Painting in the Mountains: With Time-Lapse

My mom, @connieluebbert, recently moved to Colorado, and I had the pleasure of visiting her recently. I also have the pleasure of having an artist mom so three days in a row we scouted views and went out together to paint. Rocky Mountain National Park is only an hour from her house!

I've been working on getting better at landscapes for a couple of years now. I'm really interested in impressionism specifically. Painting en plein air is one of the best ways to challenge myself to improve. I wrote a post about six months ago about plein air the last time I was in Colorado. There's that and more photos of different places I've painted here.

This spot was just off one of the main roads in Rocky Mountain National Park. There was just a little bit of snow on the peaks. It was a beautiful view. I brought my camera and sped up the video 4000% for this video. At the beginning I say "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" because I was so excited (I'm kind of a nerd!) A bit later I say "So frickin' fun!"

The final:

We painted at a couple other stunning spots. The first is a spot off the highway on the way to Estes Park, and the second is another spot in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Also! I have to include one of my mom's paintings! She uses watercolor, a medium I'm still scared of. Her goals: "...impressionism and simplification...to capture the light, evoke the feeling of being there; the atmosphere, the experience …through strokes of pigment and water."

watercolor, @connieluebbert

Artists, have you ever tried painting plein air? What challenges did you come across?

Thanks for looking!

www.christiesnelson.com