Impression Evergreen

"Mount Evans Christmas" Watercolor It is a cold and windy day in a spectacular basin known as Upper Bear Creek. Buried under a blanket of fresh snow, Mount Evans is a lofty landmark that imposes it’s iron will on the local weather patterns. Tethered to the foreground, sturdy evergreens are built to withstand the brutal storms that wreak havoc on this hidden valley. Here, heavy snow clings to the blue spruce creating an intricate pattern of dark and light. This time of year, the landscape can only be expressed with mostly cool colors like blue and green. Surprisingly, there is also a few touches of pink and yellow scrubbed into this wintery composition. Such a difficult medium to work with, watercolor painting demands that you relinquish control. Most of the fluid brushstrokes are allowed to flow freely as they encourage you to let your imagination run wild. Strokes of pale color are washed across the smooth surface, giving a loose suggestion of the vast wonderlan

"Mount Evans Snowscape" Mixed Media It's a cold and windy day in a spectacular basin known as Upper Bear Creek. Buried under a blanket of fresh snow, Mount Evans is a lofty landmark that imposes it’s iron will on the local weather patterns. Tethered to the foreground, sturdy evergreens are built to withstand the brutal storms that wreak havoc on this hidden valley. Here, heavy snow clings to the blue spruce creating an intricate pattern of dark and light. This time of year, the landscape can only be expressed with mostly cool colors like blue and green. Surprisingly, there’s also some pink and yellow washed into the high peaks looming above the white glen. Such a difficult medium to work with, watercolor painting demands that you relinquish control. Most of the fluid brushstrokes are allowed to flow freely as they encourage you to let your imagination run wild. Strokes of colored pencil are scribbled across the textured surface, giving a loose suggestion of t

Beauty of snow Deprived of sunlight, January is a dark month defined by brown meadows, black forests and gray brush. This forbidding time of year is exacerbated by isolation, solitude and endless waves of bad weather. The storms come steamrolling down from the divide, dumping incredible amounts snow in a short amount of time. The wind-driven event shrouds the valley in a ghostly rampart that erases everything from view. The next morning as cloud cover dissipates, warmer air is released into the atmosphere allowing an arctic chill to settle over the frozen foothills. The glistening, fresh powder instantly transforms the dreary landscape into a winter wonderland. Pure, white snow brightens the area’s muddy palette as the trees appear greener, the grasses more yellow and the bushes more violet. The sparkling sky is a smooth gradient blended from cerulean to cobalt blue. The forest is decorated with laced pine whose needle clumps collect drifts of plastered snow. The limber wa

Silent Shadows at Dugout Creek "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." ~ John Muir This past winter, western Nebraska was a wonderland. Wandering around in bad weather, I wasn't expecting to find much during my nature walk. Surprisingly, the normally stark Sandhills sparkled with a glow not usually seen. The wide, blue sky was a dramatic backdrop enhancing the deep, white snow. The abandoned Northport school was eerily concealed by a congregation of old cottonwoods. Down the way, strange, dark shadows stretched quietly across Dugout Creek. Where the river ran high, a persistent heron hunted along the mighty North Platte. Flitting swiftly through a yellow thicket, resident sparrows searched for corn while perched on a high snag, a striking kestrel kept an eye out for unsuspecting prey. South of the settlement where whiteout conditions existed, Courthouse and Jail were mere apparitions barely visible above the creekside campground. Ther