Steamboat Aspens

This is another new painting in my Colorado Landscape Series that you can see at G44 gallery. When the owner, Gundega, asked me last summer if I was interested in showing a fresh body of work this spring, May 9th seemed so far away.  But when time is counted by brushstrokes, it didn't take long at all. Please come to the opening if you can, Friday, May 9, 6-8 p.m. Gundega hosts a beautiful reception.The show is up until June 7. All work is for sale.

I had fun with this last piece. It is from the plein air study that I did when visiting Steamboat Springs.  Colorado aspen trees are more commonly painted in the fall with their golden leaves. I chose instead to focus on the dance movement of the tree trunks. Curving, bending, seemingly swaying to the music of the day.

Steamboat Aspens
8x10", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stage 1: Drawing in the trees with a thin wash of paint thinned with mineral spirits. And then the background painting begins. (Honestly, I almost forgot to photograph this first stage! Try and imagine it without the blue.)

Stage 2:  Painting the sky. I added in hints of green to add color and interest.

Stage 3:  Working colors and values into the background. Its always important to remember to have at least a light, medium and dark value in your painting.

Stage 4:  Blocking in the trees. Aspen trees have such interesting shapes. Rarely do you see one that looks perfectly straight. 

Stage 5: Completing the trees. There are not many rules to painting aspens. Their shapes, markings, colors and values are consistently inconsistent. So much depends on lighting, location and season. This was so much fun, I'm going to have to paint more of these.

Collegiate Peaks

After hiking to Snowmass Lake, Robert and I had made special plans, a reward of sorts, for successfully making it back down the mountain trail. Our destination: The Mountain Goat Lodge near Salida, Colorado. I'm not even sure I can describe to you how good it felt to arrive at this haven after three adventurous days up in the wilderness. And after a restful night of sleep in a comfortable bed, this is the view that greeted me when I woke up the next morning. The air was still and the sun was just rising as its light gently touched this portion of the Collegiate Peaks with soft pinks and purples. Add to this scene, an occasional rooster crowing, goats and chickens wandering, waiting for their morning meal. It was ideal.

Collegiate Peaks
18 x 24", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stage 1: Drawing in the composition with a brush and paint thinned with mineral spirits.

Stage 2: Blocking in the sky. I chose this warm pink for the underpainting of the sky.

Stage 3: Painting the second layer of the sky. With the pink underpainting still wet, I began brushing in the blues and purples of the clouds with the intention of leaving some the pink showing through.

Stage 4: With a large brush I applied lighter tones of white and then (with the same brush) pulled all the colors into each other.

Stage 5: Blocking in the shapes of the mountains.

Stage 6: Painting the second layer of the mountains. Once again I used a large brush and let some of the underpainting show through.

Stage 7: Painting the lower part of the mountains with grays and dark purple.

Stage 8: Blocking in the foreground. I blocked in two shades of purple...

...and added green and whites.

Stage 9: Completing the painting. Once I had the colors of the trees in place I pulled the colors into each other with a brush. This technique also softened the edges.

Painting Of A Stream: Snowmass Creek

Years ago, when we hiked Pikes Peak, my son, Adam, taught me the value of drinking water. Lots of water. He would randomly monitor my water bottles by checking them during rest stops as well as when we were on the move. He'd shake one and say, "Drink more. You're not drinking enough." It didn't take long for me to realize that hydration, along with calorie intake on a hike, determined how I felt until we reached our destination.

And so, when Robert and I backpacked in to Snowmass Lake last summer, I appreciated this pretty stream all the way up the mountain. Along with everything else at our campground, Snowmass Creek was beautiful. It was not only our important water source, it lulled me to sleep at night and was the first thing I heard when I woke up in the morning.

This is another painting completed for my Colorado Landscape series and will be for sale at G44Gallery in May!

Snowmass Creek
8 x 10", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stage 1: Sketching in the composition with a thin wash of oil paint mixed with mineral spirits.

Stage 2: Blocking in the shapes. This underpainting helped me determine the colors for the rest of the painting. 

Stage 3: Adding more detail.

Stage 4: Completing the painting. Once I had added all the detail necessary for the underpainting, I began using more paint and applying some of it with a small palette knife; this was especially helpful with the flowers and their leaves.

Colorado Landscapes Series: No Name

We have driven by No Name, Colorado, countless times and have never stopped before. With the changing autumn colors at their peak, this rest area, exit 119 on I-70, made an unforgettable first impression. When I looked up at its dramatic canyon walls, I felt like I was standing in one of the great cathedrals of Europe.

No Name
20 x 20", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stages 1 and 2: Sketching in the composition and then painting in the background trees. I used a thin wash made up of Burnt Umber and mineral spirits to brush in my sketch.

Stage 3: Blocking in the middle ground.

Stage 4: Painting the trees and foliage.

Stage 5: Painting the canyon walls. I wasn't sure if my plan of action for creating the rock walls was going to work; using a palette knife, I did a small area just to see. Its fun to push paint around and try different techniques. You never know until you try.

...I continued the canyon walls with an underpainting by blocking in the different shapes and colors that I saw.

Stage 6: Completing the painting. Using a brush and palette knife while the underpainting was still wet, I applied the second layer of paint focusing on color and texture.

Colorado Landscape Series: Beavertail

This is another story of beauty on Interstate 70, between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs.

October 13th, my mom's 91st birthday, was a golden day. As my husband, Robert, drove east on the Western Slope, this is what we enjoyed just before we drove through Beavertail Mountain Tunnel along the Colorado River. The contrast of color and texture between the purple rock wall and the colorful foliage was my inspiration for this painting.

Beavertail
24 x 36", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stage 1: Drawing in the composition with a thin wash of paint.

Stage 2:  Blocking in the rock wall. I really enjoyed the fact that instead of a blue or cloudy sky as the backdrop for this idyllic scene, there was this incredibly dramatic, canyon wall. A perfect color contrast for the foreground of trees, grass and bushes.

Stage 3: Using a palette knife to add the second layer of color and texture.

I looked at all the main colors on the wall and with a palette knife applied those colors on top of the wet paint I had just laid down.

Stage 4: Once all the colors were down, I used a brush to pull them together.

Stage 5: Blocking in the foliage.

Applying more flat color for my under painting.

Stage 6: Adding the thicker second layer of paint over the wet under painting.

Stage 7: Once again, using a brush and palette knife, I pulled all the colors and edges into each other. I also added details like the tree branches.

Stage 8: I chose this purple for my under painting of the water.

Stage 9: Letting some of the purple show through, I came in and added the reflected colors in the water. After letting it rest a week or so, I reworked the wall a bit more and added a few more touches of detail in the trees.

Colorado Landscape Series: Grand Valley

When the car you are riding in is zipping down Interstate 70 at 65 miles an hour and you yell to the driver, "Stop!", you have to have a very understanding driver. Fortunately, I did. My husband, Robert, gets it. He's a team player when it comes to my painting, supporting me above and beyond what would seem reasonable to others. And so, on this gorgeous October morning, he stepped on those brakes just in time for me to hop out of the car and capture this scene in the Grand Valley, a part of Colorado most people miss if they never venture west beyond Vail. Western Colorado in the fall, lovely.

Grand Valley
14 x 18", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stage 1: The composition. After tinting the canvas with a wash of Transparent Earth Red and Ultramarine mixed with mineral spirits, I loosely painted in the lines of the composition before starting with the sky.

Stage 2: Painting the sky. I chose an earthy orange-rust for this under painting.

And then with a palette knife I began placing the shapes of the blue sky that appeared behind the clouds. With each stage of this painting I worked with the method of wet-on-wet paint. 

With my brush loaded with paint, I began to place the clouds. Once all of the colors were down, I wiped my brush and then started moving the paint around, blending and softening edges, then pulling the colors into each other. I left bits of the orange under painting showing.

Detail of the clouds.

Stage 3: Painting in the distant mountains.

Stage 4: Blocking in the middle ground of trees and bushes.

Stage 5: Adding texture, color and detail to the trees and bushes. I used a brush first and then the palette knife for this stage.

Stage 6: Painting the water.

After blocking in the water and then placing the second layers of color where I wanted them, I used a wide brush to drag the paint across the canvas to give it texture.

Stage 7: Blocking in the foreground.

Stage 8: Completing the painting. Once again, I used a brush to lay down the paint colors and then alternated with a brush and palette knife to get the effect I wanted for the grass.