How I spent my summer vacation, part two : Banff and Kananaskis
August 28, 2014
[Moraine Lake]
Handbook Travelogue Watercolor Sketchbook 10.5×8.25”
W&N bijoux box with split primaries (pigment list in here somewhere).
We had a weekend of outrageously good weather. Might have been the best I’ve ever had in the Rockies. Sketching times ranging from 45 minutes sitting in the sun, to 5 minutes leaning on the car while photographers jumped out for roadside shots.
[Welsh Pond] Note: This was 7am so the photogs could get this mirror glass water. I can tell you, watercolor won’t dry on a chilly damp morning. Had to walk back out of the trees and find patch of sun to dry the painting between doing the first wet-in-wet pass and the dark tree line.
[Mount Kidd]
[Lower Kananaskis Lake]
[Lake Louise]
14 Comments
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Citizen Sketcher 
Thanks for sharing your vacation. These are beautiful sketches.
Wow, these are amazing! A great preview as I am going to be there in two weeks. And thanks for the great diversity of posts this summer, a real enjoyment.
Love these sketches and really like seeing you doing them. Looking forward to your book. Hope you address “how to sketch quickly when traveling with non-sketchers….”
I do have a day of examples for just this thing – will post soon after we get back from Rio – going painting up Sugar Loaf tomorrow :)
Great sketches and a wonderful environment! May I ask which colors did you use for the water in the Moraine Lake sketch ?
Thanks for letting us enjoy your vacation too !
Kind regards,
Debora
Hi Debora (from the hotel in Rio – still painting with the Urban Sketchers :) – the lake would have been cerulean blue and viridian green I’m thinking. Maybe a touch of cad yellow light.
I love your use of white space on your pages. A great lesson in less is more. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, amazing! Inspires me to be out this morning to take another look at the Rockies, ah, inspiration here.
Your sketches are really beautiful! Greetings from Montreal.
I really like your treatment of such large shapes with soft colors. I have totally bought into your “tea with milk and honey” idea. So many of my paintings are so overworked… I start out with something gentle and subtle, and then I just keep adding more and more pigment until it gets really harsh and garish. I keep repeating the teal-milk-honey mantra in my head and, sometimes, I manage to keep the pretty parts…
Eric
Phoenix AZ
Yes Eric! Learning to reliably pull off “less is more” is a goal of mine :)
Beautiful paintings. Great studies!
You are so incredible – I just love seeing your work, and it’s so cool to see on-site photos along with your paintings. Everything I look at is so inspiring and beautifully executed. Thanks for sharing!
I absolutely love the painting of Mount Kidd. It feels so simple, fresh and clean. The water on Moraine Lake is gorgeous too.