Morning and Evening Plein Air Paintings

(left)
"Morning Highlights"
Original oil 5"x5" unframed
©2011 Diana Moses Botkin

My family and I have driven through the Columbia Gorge numerous times on trips. I've always been enthralled with Mt. Hood, but had not had the opportunity to paint the mountain until this week. Unless you are going to take a side road, there is simply no good place to pull off the interstate and see a good view.So participating in this plein air event gave me time and place to study the peak. Early morning light on Mt. Hood is especially lovely and I wanted to capture the feeling of the mountain waking up as the sun shone on the snow. I knew I would have to do several studies to become familiar with the features of this well-known landmark.

Working as fast as I could before the light changed drastically, I managed to finish two small color studies. It's always a challenge to get something on canvas in rapidly changing morning and evening light, but those are my favorite times to paint because I love that rosy glow. 

(left) "Hood Morning" 
Original oil, 4"x6" framed  
©2011 Diana Moses BotkinNOW SOLD

Our paint out meeting place for the day was at Pebble Beach in Stevenson, Washington: a bit of drive from where I was staying north of Hood River. I had taken time to do these Mt. Hood studies, so I didn't get to the beach until almost lunch time. By the time I walked along the river to find the group, most of the artists had done at least one painting there at the beach already. It was a hot day so I opted for a swim in the Columbia River, and a picnic before setting up my paints.My two starts for afternoon studies both got wiped off, so I was hoping to get something interesting painted in the evening.

Fellow painter Becky Joy and I decided to drive toward Portland to find a good view of the gorge cliffs to paint. We also managed to find some blackberries to add to our picnic dinner, which was quite a lovely gift.