Painting a river...

"A River in Verdi"

The day our plein air group went to Verdi to Crystal Peak Park, it was cold and cloudy and breezy.  My companions were from Maui, Hawaii and troopers to join me on this particular day.  One thing about plein air painting, if you get addicted, it brings out the hardiness in us we didn't know we had.

I really loved the river section here.  There were many sizes of rocks in interesting arrangements with water going around them.  So, I had fun using loose brush strokes of diluted paint to sketch in the rocks and the way the water flowed and moved.

But my hands started to get numb, and I didn't pack my gloves (it is May, after all!).  So I brought it home and finished it just the other day.

Water scenes continue to beckon me to meet the challenge of the different layers in space - the bottom of the stream, the layer of water over it, the reflections on top of it, and the areas of white water.  It is so interesting and fascinating to me.