Alaskan Adventure: Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Our fourth stop on our Alaskan adventure was Glacier Bay National Park, something we had been looking forward to since booking our cruise.

 

We spent the entire day in Glacier Bay National Park, picking up a team of rangers at the entrance to the park, and proceeding up the bay to stop at the Johns Hopkins Glacier and the Margerie Glacier.

The morning mists veiled distant icy peaks as we sailed into the heart of 3.3 million acres of pristine wilderness. 

The sun soon burned off the fog and mist, uncloaking jagged, snow-covered peaks and icy blue water.

For the first time on the trip, passengers were allowed out on observation decks 4 & 5, which are crew spaces. 

The views were spectacular.

Approaching the glaciers, you could see chunks of ice floating on the bay.  

Harbor Seals  took refuge with their pups on these "bergy bits," and Sea Otters floated with their babies on their tummies.

The Margerie Glacier, a river of ice flowing from Canada to the US, was stunning.

We spotted a Grizzly Bear not far from the glacier.  All around us was pristine wilderness, unimaginably beautiful.

Smaller vessels carried tourists to the foot of the Johns Hopkins Glacier, giving a sense of scale to the massive stacks of ice.

You can see how the glacier flows like a river, just much more slowly.

Do you feel inspired by the landscape?  I hope you'll draw or paint using these photos as your reference.

Many thanks to David of Long Story Short Photography for use of these photos.

Happy Creating!

A Gladiolus for Pastel Painting Class

Here's a reference photo of gladiolus blooms for my Painting Flowers with Pastels class at the Community College of Beaver County tonight.

And here's my demonstration piece from class:

Happy Creating!

Morning Painting in the Garden

Earlier this year, I typed up a list of watercolor projects I wanted to take on, then propped the list up where I could see it.  

 When I have time & want a new project, my list encourages me to try one of the items and stretch in a new direction.

I took my paints out to my garden on a recent gorgeous morning to try number 3 on the list.

I started with a pen and ink sketch, then added watercolor.

I found that the light and shadow of early morning in the garden created beautiful contrasts to paint.  I enjoyed using permanent violet mixed with ultramarine blue to make dark purple shadows with spots of bright green leaves to mimic the way that some of the leaves caught the light, and others disappeared in darker areas. 

In the second painting, I skipped the drawing and sketched directly with watercolors, beginning with a loose, wet-in-wet sketch of the bright blooms, then adding in the foliage and shadows.

I have a good friend, Ryan McCormick, who teaches drawing & painting the Pittsburgh Center for Arts  and Media.  We were talking about being self-critical versus self-critiquing with our paintings.  

Ryan likes to challenge his students to name precisely what they don't like when they hold up their work and say, "I don't like it!"

Ryan replies, "What precisely don't you like?"

Once you ask this question, you can figure out how to fix that problem and steer your art in a new direction.  You have grown as an artist.

Also, you can ask this question:

What precisely do you like about your art?

I took this approach with this second art work, at first feeling frustrated by some white spots and hard wash lines in my painting.

Rather than giving up and saying "I don't like my painting;" I stood back, noticed exactly what I didn't like, and then addressed those problems.  

I also focused on what I did like -- in the flower scene that initially inspired me, and in my own painting.

I discovered that I was drawn in by the way the flowers caught the morning sun, and contrasted vividly against distant tree shadows.  So I tried to mirror that in my painting.

I also realized that I liked the loose flower shapes and the way the painting was really a negative space painting.  I was focused on defining the flowers and their leaves by painting the spaces around them.

It was fun to simplify the scene and not to get as detailed in the positive space as I had in the earlier painting, where I painstakingly left little white sunlight reflections in the blackberries

Now it's your turn to make some art, step back, and ask yourself those questions:  

What do you like?  

What don't you like?  

Be discerning and precise, because the answers will help you to grow and make discoveries as an artist.

Happy Creating!

Watercolor Sketching in the Garden

This morning, the sunlight spilled lavishly over colorful zinnias and purple coneflowers in the garden.  I couldn't resist taking my paints out to sketch the beauty before me (along with two of my cats).  

I gave myself the rule that I could do anything, try any technique, and reminded myself, It's just a sketchbook.

Those are freeing "rules" for me.

I warmed up by painting zinnias.

I discovered that I liked the sketches best that were laid in quickly and without too much fuss.  They weren't exact or perfect, yet they seemed more alive.

 I can see improvement between painting the zinnias and the coneflowers, which have more complexity and interest.

But, I'm happy with both pages of colorful sketches.

A friend shared the wisdom of Maya Angelou with me this week:

"You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have."

I find truth in that -- the more we play with our art supplies, whether they be paints, pencils or collage bits, the more ideas we generate, and the more skills we build.

I invite you to make sketches or paintings from these photos.

Or better yet, step outside with your art supplies and find something that catches your eye. Sketch.  Repeat.

Happy Creating!

Plein air Paddle

A picnic lunch, a canoe for two, and a bag of art supplies -- all the ingredients for a lovely day in the state park.

As we paddled along, I stole the opportunity to sketch with my paintbrush and Winsor & Newton travel watercolor set.  The brilliant sunshine cast bold shadows on the hills & valleys.

I hope you take some art supplies along with you on a park visit.  It's a lovely way to slow down, see the landscape, and keep developing your art skills.

Happy Creating!

Alaskan Adventure: Icy Strait Point, Alaska

My favorite day of the whole trip was spent in the coastal temperate rainforest of Icy Strait Point, our third port.

Our ship docked right next to a beautiful forest with an easy-to-walk nature trail that ran through the woods.

The rocky coast was rich with a variety of colors, shapes and textures.

Earthy yellow kelp along the shore caught my eye.

I spent most of my time in the woods, along the nature trail, sitting on a bench painting or walking slowly through the forest.  

I asked an employee about bears, and he said that they hadn't seen any in the last 2 weeks.  The trail was well traveled by tourists while I spent time there, so I felt safe.  Still, I made noise and kept a sense of awareness about my surroundings.

Entering the woods, you could see towering hemlocks and spruces, rich vegetation, and moss everywhere.

Western Columbine was blooming.  June is the best time to go for wildflower watching.

The earth underfoot was soft and spongy with decaying wood.

Bunchberries bloomed on the forest floor.

Fallen trees hosted new life springing up from their roots and surfaces

Blueberry bushes grew much larger than eastern varieties.

Deer heart's glossy heart-shaped leaves seem to call out to be drawn.

You can see the ocean out beyond the forest.

The crooked tree with the craggy limbs in the background of this scene above drew my eye in, and I sketched it at the bottom right of my page.

Sometimes the tiny things in a larger scene tell a story of their own.

Hours spent sitting in a forest, forest bathing, was more relaxing than a spa day for me, and gave me a chance to fill several pages with sketches and paintings.

I hope you'll take inspiration from some of these photos and create artworks of your own.

Happy Creating!