Salmon Fly

This plant almost paints itself. It’s curves, spirals, dark depths and skylit heights arrange themselves on a painters surface and sing out which colors should be chosen. I look forward to getting to paint it, really.

Colorado has a big sky.

I spent last summer in southeast Colorado. My mom and I left for Arizona in early October. I continue to paint from the photos taken while in the mountains, images taken with future watercolors and pastels in mind.This view stretches west to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which are the eastern front range to the the Rocky Mountains. The road leads to the low foothills where it ends at San Isabel National Forest. From the Forest, footpathes ascend to heights of 13,000 feet and above.I will return to these places next year after the snow have come and gone.

This is a study for a larger piece.

Tess belongs to my friend Dorothy.
I can paint YOUR pet, too, send me a message.

Schoolfield Road is a rural county road. It’s name was officially changed to CR 140 in order that, well, I don’t know why. They changed all the roads around here to numbered names instead of the historic and poetic names they’ve had for years. Most people who’ve been around for awhile still call these old roads by their original names.

The view from this painting’s vantage has thousands of faces depending on the time of day, weather and season. This view captures a late, rainy August day.

Fall is the time for juniper berries, grey blues against sage blue-green.

I like to paint Kale for its depth of image and its subtle transitions of color.

Ornamental kale brightens stoops, planters, city and country yards. I love the subtle changes of its colors.

Banners of summer fly overthe garden.

These buildings are a part of Greenleaf, a Westcliffe, CO, enterprise that havests wood sustainably and saws it for custom orders.

Cattle are sacred in India, the dead are cremated on the banks of the holy Ghanges River when possible. The river’s banks are built with steps that steeply slope down, these are called ghats. At night people, both locals and tourists, gather on these. Music, funerals, celebrations and markets simultaneously take place 24 hours a day.​ All this is wondrous to behold.

I took a picture of this insect while hiking. The scale is about 2.5 to 1.

The trees of the city park are the border beyond wh​ice lies the ranches and the high peaks of the Rocky Mountains

Hollyhocks are an exclamation point to summer. Their vertical structure accentuates any setting, elegant and always showy.

Everyone has seen this mushroom in fairytale books, wall posters and advertising. I came across one in our forest yard. It’s been raining really hard here in Colorado and all types of plant species not seen for years are now sprouting and popping up in the saturated soils. I last saw this species here more than ten years ago.
Wikipedia has much to say about this mushroom. If you’re interested go to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

Hotel room wedding prep.

Western storms drift in over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southeast Colorado. In the summer it usually rains for a little while in the afternoon with lots o drama, lightning and thunder til it moves on east and the sun returns.

While in India we were taken to the block printing warehouse of our driver’s family. Fabric is printed meters at a time, inked blocks carefully stamped by hand to create the patterns. Each color of the designs use a different block and must be stamped separately. The more detailed fabrics are more expensive. However, by western standards this beautiful material is very affordable.