In the Studio: Fall Landscapes
One thing I was looking forward to as my summer travels came to an end was fall in Colorado. My husband and I have made a point of spending time in the mountains to hike this year and I wanted to make sure that I captured all of the fall colors up in the mountains during our short peak season. In 2023, Vasya and I went to Scotland for three weeks in October, which was amazing, but it meant that we missed a big chunk of fall in Colorado due to being busy before our trip and then gone. So this year, I have blocked out time in my schedule to get up early and take advantage of the season as long as it lasts.
To me, fall in Colorado means aspens. Did you know that aspen trees connect to a single root system? Each aspen tree is essentially a clone, pulling on the same genetics. This makes me think that each aspen stand (I’ve learned that a group of aspens is called a stand) as its own family of trees. (You can learn more about aspens in this article) Their bright green shoots are always a sign that summer is on the way in the mountains and as they turn to bright gold and orange in the early fall, you know that winter will soon come to the mountains. Peak season for colors in the mountains is late September and early October. I painted hardly any fall scenes last year because I was too busy painting my photos from Scotland (check those out here). This year, I wanted to capture a lot of pictures of the fall colors up in the mountains and to paint a series of fall paintings from those photos.
Over the last few weeks, this is what I have done. I have hiked around Mount Blue Sky to Upper Chicago Lake. I took my cousin Lily on her first Colorado hike to Lost Lake in Indian Peaks Wilderness. And I drove up and down Guanella pass, trying to avoid the hundreds (thousands?) of other people with the same idea trying to capture the bright colors before they are gone. Some of my favorite photos are of the partially turned trees, when you get this unique blend of bright and dark greens, light yellows, and deep golds and orange. The contrast of colors during this time of year is also amazing with the bright yellow leaves against the deep blue of cloudless skies or the deep almost black green of the pine trees. Hiking paths surrounded by gold aspens can practically glow.
As I have settled into the fall painting season, I decided that I wanted to work on a series of minis and that I want to play with some different ideas.
I wanted to paint some of my traditional landscapes, based on particular reference photos.
I wanted to paint a bit from memory.
I wanted to play a bit.
Painting from reference photos is by far my painting comfort zone. I like having a plan and a destination. Going off script is where I usually run into trouble, not because the ideas I have are bad (at least I do not think they are), but because I haven’t quite figured out how to accomplish what I’m picturing in my head. But that is part of the fun isn’t it? To me the hardest part of painting aspens is to give them the appropriate amount of depth. How do you capture all of the different shades of yellow without creating a big blob that looks flat? How do you contrast the rocks, pine trees, and meadows against those trees in a way that doesn’t create a muddy mess? How do you make a painting visually interesting?
You can see how I tried to explore these questions in my recent series of fall minis. I painted on my Arches and Fabriano watercolor blocks in size 7 x 10 inches. I divided up each page into four smaller paintings using half-inch Holbein soft tape. This left each painting at about 3.5 x 4.75 inches, which includes a small white border around each one. Alas, I seem to enjoy the most random sized paintings!
I would love to know what your favorites are in the comments. Check out my Etsy Shop to see what artwork is currently available.
Aspen Meadow
This is possibly my favorite painting of the entire bunch. I did not use a reference photo and decided to play. I wanted to convey openness, space and that lightness you feel when you are by yourself among the trees. I like that there is a feeling of the aspens, but there are not too many details. I opted for using splatter marks to add texture rather than trying to paint leaves. I love the contrast of the gold and white space with the browns and the greens.
Trail to Chicago Lakes
The Chicago Lakes trail starts at Echo Lake up Mount Blue Sky Road north of Idaho Springs, Colorado. You first hike down in the valley and then begin to ascend Mount Blue Sky passing by a reservoir and then two mountain lakes. I took this picture just before reaching a meadow. I loved the way that the early light was hitting the aspens and tried to capture both the bright blue sky and the bright yellow of the aspens in the painting.
View Through the Leaves
This is one of my less successful paintings from the bunch. For View Through the Leaves, I didn’t have a particular reference photo and I wanted to convey what looking through a wall of orange and gold is like, but this painting, while it feels like autumn, it does not feel like aspens to me. The trunks of trees feel too thick and too dark and the colors feel too red.
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Looking Back
Another not so successful execution of an idea is Looking Back. This is based on a photo taken from my destination of Upper Chicago Lake on Mount Blue Sky looking back on the valley that I just walked through. I find conveying vast landscapes to be particularly challenging. I find myself getting lost in details that tend to muddle up the whole picture.
Fall Sunrise
Another one of my favorites and another one that I did not use a reference photo for. Colorado can get these really amazing pink sunrises early in the morning, where the mountains practically glow when the sun hits them. I wanted to convey this feeling of pink mountains against a fall meadow scene. My favorite part of this painting is the combination of soft pinks and orange in the sky and how that color slightly hits the mountains.
Meadow’s Edge
Here, I wanted to attempt something more abstract. I have been really drawn to abstract landscapes lately, but it is not something that I am very good at. For this painting, I wanted to capture elements of what I enjoy about fall in the mountains, but with very few concrete details. I wanted a pink and purple sunrise, a hint of aspens, the blue of alpine lakes, and the contrast of the golds and greens that you usually find in the woods, but I wanted it to be minimalist. The hardest part of this painting for me was really keeping it simple and forcing myself not to add details.
Aspens I and Aspens II
On my hike I passed this small line of aspens off to the side of the trail. I loved that this grouping of aspens had a variety of colors from the bright green of trees that have not yet started to turn, to the deep golds of those that are at or past their peak. I wanted to play with painting the trees with these paintings and while they are quite similar to each other, they have their differences. Aspens I feels like a fuller forest scene with many more trunks and many more colors. I also like that overall it is a bit darker. Aspens II is a bit lighter and has less details than Aspen I.
What do you think? Do you have a favorite?
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