Boone Creek Gorge

One of the virtues of kayaking is that you can poke into places only accessible by water. The Kentucky River and its tributaries provide a host of inspiring sites for plein aire painting, picniking or loafing away an afternoon (after you paddle there).

In Red River Gorge

There is no indication of scale in this drawing. The largest rock happens to be near 12 feet high. The Gorge is full of amazing landscapes and rockscapes. We're privileged to have this gem within an easy drive. Here the late afternoon light strikes diagonally in an otherwise dark scene dense with plants and soggy after months of weekly rain.

Back to the Drawing Board

While I've been laid up recovering from knee surgery, I've lately been drawing on toned paper in the easy chair. For the drawing above, I used a Canson toned paper with a value of six on a scale of 1 (white) to 10 (Black). This works well for a predominantly dark scene. The lightest passages are painted with a off-white acrylic. All other passages in the sketch are either the toned paper or penciled-in. For a snow scene I use a paper with a value of two. This approach is so simple in terms of resources and setup, I plan to take it with me plein-aire painting when I am mobile, hopefully in a month or so.