen Castle and drew this view across Lake Thun. I was intrigued with the unique shapes of the mountains. There was a worn softness to them that was fun to put to page.
Sketches from Berner Oberland
Lake Geneva sketch
The day we arrived in Lausanne, we were travel-worn and at the part in our trip when we just needed a lazy day. We walked a beautifully landscaped path along Lake Geneva and sat to sketch the vineyard-covered hills rising from the lake. That evening, we picniced in a park and went to sleep to the cheers coming from the streets because of the World Cup.
Hay Tor
England’s Dartmoor National Park has large granite outcroppings called tors. Hay Tor is one of the most impressive and popular. There are small footholds and handholds to scramble to the top. After exploring the rock structure, I sat in the field in front of the tors to make a quick graphite sketch. Like everywhere we hiked in the park, we shared the space with the grazing sheep.
Scorhill Stone Circle
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.
Ireland sketch
While on a trip around Europe last year, I hiked along this eastern coast of Ireland. Scrambling down the cliff to reach sea level, I did this little pen sketch of the rocky coast and lighthouse. A couple of ladies came down to the same cove and preceded to skinny dip in the space in front of me while I drew. Oh the adventures!
Last fall we visited some friends on the West Coast and took a day to relax at the beach. I did a small sketch on location, reveling in the geometric forms of the rocks. This spring I painted this little blue painting from photographs I took that day. I really enjoyed getting to paint the huge expanse of sky. Where I live is all hills and trees, and I do not often get to see the colors of the sky as it meets the horizon.