My Travel Paintings - Utah Alpine Loop Autumn
I Think of Alpine Loop. I’ve had a chance to visit the Alpine Loop Scenic Backway in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest many times since I spent an afternoon soaking in views with a friend. This is truly a mountain and forest paradise and is only a short drive from the Sundance and Park City areas of Utah. This was my fourth time visiting the area, I believe! Anywho, I’d just finished exploring several national parks and monuments in southern Utah and was heading back to Salt Lake City for my flight back to Austin. I had the whole day to soak in views...and I most definitely did :-) The original image I captured with my Nikon D800E I uploaded here on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/41176334392/in/album-7...
For the digital painting, there were many aspects I worked on and practiced. The first was the trees. I’ve struggled with trees and painting them for a while. Well, other than some typical evergreens I’ve come across in my travels in the northern US and Canada. Here I had Autumn and its full colors on display. This section of the national forest covered mountainside after mountainside with the yellow hues of aspens (my favorite tree to stand under while watching the leaves shimmer with each passing breeze). I didn’t want to “cheat” on that and wanted to have a more accurate depiction. I found my answer watching Bob Ross paint trees with Autumn colors (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdMkf-AAPM). After watching it several times, I determined this setting seemed to best capture that brush stroke: Rich Oil Brush by Kyle, Blend, Scatter 186%, Tip Angle 0º. I used a Kyle’s Paintbox - French Sharp Block impressionist style brush for the ground under the aspen trees and mountainside. For the distant trees I used a Kyle’s Rakes - Zen Grind, a favorite of mine lately. I continued to get better (my impression at least) on making the blue skies seem more natural with streaks and other looks (www.creativebloq.com/advice/5-simple-tips-for-painting-be...). The last area I’ll discuss is clouds, a definite struggle these past few months. Then I discovered this video with cloud painting (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN1J47FcNH8), and it all came together. There’s more I can practice on (and have been with other practice paintings).
In the center right foreground of the painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me setting up my Nikon SLR camera with my Cubbies hat on, loving my time exploring the mountains and forests of Utah :-)
My Travel Paintings - Utah Alpine Loop Autumn
I Think of Alpine Loop. I’ve had a chance to visit the Alpine Loop Scenic Backway in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest many times since I spent an afternoon soaking in views with a friend. This is truly a mountain and forest paradise and is only a short drive from the Sundance and Park City areas of Utah. This was my fourth time visiting the area, I believe! Anywho, I’d just finished exploring several national parks and monuments in southern Utah and was heading back to Salt Lake City for my flight back to Austin. I had the whole day to soak in views...and I most definitely did :-) The original image I captured with my Nikon D800E I uploaded here on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/14723335@N05/41176334392/in/album-7...
For the digital painting, there were many aspects I worked on and practiced. The first was the trees. I’ve struggled with trees and painting them for a while. Well, other than some typical evergreens I’ve come across in my travels in the northern US and Canada. Here I had Autumn and its full colors on display. This section of the national forest covered mountainside after mountainside with the yellow hues of aspens (my favorite tree to stand under while watching the leaves shimmer with each passing breeze). I didn’t want to “cheat” on that and wanted to have a more accurate depiction. I found my answer watching Bob Ross paint trees with Autumn colors (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdMkf-AAPM). After watching it several times, I determined this setting seemed to best capture that brush stroke: Rich Oil Brush by Kyle, Blend, Scatter 186%, Tip Angle 0º. I used a Kyle’s Paintbox - French Sharp Block impressionist style brush for the ground under the aspen trees and mountainside. For the distant trees I used a Kyle’s Rakes - Zen Grind, a favorite of mine lately. I continued to get better (my impression at least) on making the blue skies seem more natural with streaks and other looks (www.creativebloq.com/advice/5-simple-tips-for-painting-be...). The last area I’ll discuss is clouds, a definite struggle these past few months. Then I discovered this video with cloud painting (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN1J47FcNH8), and it all came together. There’s more I can practice on (and have been with other practice paintings).
In the center right foreground of the painting, you'll find that stick figure image of me setting up my Nikon SLR camera with my Cubbies hat on, loving my time exploring the mountains and forests of Utah :-)