Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Dakota's Horse


Our whole family went to Wyoming for a week and stayed at dude ranch called Spotted Horse. The Ranch had lots of horses and wonderful guided trial rides that took you into the scenic mountains. Dakota was one of the wranglers at the Ranch and she rode a gorgeous little paint that posed for me by the barn one day. I promised I would paint a picture for her and here is the finished work. 6x8 oil on canvas board.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Spotted Horse Ranch




We took a family vacation in July to Jackson Hole Wyoming and stayed at the Spotted Horse Ranch for a week. It was a wonderful spot and full of interesting things to do so finding time to complete some plein air painting was tricky. My son and I are both artists, and we decided to give up a couple of horseback rides and go out with our painting gear to have some fun. There is no end to the scenic vistas to commit to canvas in Jackson, so the sky is the limit as far as subject matter. This was a tent that was permanently set up at the ranch over in an wooded area where we ate two of our evening meals. I painted this 6x8 canvas board image when the afternoon sun was making some interesting light patterns on the tarp roof.

Spotted Horse Ranch


Here was a painting I did of a waterfall called Granite Falls. This location was an adventure to get to in itself. A few miles up the road from Spotted Horse Ranch we made a left hand turn but then slowed down to about ten miles an hour and traveled nine miles on a winding all dirt and road. When we finally got to the the Falls, it was visible from our parking location and was gorgeous. We could see right off it was going to be fun to paint. However, to get to the ideal painting location we had to walk a ways and descend a very steep hillside.
8x10 "Duo aqua oil" on board

Spotted Horse Ranch


One morning we headed out from Spotted Horse Ranch to a cute little area called Moose. We started out early from the Ranch because it was about a forty five minute drive to our destination. We arrived at nine thirty but were told that we had to wait until ten when they allowed us to set up our easels on the roof top eating area of the local restaurant. The morning was a little overcast and the mountain peaks were hidden beneath the clouds but as the time passed the clouds disappeared and were able to see the entire range.

I think if we had had more time, we could have pulled out another canvas and painted several different views from the same roof top.