Thickly applied oil pastel sunset scene oranges reflecting on lake with dark horizon

Colorado Series 2025

This series of seven miniature oil paintings was my first time painting in plein air, or outside. They showcase the sights on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. All of my supplies fit in a plastic bag in my backpack, and I painted on paper inside the lid of a mint tin. Using oil paints on the go presents a challenge given how long it takes for them to dry, so the tin protects the painting while in my backpack.

  • plein air oil painting of snowy mountain, dark trees in foreground and puffy clouds behind mountain, at brainard lakes recreation area colorado

    Brainard Lake Recreation Area

    Colorado Series No. 1

  • plein air oil painting of colorado mountains with highway road winding between them, green and brown

    View from Highway 7 Lyons to Allenspark CO

    Colorado Series No. 2

  • plein air oil painting of snow capped colorado mountain in lyons CO with rolling spring green hills at the base, green gray and blue

    Rabbit Mountain Lyons CO

    Colorado Series No. 3

  • plein air oil painting of colorado mountains in rocky mountain national park, peaking snowy mountains at the top of the frame with forested hills sloping down into a plain with small stream, green and brown

    Rocky Mountain National Park

    Colorado Series No. 4

  • plein air oil painting in nederland colorado with foggy mountains in distance over a teal lake and rocks and trees encroaching on left, foggy, rainy, cloudy, purple and blue

    Nederland CO

    Colorado Series No. 5

  • Plein air oil painting of park in boulder colorado with winding paved path, trees in foreground and sloping mountain in background, green and brown

    Boulder CO

    Colorado Series No. 6

  • plein air oil painting of garden of the gods in colorado springs, lots of forested greenery with four peaking red rock formations

    Garden of the Gods

    Colorado Series No. 7

This painting was done from the passenger seat of my car in a parking lot after hiking 1.5 miles and turning back around at 10,000 feet elevation on my first day in Colorado. I underestimated the altitude sickness but luckily had a nice view from the parking lot. It’s also my first plein air painting. Lighting changes quickly when painting en plein air, which drastically changes how you see your composition from start to finish.

I planned this solo road trip without much foresight. I figured what time of year would be comfortable in Minnesota and then went a little earlier, because Colorado is further south and presumably warmer. It turns out it stays pretty cold and wet up in the mountains. This painting is of the lake in Nederland on a foggy and misty morning before a long hike with stunning views later in the day. It rained for most of the hike, and so I wasn’t able to oil paint any of those views. I completed this painting in two sessions because my fingers got too cold and my paint too wet to finish in one sitting.

The ultimate miniature painting in this series, Garden of the Gods presented a refreshing new color palette adding reds into my otherwise green, brown, and blue tins. The unforeseen downside to this however is that I have to clean the tin before reusing it for the next painting. I would switch between two different tins throughout the week. Cleaning got very messy, which is a problem given that I was camping, and so I started just reusing the tins without wiping them out between paintings. Thankfully this was my last painting of the trip.

Light moves quickly while plein air painting. While I started this painting with the sun closer to the horizon on the right side of the painting, casting a dark red shadow on the opposite side of the rock formations, by the time I was done the light and shadows were much less contrasted.

Oil Pastels

Oil pastels are unique from oil paint in that they never dry. With an oil painting, if you want to lay more paint on top of an area that is already thick with paint, you can let it dry first so your colors don’t muddle together. This is not an option for oil pastels. Just like how a stick of oil pastel never dries out, neither does it when applied to a surface. I often wear gloves when working with this medium because of how messy it can get. These pieces are sealed with a fixant to reduce the risk of smudging as well as being displayed behind glass.

This was my first time using a palette knife with oil pastels, and its use is evident in the thick strokes of color in the sky. I also used it to scrape the pastel across the water to give a more flat, rippled appearance. The palette knife was essential to applying color in the sky after the first coat without smearing colors together. Unlike oil paint, which you can mix to create the exact color you need, you’re much more limited in your ability to mix oil pastels and more often need to rely on the color of the stick out of the box.

Order

Get in touch.

Please reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or ideas.