Aspen over Colorado Mountains

            Last Thanksgiving my boyfriend, Nick, and I traveled to Buena Vista, Co to visit some family members on his side of the family.  It was mostly everyone on his side of the family meeting up for a nice Thanksgiving get together.  While I was there, his aunt and uncle (the hosts of the event and also the kind people who allowed us to stay at their beautiful home for several nights) asked if I would draw them a picture of some wolves or something for their condo in Copper Mountain.  This was after I had showed them some of the drawings that I had done for an art class and I was actually really flattered that they thought to ask me that.  If you saw their house, you'd understand-- they had very elaborate and beautiful paintings all over their home and everything was decorated to the T.  Obviously, I wasn't going to turn them down, they welcomed me into their home and they were very kind and generous to practically a stranger (as it was Nick's family and not everyone had met me yet). 

            First, I mentioned that I could paint them something after also mentioning that I don't really tend to draw animals like wolves and bears and such.  They mentioned that they love Aspen trees and talked for a bit about what they liked about Aspen trees, then joking around said that I could put in some mountains, etc.  They were joking, but I took it as a challenge.  Focusing mainly on their love for the Aspen tree's and also the changing of seasons, the way that the leaf of an Aspen looks, the mountains and how they look at night and during the day.  They showed me pictures and I could definitely tell that they loved Colorado.  They are very modest people and offered to pay me for whatever I was able to do for them, however I had no intention of ever asking them for anything--not even the cost to ship it to them.  They not only brought me into their home, put a roof over my head and fed me, but they also invited us to come and stay at their Copper Mountain Condo anytime we wanted to.
        
            When we got home from our trip, I started planning for the painting that I wanted to do.  I remember doing a digital painting (rough) on a painting program that I had and really used a lot of the ideas from that rough sketch in the actual painting for them.

Rough Concept Painting, Digital medium

Then I started painting the actual painting which took a long time for me to accomplish with the amount of details involved and the amount of time that I could contribute at one time was over a span of a month or so.  I work full time and go to school so it's really hard for me to get time to paint, but what time I did have I contributed to this painting for them.  When it was all said and done, I not only was able to paint the tree they loved so dearly, but also the Colorado mountains, and since her husband was into Astronomy I did in the sky a reverse nebulous and constellation.  I felt that I stepped up to the challenge and went about it a very creative way.

Final Acrylic w/out protective finish

At the top right of the painting, you can see the constellation and the reverse nebulous.
It was very difficult trying to get an actual picture of this because it looked very blurry in a lot of the pictures I took, however a lot of that "blur" is actually dust particles in space. When I painted the reverse nebulous Perseus, I was referencing a photo from Nasa of a constellation with reverse nebulous and there was a lot of "dust" floating around it. I did the best to make it as 'real' as possible, noting 'real' because it's impossible to see a nebulous with the naked human eye. :-)



There is definitely a lot more detailed in the painted version vs the digital version, however I can see the resemblance.  I found that doing the digital rough copy really helped me get a preview to the work that I would do in the painting.  At the bottom right you can see that there is an Aspen leaf, I spent a lot of time trying to get that leaf to look exactly like a real Aspen leaf and next to it is my signature.  Below is a close up of the leaf.

When I finished the painting I added a gloss coat and protected the painting with a clear acrylic coating.  It gave a certain "oil" appearance to the painting, as it was painted with Acrylics.  After I added the clear coating it gave a shine to it that was hard to get a picture of it.  So, there's a bit of flash glare on it, but at least the finishing of the painting shows off the vibrancy of the colors. (Below)

"Aspen over Colorado Mountains"

Final painting w/Acrylic coating
27" x 36"
Continuous wrap 1/2" sides
Price: $1920 *SOLD*

Catalog info:
Artwork: "Aspen over Colorado Mountains"
Brief Description: Acrylic 27" x 36" Continuous wrap 1/2" sides
Type: Painting
Art Style: Landsape
Medium: Acrylic Paint
Framed: Self Framing (Continuous wrap of painting on sides) 1/2" sides
Reproduction: Original
Retail Price: $1920
Final Coat/Protection: Kamar Varnish-1312/Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating-1303
No: Non-numbered collection