Sunday, September 25, 2011

Balanced Rock - Laura Gillis

On our first day of hiking in Mueller I saw this group of rocks and I wanted to sketch them. Unfortunately, I didn’t get back there for a couple of days and when I did, one of those thunderstorms that they always warn you about came up and over the mountains behind me. I could hear it coming and I thought about waiting it out until I saw the lightning bounce across three peaks to the south and I decided that maybe I should get out of there.

I had some light pencil work done on this when I packed it up so I stood and looked for a couple of minutes more trying to memorize the color, light and shadows but I knew that if I didn’t hurry up and get back to camp I would have to deal with my sweet, adoring, and very worried husband who had been listening to the same thunder that I was hearing. (For those who know me, you won’t believe it, but I was actually hiking without a camera.)

I think it is a fairly close rendering but someday I want to go back and try it again and do some other angles. The rock on the top left is actually a balance rock and every year I go there I like to go and see if it has fallen yet.

This isn't my favorite sketch ever but it was a good practice for me... I would like to do better landscapes faster and I definitely want to work on sketching from memory!

Ink & watercolor on hemp paper

Homestead Trail, Mueller State Park, Colorado

2 comments:

  1. Laura, I like these rocks. Really boulders if the birch tree on the right is in scale. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, you are correct... they were huge pink granite boulders!

    ReplyDelete

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