Lone Peak in Watercolor

I have wanted to do a larger painting of Lone Peak for quite a while. It’s the biggest and most prominent mountain that I see from the part of the Salt Lake Valley where I live. I periodically post images of my view on Instagram. You can see the vast differences in weather, light, and colors.

I did a little painting of Lone Peak at last year’s Art in the Barn, as it was viewed from the spot at Draper City Park where my booth was. When looking for photos of Lone Peak, there are many that are taken from the cirque; which is the little valley just below the summit on the east side of the mountain. When people are hiking to the summit, that’s the route that’s taken. I haven’t made it to the summit yet, so I didn’t want to post a photo of that view.

The cross country team my kids run with does weekly trail runs from different trails throughout the south Salt Lake Valley and one park in particular, Steep Mountain Park, has one of my favorite views of Lone Peak. So that’s the view I went with.

I usually have a plan in my head on how I will do any of my paintings… whether it’s a starry sky and what colors it will feature, or a clear day with clouds. With this one, I literally had NO idea what I wanted to do with the sky. I started with a basic blue sky wash and then went in with some toilet paper to lift out some clouds. The AC was on in my house and my wash was drying really fast, so that plan kinda went out the window.

Once I had that first wash done and dry, I decided to come back to it after finishing what I wanted to do with the mountain.

I thoroughly loved playing with the purples and teals in the shadows and figuring out what kind of colors made the sheet granite cliffs that adore the top of Lone Peak. My youngest son watched me for a little while and I was SO PROUD when he noticed the differences in the warmer, yellow-y greens of trees in the sun and the cool, bluer greens of trees in the shade.

When the mountain was all done, I did another wash of my sky blue to make it all darker and then I busted out my Himi gouache paints to figure out some clouds.

My first pass was an attempt to do wispy clouds and I ditched that idea pretty quickly. I don’t have enough experience with gouache to try and make it wispy like I could do with oil paints.

Instead I focused on making them fluffy and tried to give them some dimension and scale. I really like how they turned out.

And then the washi tape I was using to hold the paper down tore off a little bit of the sky!! I was so mad! At least that is easily fixed after I scan the painting and open it in Photoshop.

I am working on a way to have this painting done as a trucker hat for the running club my kids are on and eventually, I will have this available as a giclee print. So stay tuned.

Supplies: (a few are affiliate links)

• Daniel Smith Watercolor

• Himi Gouache Paint

• Polina Bright Watercolor Brushes

• Princeton Velvetouch Watercolor Brushes

• Fluid Cold Press 300lb Watercolor Paper

• Folio Palettes from Art Toolkit

• Canvas Lamp

You can watch a time lapse video of the process here:

Irvington Track & Cross Country

My brother and sister-in-law are both teachers at Irvington High School in northern California. Last year, they became coaches for the school’s track and field team and this fall they added the cross country team to their jobs.

They were in need of some cool graphics to adorn uniform singlets and t-shirts so we went to work coming up with something that the athletes could be proud to wear. School colors are royal blue and white. They are the Irvington Vikings, so we played around with concepts that included a horned helmet, wings, a wooden shield, arrows, a wood grain texture, and some fun fonts.

For uniform singlets, we kept it simple with just the school name with the helmet and wings. That way they can use the same graphic for both track and field and cross country. I think they will get sublimated singlets for the teams.

Sublimated printing is a bit more expensive at the start, but it allows for more freedom with colors and designs and the shirts last longer wash after wash. This is especially important for sports teams where athletes don’t keep the singlets when the season ends and they are loaned to another athlete the following year. This is where screen printing can wear out over time.

For track and field, we also wanted some cool t-shirts that athletes can wear to trainings and to kind of advertise their team. I sent a few concepts to my brother and he had a few of track athletes that are in his math class give their input and we went from there.

When it was time for cross country season, we had fun with a popular saying for many cross country teams. They are planning to print these on a heathered navy blue tee.

These were so much fun to create!! Thanks Pat and Melissa!

Two New Stickers

I added two new stickers to my shop this week.

The first one is a line I saw from a friend a long time ago. It’s always a line that has stuck with me growing up as a woman in this world. This is the first time I’ve opted to try for a glitter border too and I think it turned out pretty cool. The sticker is 3x2.5 inches and durable vinyl.

The second sticker is a quote I read a while back from author Glennon Doyle and it’s one that I really relate to.

I will have plenty of these stickers in my booth at Draper City’s Art in the Barn on August 25 and 26 and possibly Draper’s Int’l Arts & Crafts Festival too.

Also remember that any sticker purchases include a free 2x2 inch circle sticker of Sundial Peak. You can read about that one here.

Laura's Holiday Card - 2022

Laura’s ideas for amazing and creative holiday cards never disappoints. This year was no exception. She’s been honing her skills as a makeup artist lately and she used that for her family’s holiday card this year.

Laura did all of the awesome makeup and her daughter happily got dressed up as Cindy Lou from the Grinch. I just cut everyone out in Photoshop and made it all pretty with text. I love how it turned out!!

Here you can see every fun holiday card Laura and I have worked on together.

I’m more impressed that Laura has been able to convince her family to go along with these ideas year after year! Kudos!

Three New Stickers

I added three new stickers to my shop this week. Click here to buy, share, gawk, critique, you know the drill. My #NPSLover stickers are listed first with my I ♥ Public Lands sticker right below them.

Up first is the painting I did last summer of the Milky Way over Sand Dune Arch at Arches National Park. I painted this during the weekend I spent at Draper’s Art in the Barn. It was a 2-day art exhibition (my first ever!), and I found it impossible to just sit or stand while people milled about, so I brought supplies to paint and ended up doing 3 small paintings.

Sand Dune Arch was a favorite spot of my kids when they were younger and didn’t much care about the awe of the park. Hike for just a few minutes in between these giant fins of sandstone and there’s an arch in there; it’s super short. It’s a wonderful spot to let little ones play in the fine sand and, depending on when you get there, you could rest in the shade. This spot can be super popular in the summer months when it’s hot. We’ve been to Arches multiple times, but only in April and May; which I HIGHLY recommend. Spring Break is a wonderful time to visit Moab.

You can click on the image to purchase a sticker too.

Next up is a painting I did of Corona Arch, just outside of Moab. It’s one of my favorite places ever and I did this painting for a client a while back to be printed on neck gaiters some day. For this sticker, I went with a new-to-me website, Jukebox Print, for these stickers and I LOVE how they turned out.

This is one of my favorite paintings and I had SUCH a fun time painting it. It was one of those times where I felt like I was in a groove and paper and paint just cooperated and coordinated.

Last up is Sundial Peak in Big Cottonwood Canyon and part of the Wasatch National Forest. I had to do some research to find out if this peak was on National Park Service land or BLM Land. I’m still not 100% sure, because I also see it tagged in the Twin Peaks Wilderness. This spot is close to where we live and it’s a hike I hope to do this summer. If I can plan it right (depending on snow melt and weather, we’ve had a TON of snow this winter), I want to do a backpacking trip there. It’s a tough trail with a lot of elevation gain, but it’s supposed to be worth it… barring the mosquito situation.

I painted this one just last month to help pull me out of a funk I was in. Finishing it, and subsequently making a few changes in Photoshop, really helped pull me out of my Winter Blues and the funk that I was in. I will have this available as a giclée print in a couple of sizes in the coming months.

I actually made a mistake when ordering this one as stickers. I didn’t pay attention to the wording on a sale and I ended up ordering 2x2 inch stickers. These are a lot smaller than I usually order, so I may just make these freebies to anyone who places an order.

I will order this in a 3x3 inch sticker at some point.

I want to paint some places that are gorgeous and not in Utah next. I have a few spots on my list like South Falls in Oregon, and I have a photo that I took of a beach in Half Moon Bay, California that I may paint. Any suggestions??