These days the sunsets have been just spectacular. Storms in the mountains and the strong winds create an incredible soft shadow over Boulder just before the sky goes dark and the temperature drops like a rock.
I recently went to visit my son in Durango, Colorado. The trip is 7 hours in a car, and then 7 hours back again. Even though it may seem like a terribly long time, the scenery that one goes through is so impressive that the time really goes fast. The roads are not very busy, ever, so the whole trip is just a great pleasure at any time of the year. This time it was winter, of course, and I painted, oh, probably about 10 paintings so far on the same theme. Pictures taken with my iPhone from the car. A lot of them are very similar, but still each is quite unique. I am posting them on www.facebook.com/janjicart on a daily basis. I will catch up one day and post them under the watercolor tab as soon as I get a chance. For now here are a couple. The closer you get to Denver, the less snow there is on the ground. Still the skies around South Park and the entire valley are just too much.
San Luis Valley
Jefferson, CO
My son Ug goes to college in Durango and he is an avid photographer. So, when he is not studying very hard, like he normally does, every day, he hikes around and catches these beautiful moments. He then sends them to me to paint. This is one of them. What a beautiful, calm winter afternoon that must have been!
Animas River at Durango
So, for those of you who are following me on Facebook.com/janjicart (you can always click the link and Like the page) you know that the idea is to do 365 paintings this year. I am already pretty much behind. As of today, Jan 22nd, I have 13 done. Nine back. Still, whenever I get a chance I do three-four in one sitting. Or standing, I like to paint standing up. If you have any winter scenes please send them to me at ugljesa@janjicart.com and I’ll gladly do them. The major problem with painting 365 paintings is to find 365 motifs to paint. Whenever I take a trip anywhere now I use my iPhone and shoot as much as I can from the car, and then crop and edit whatever my eye thought was important. These ones were done just like that:
Near Pagosa Springs
Near Wolf Creek Pass
I am beginning to enjoy doing demonstrations. I think people get to understand the process of doing watercolors much better. Not that it is all that hard or anything. They see it and say, hey, I can do this. Exactly the point! Fear of our own judgement of the outcome is what keeps most of us from doing art. “I was never good…” and all that nonsense. Who cares! If it’s fun to do, just do it. Throw it away after you are done, if you like, just like kids do! They just walk away from it and go play with something else. Great lesson there.
Here is the last one I did of three total. The others are under the art/watercolor tab.
I did this demo yesterday for my sister-in-law Ruth and her mother Virginia, who is an artist herself and visiting. I used a picture that I borrowed with permission from Ani Espriella, a neighbor artist and an avid photographer. The picture is of a barn just around here somewhere, very close to our home in Boulder, just can’t put my finger on the farm exactly, there are so many of them around that look much alike.
This fall has been exceptionally beautiful, the air, the fall colors have been just stunning. Oh well, if I was a poet I would desribe it with words. Since I am not, here is my interpretation of it. Enjoy it, like I did!
I totally enjoyed the lunch demonstration with the Rotary Club of Longmont yesterday. I did this piece in under 1/2 hour and found out that painting in front of people is a great experience. The whole watercolor painting process is a very dynamic event and it should be observed throughout in order to get the feeling of the creation. The final outcome is then much more understood and appreciated. The details reveal themselves only after your are done. Also, while the crowd is distracting while you are trying to think about what you are doing, at the same time it helps you not think about the process as much and makes the painting a more direct reflection of your instinctive response to the model. Here is the painting. By the way, it sold on the spot!
OK. So the colors are a bit exaggerated, aren’t they? We never get those kinds of reds here in Boulder. Mostly it goes from yellow-green to full yellow to a maroon-brown and then that is it. The east coast gets all the reds, I hear.
And the lake? I added that too. So what is for real here? I guess the painting is.
11×15 inches; Fall Colors
Here we are, just as I said that I will do a series on Boulder, Louisville and Longmont, I go ahead and do something else. I guess that is the way things work.
I took this picture a few days ago while crossing a street, risking an injury if hit by a vehicle, but that is the life of an artist! Treacherous and only for the brave of heart! (If you can endure a lot of poverty than maybe you can make it.)
11×15 inches; Denver LoDo District – 16th Street Mall
I plan on spending the next two weeks on quick streetscape impressions before the leaves start turning. Longmont, Boulder and Louisville for now. Then off to the mountains for a fall paint fest.
Below is a half hour sketch of a building on the corner of Main and 4th in Longmont, not far away from the Muse Gallery. Actually, as I was walking down the street the other day, I saw my painting in the window of this building. (picture to the right) It took me a couple of seconds to realize it was mine. You can even see the white cars in the reflection of the window and then in the painting below.
In front of my painting is a glass vase by a phenomenal Longmont artist Angelo Ambrosia.
http://artslongmont.org/longmont-colorado-art-concerts-shows/artists
11 x 15 inches; Longmont 4th & Ma