So traveling out west these past couple weeks has been an amazing adventure. I highly recommend that anyone and everyone try to go see America’s National Parks at some point in their lives. I loved having the opportunity to see new things and of course do a few sketches.
Painting and drawing rock and cliffs is much different from any other landscape. I found it difficult to get there shading and colors right. There were many cracks in the rock and shadow that made recreating it in watercolors difficult to do. It was also hard to find time to sit down and sketch something because of the tight schedule I was on.
While in a town called Moab there was an art walk going on. Instead of First Friday’s (like what we have in Scranton) it was called Second Saturday’s. It was really cool seeing the local galleries and art. Some of it was more crafty for the tourists but the more fine arts-like paintings and jewelry and ceramics were really interesting. I saw similarities in styles and mediums to east coast art but the subject matter was completely different.
I really enjoyed my time over there and hope to keep practicing from what I learned and saw. So here are some pictures of what I saw and what I drew.
Fantastic! We love them!
your drawings are very expressive, wonderful interpretations of the landscape – thank you for sharing them
Of course! I tried to get as much detail as possible in the little time I had to sketch.
Sometimes not having much time in which to draw can be very freeing in that it forces you to think about the scene in a summary way. And these are really wonderfully interpreted. The big sense of the scenes is so wonderful. It’s difficult as the artist when mentally you are comparing the drawing with the reality that was before you, but every drawing is interpretation. And these interpretations are very pleasing ones. Personally, I especially like the first two pencil drawings with their sweeping and dramatic big forms, the strong contrasts of light and dark, and relative absence of detail. Bravo.