During the second and third week of June I made my annual Roan Mountain Paint Trip. This is the fourth year I have been up. I had such a good time this year I can hardly contain myself. This blog is a great way to share some of these experiences and encourage other artists and nature lovers to go up to Roan Mountain to experience some of the beauties. While I was up at Roan I enjoyed painting with Craig Franz and Arlene Daniel. My trip started Tuesday June 7 at sunrise until Wednesday the 8th about 3pm. and I returned again on Tuesday the 14th and returning Wednesday the 15th. I was able to overnight in my truck again. The conditions were beautiful and varied as you can see in the images below. We had threatening skies but missed many rain showers. The paintings below are in order of each day I painted. Some I would consider completed paintings, but many I will work on later through the year as well as use for inspiration for larger studio works.
6-7-11-(1)
7:30am
8x10 oil on linen
6-7-11-(2)
9:30am
8x10 oil on linen
6-7-11 (3)
12pm
8x10 oil on linen
06-7-11 (4)
3pm
8x10 oil on linen
6-7-11 (5)
7pm
6x8 oil on linen
6-7-11 (6)
8:45pm
6x8 oil on linen
6-8-11 (1)
7:30am
9x12 oil on linen
6-8-11 (2)
10am
8x10 oil on linen
6-8-11 (3)
11:30am
9x12 oil on linen
6-8-11 (4)
1:30pm
10x8 oil on linen
6-8-11 (5)
6pm
8x10 oil on linen
#5 was actually done near Bakersville, NC on the way down the Mountain.
6-14-11 (1)
7:30am
9x12 oil on linen
6-14-11 (2)
9:30am
9x12 oil on linen
6-14-11 (3)
11am
8x10 oil on linen
6-14-11 (4)
1pm
8x10 oil on linen
6-14-11 (5)
3pm
5x7 oil on linen
6-14-11 (6)
3:45pm
4.25x6.25 oil on canvas
6-14-11 (7)
4:30pm
9x12 oil on linen
6-14-11 (8)
8:45pm
6x8 oil on linen
This was a first for me, to paint a sunset and moonrise just moments apart. The painting above was a
6 x 8 sunset obviously just roughed in about 15 minutes, when Craig Franz said to me, "Look at that moonrise!" I dropped everything to do another 6 x 8 of the moon rising between the clouds. This was a real finale completing 9 for the day.
6-14-11 (9)
9pm
6x8 oil on linen
6-15-11 (1)
7:45am
6x8 oil on linen
6-15-11 (2)
9:30am
8x10 oil on linen
6-15-11 (3)
12:30pm
9x12 oil gesso board
6-15-11 (4)
2:30pm
5x 7 oil on linen
Craig Franz
Try painting these colors!
Standing here to paint is a bit overwhelming, but everyone should try it. Just to stand here for a couple of hours to figure it all out.
My Father's Day gift created by my Daughters and money from my 5 kids
I hope to encourage you to take a trip up to Roan Mountain this summer. Most of these scenes were painted from Cloudland and Roan Gardens for a map to see the area and location click this google map
