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4/25/2020 12:26:25 PM

Dream Lake Rocky Mountain National Park SOLD

Ruth Soller / Comment on this

Steve and I hiked to Dream Lake on our 20th Anniversary, soon after moving to Colorado. It was a glorious summer day with a cobalt blue sky and crisp breeze. Stellar jays and magpies chattered while chipmunks skittered across lichen dotted granite boulders. Colors were pure and intense in my special memory. I'd enjoy hearing about your memory of Rocky Mountain National Park.

You may wonder how I painted Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. I drew a colored pencil sketch on paper and I tested my composition and color choices in an oil study. I selected one tree for the foreground and extended reflections in the lake further into the foreground.

On the large canvas I painted the sky first and liked the look of it. I painted mountains and distant trees before the water and foreground. I decided the reflections looked like a mirror rather than water, so I added more blues in the water and blurred edges in the reflections. Now I felt the water was competing with the mountains to be my focal point. I created ripple action and a curving path to lead your eye from foreground to mountains. I hope you enjoyed learning about the evolution of Dream Lake RMNP.

This painting is available framed at my studio and you may purchase from the link below using PayPal. You may view this in a room by clicking "Room" or view detail by clicking "Zoom". Please email or call me if you have questions or need more information.
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4/19/2020 4:11:30 PM

Merced River Yosemite

Ruth Soller / Comment on this

On our honeymoon we visited Yosemite National Park during the warm sunny days of July. This refreshing scene is along the Merced River which runs through Yosemite Valley. I chose to emphasize the calm cooler hues of the crystal clear water and the pines against the stark mountain background. My challenge was to capture the reflections of the trees and rocks in the flowing river as well as the rocky river bottom visible through the shallow water, thus expressing the peacefulness which engulfed me.

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