Colorado: Days 5 and 6

"Mountain Mist"

Day 5 dawned with rain and cold. We were a brave bunch, venturing higher into the mountains on the muddy road. At least today, no one ended up in the ditch as one of the car drivers did on Thursday. Fortunately she was able to drive out of it. Steven was set up overlooking a pasture with some cows. His work include the cows, but I decided to complete this scene sans cows until I practice strokes needed to create a herd. Jeanne and I were soaked to bone by the time Stephen finished.

The demo

Stephen Quiller's painting

Though some hardy artists remained behind, we went back to the workshop studio. I used Steve's approach to mist with the gouache underpainting. We returned late to "Station 15" as the stretch of Goose Creek is known at about 10,000 foot elevation, so numbered for the ranch fishing lotteries. Two years ago we painted at this station. Today we enjoyed a fish fry done by the chef and his staff.

We finished painting at 3:30,  saving critique for Saturday morning with our final farewell session. That evening we cleaned up and went to Steve and Marta's home where they hosted a lovely buffet. We got to see Steve's studio, which is a dream come true to any artist, sitting over the Rio Grande and just a short distance from his home, which is beautiful and filled with art. 

Day 6 started with a buffet breakfast and then critique. By now, some of our fellow students had left to get an early start on their return home. Jeanne and I had plenty of time as we planned to make our 2.5 hour trip back to Durango and stay overnight before flying home to California. After pats on the back for our final paintings, we packed our supplies and took them to the office for shipping. The day was threatening weather for going over Wolf Pass. We experienced some rain, some thunder and lightening, and snow in the pass. We stopped in sweet Pagosa Springs for lunch at a very popular cafe.

Here a miracle occurred. As we parked a man approached the car and showed us a credit card that was adhered to the trunk of the car. It belonged to a fellow artist who rode with us to Steve and Marta's home. Patty must have set her purse down and the card fell out. The water tension kept it snuggly on the car for over 12 hours and many miles! We got hold of Patty and I promised to send it to her home,

At some point during the whirlwind week I accepted the wrangler's invitation to go on a trail ride. Four of us women participated. Mind you, I had never ridden a horse, in spite of having granddaughters who own horses in Vermont and one is in Equine Management  at UNH. I learned the basics of communicating with the horse and then road up and down hills and through water crossings. I made it back without falling, thanks to a horse who has likely nurtured many novices and could deal with the rider's poor communication skills.

Jeanne and I had such a great time that we decided to do plein air by ourselves on Thursday in the mountains near her home. We also promised ourselves to consider returning to this perfect workshop and ranch in a few years. Twice was not enough!!

Colorado, Days 3 and 4

"Fishing the Rio Grande"
29" x 15" Watercolor

On our third day at the ranch, Steve arranged for the Chris, the ranch hand in charge of fishing, to do some casting at the Rio Grande that runs through the ranch near the entrance. We would make quick sketches and take photos. Rain was forecasted shortly, so we were planning to return to the workshop building.

It was a cold morning and very overcast so not much detail was seen in the distance.  Chris chose a spot where he knew he could catch fish and within seconds, pulled out a large one. We admired the fish and then he was returned to freedom. Chris then moved downstream where Steven wanted him to "pose" backed by gorgeous scenery.  He quickly caught three more fish. Steven demoed how he would capture the moistness of the morning and we returned to our work space. After lunch Steve braved the rain and painted outside the building looking across the narrow value, capturing a scene of an outbuilding with a white roof. He managed to finish the painting with minimum raindrops included. I watched briefly, but was too uncomfortable and returned to my painting.

That evening we carpooled to the town of Creede to visit Steve's gallery and to tour the amazing mural he painted for the local theater. We started getting snow and were told it was about a month early. The next morning we awakened to a beautiful dusting of snow on the valley and some with staying power on the high peaks.

Thursday morning we all bravely lined up behind Allie and headed up the now mushy, muddy ranch road toward the hills in the above photo. Steve had positioned himself to paint the old Miner's cabin. By the time we started our own work, Steve was standing in a puddle of water and mud from the warming temperatures. He showed us how to prime the paper with white gouache on the top portion to achive the misty effect.

Steven's demo painting

Jeanne and I painted a similar scene from a different perspective and it's one I would like to redo, so stay tuned. Tiring of my poor attempt, I turned to the mountains and painted the scene I showed on my first Colorado post. I used Steve's technique of priming with white gouache to create the sky. I was happy to have Steve tell me to stop and soften a few edges and call it done. He liked the mood I captured with little detail.

Colorado, Days1 and 2

"Autumn Gold"
15" x 20" Mixed Media

We arrived at the ranch on Sunday afternoon, enjoyed a chance to meet fellow participants at dinner and an evening introduction. The following morning we began days filled with painting outdoors, delicious meals, and evening sessions in the workshop building. There was little time wasted. Steven began with an introduction to his approach to painting plein air. To familiarize us folks from California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, and other states with the landscapes of Colorado, he had us practice creating the tree shapes in the mountains. These were 30 minute sketches at most.

Sketch 1
11" x 8" watercolor

Sketch 2
11" x 8" watercolor

After lunch we queued up behind Steven's very able assistant, daughter Allie, and headed out on the dirt road higher into the mountains. There Steven demoed and then we all tried our hand at creating our first piece. Here is my first plein air piece of the workshop on Monday afternoon.

"Mountain Color"
14" x 18" watercolor

After critique, Steve showed us how he sometimes primes the paper with an acrylic underpainting, this time in Cadmium Yellow. The acrylic will not lift when we paint watercolor over it, and we can easily lift back to the yellow if we want.

Steven Quiller demos painting watercolor over acrylic on Day 2

We then tried our hand at it, and I did the painting at the top of this post. I fought that thing all the way as I selected a more complex scene. The yellow you see is the underpainting. In some cases I lifted back to it. To put in the blue sky, I used gouache and cerulean blue at Steve's suggestion. Here is the scene. As you can see, I was not wedded to every element in the scene.

Mary's view

On Tuesday evenings, the ranch throws a cocktail party for guests, so we all gathered round the fire pit outside the bar and had a great chat. Steve's wife Marta joined us. We were also treated to surry rides by Damon, a cowboy who has worked the ranch for 18 years and is raising his daughters on the ranch.

Riding in the surry with the fringe on the top.
(That tune went through my head during the ride.)

A Colorado Workshop

"Snow and Aspens"
10" x 20" Watercolor

In late September I attended a plein air workshop given by Stephen Quiller, a noted watermedia artist from Creede, Colorado, known as a color specialist who has authored books and DVDs.  The workshop was held at beautiful 4UR Ranch near Stephen's home. I went with an artist friend who had attended this same workshop with me in 2015. Again, we were amazed by the beauty of this ranch in the San Juan Mountains. We were treated to beautiful meals, a lovely workshop space, and several fun events.

The weather in 2015 was consistently sunny warm days with very cold nights. This year we had entirely different weather, ranging from sunny and cool, to rain, to snow. We found this a benefit, allowing us to learn some new techniques. Steven makes use of acrylics, watercolors, and gouache to interpret the landscape in an artistically unique fashion. His approach to color uses complimentary or near complimentary colors to make colors glow. By mixing these colors, an artist can "neutralize" or "grey down" colors. By surrounding pure color with neutralized colors, I can enhance the effects of the pure color. Additionally, Steven uses thick, dark mixtures next to pure color to make it "sing."

Steven  also emphasizes using granulating colors in neutral areas and often starts a painting with neutralized, granulating colors[. These colors do not sink into the sized paper, so it easy to lift areas back to almost pure white, as I did in "Snow and Aspens," to add the golden foliage. In other paintings, many of the white aspen trunks and branches were lifted from the background.  Acrylics make a good underpainting as it will not lift when watercolor is applied over it and one can lift back to the underpainting very easily. 

He also makes use of gouache and casein with his watercolors to achieve certain effects. In the above painting, done on Day 4 after snow had fallen in the night, I used gouache under the background mountains to achieve the swirling fog and obscure mountain tops. The white gouache mixed nicely with the cerulean blue of the sky.

Sometimes Steven uses dry bush techniques, other times he paints wet into wet. He emphasizes how you control the paint application with the ratio of water to paint. When painting into the wet surface, use a dryer brush with lots of pigment. That is how I created the trees in the foreground. As most instructors will tell you don't mess around after applying the paint. "Let it do what it will do" and "It is what it is." Steven uses the landscape for inspiration, but is not a slave to the scene. He told us "listen to the painting." He always approaches each stroke with a designer's eye. He also completes the last 15% of his plein air paintings in the studios so he can "listen to the painting."

The next post will show you how we began the workshop and other works created plein air with very stunning vistas.