February 22, 2014

Saturday, February 22, 2014

February 22, 2014

Today was the first day of the last week of this Leap Into February! It was a nice day too, a little windy (surprise!), but overall a very, very nice day. I took a drive to Boulder to paint along the trails on South Boulder Creek. This area was under water in a serious way during the floods, but it's open now, not looking too bad, and full of people running, biking, and of course... walking their dogs. The evidence of the flood is everywhere, weeds and brush in branches of bushes and trees 4' off of the ground. That tells you how high the water was. Much of the habitat along the creek has been washed away, but many of the large trees are still there, the smaller brush will grow back fast with all of the nutrients in the soil from the flood. There is a lot of trail repair still to do. Despite all of that, it's a great place to paint.

By the end of the day, and my last painting, the light went very flat, and cold, not my favorite situation to paint. I did anyway, but might have been wise to call it a day at number three and get out of there. I say that because with the failing light, what was in front of me was not appealing to my taste as a painter. From experience, I know that if I'm not charged up about the subject, it will transfer as I paint. Then again, there's something to sticking out a situation, many things can be learned.

We had snow falling in the foothills as I left the area. There was a lot of drama to see to the west on my drive home. That's what I love so much about this area. As you've seen in the first three weeks, the weather here really does change constantly.

With that, I'll share what I did today. Thanks for looking in... Enjoy!