Impression Evergreen

"Western Slope Winter" Colored Pencil It seems like there’s always more snow on the other side of the Great Divide especially in the bottom of the Blue River Valley. During January deep drifts occur in the long shadows of giant peaks. Bad weather usually wreaks havoc at night but often breaks just before daylight. A clear sky in the morning means transparent light with a sun glare that stings the eyes and a frigid temperature that burns the skin. In this snowscape, a jagged range exhibits sharp features while thin clouds whisk across a pale sky. The forest’s edge is a conglomeration of strange shapes creating a wind break separating the white slopes from the arctic plain. The sparkling hues are a phenomenon that can only be seen in the mountains the morning after a storm. The pointillistic image is like a mirage broken by bits of pure color that, from a distance, fuse in the viewer’s eyes. Even in winter, the foreground of brush, twigs and branches is described w

"Grazing Horses, Nebraska" Colored Pencil “Through art we can change the world.” ~ #twitterartexhibit It’s a warm summer day in Bridgeport, Nebraska and a pair of horses is grazing peacefully in a prairie paradise. The grasses carpeting this Garden of Eden are a patchwork quilt of verdant colors. A few cottonwood trees are topped with a full canopy of dense foliage, casting blue shadows that offer some cool relief from the oppressive heat. Hopefully the gathering of bulbous clouds will result in an afternoon rain shower. Colored pencil is applied over a stipple-textured paper, portraying a fleeting impression of this pastoral scene. Flecks of white paper show through even the darkest passages, creating a pointillistic effect that sparkles with light. The optimism expressed by this picture is derived from the beauty of the two animals on display. An Appaloosa and a Red Dunn Quarterhorse, they reveal a perfect harmony that can only be found when immersed in nature.

"Forest Edge" Colored Pencil It's an early spring evening in the Front Range foothills as golden light streams through this quiet corridor. Waves of yellow grasses churn across the valley floor like a turbulent, yellow sea. The shadows are violet and their strange shapes follow the contour of a rugged landscape. The centerpiece of the scenery is a pair of red bushes that inhabit this special domain. The forest edge is a dark barrier of scattered pine trees set in the picture's background. Subtle shading helps define the individual forms while a few streaks of lemon break up the deepest greens. A single Ponderosa seems to have captured the spotlight as it stretches vertically into a powder-blue sky. In the vast expanse a few clouds drift slowly out of the west with trail edges that disintegrate into the atmosphere. Simplified shapes and exaggerated color are stippled onto the page in a pointillistic manner, recording an impression of a fleeting moment in t