Sunday

"Iris Explosion", oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Iris Explosion", 8 x 10" oil, $395 framed
click here to purchase

I was having some fun playing with transparent, translucent and opaque paint in this one. I really wanted to see if I could capture the glow of the flowers in the sunlight, without the use of strong light and shadow. It was really fun to do.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Saturday

"Athabasca Valley & Snowdome", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Athabasca Valley & Snowdome", 7 x 12" plein air oil painting on board
SOLD

This is the only painting that I did on the way home from Jasper. It was such a long drive that we didn't take too much time to stop and paint, plus it was pretty cloudy -but when the sun came out -spectacular!! The drive from Jasper to Banff is the prettiest drive I have ever been on -if you ever get the chance -take it! I would like to do a large painting of this -maybe during this long winter ahead. Right behind this view is the Columbia Icefields -you can see the glacier at the top of the mountain on the right. Amazing, simply amazing!


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Friday

"View of Mt Edith Cavell", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"View of Mt Edith Cavell", 8 x 19" plein air oil on board
$200 unframed, click here to purchase

This is probably my favorite of my Jasper paintings. I have loved this mountain ever since I climbed up into her wildflower meadows over 30 years ago. The painting is done from Lake Annette. I couldn't get over the colours!!


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Wednesday

"Pyramid Mountain - Jasper", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Pyramid Mountain - Jasper", 9 x 12" plein air oil on board
$250 unframed, click here to purchase

I almost called this "There's Iron In Them Thar Hills!", but thought it was too long : ) This was the view at 180 degrees from yesterday's post. I was really excited to try to paint the lovely orange in the mountain -after all the grey, it was a delight to my eyes. I began the painting with a wash of transparent iron oxide, which I left to show in the orange bits, and I think it worked out really well.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)


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Tuesday

"Sunlight and Shadow", plein air painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Shadow and Sunlight", 8 x 6" plein air oil on board
SOLD

On our second day into our Jasper trip I found this view as we were scouting for painting locations. I was fascinated by the patterns and colours and tried to quickly get it in without too much analyzing -just reacting to what I saw. I really like this little painting!


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Monday

"Temple Mountain", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Temple Mountain", 8 x 6" plein air oil on board
SOLD

This is the second painting from my Jasper painting trip. This is my husband's favorite mountain in Banff National Park- at 12000 ft it is a difficult climb, which he had done on several occasions. This view is from Hubert Lake. There were people swimming in the lake while we were there, and it sure looked tempting.


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Sunday

"Lake Louise" plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Lake Louise", 9x12" plein air oil on board
SOLD

This August I was thrilled to go on a painting journey to Jasper, AB with my good painting buddy and fabulous artist Patti Dyment. We have been talking about this trip for a long time and finally was able to make it happen. I did explain to Patti that as I was on crutches at the time, that she would have to act as a 'sherpa' for my gear, and she happily complied. We took my camper van which had room for both of us to have our own beds, so we were happy as clams, and about as cozy!

This is the first painting I did, sitting among the thousands of tourists. Get a load of my set-up with my cast! A little girl stopped by to ask me what I was painting -ever get that question? I asked her if it looked like anything around her and she said no. Her mother was very apologetic! The colour of the glacier fed waters of Lake Louise is just amazing and the water is very cold. There were tons of little red canoes out on the lake -I put one in and then took it out as I thought it was too distracting.



Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Thursday

Upcoming Watermedia Landscape Workshop by Sharon Lynn Williams


"Marsh Light #3", fluid acrylic on watercolor paper, double matted with archival mats
$475 framed

This was my second demo in using fluid acrylics as watercolours at my spring watermedia landscape workshop. I am about to hold another watermedia landscape workshop through Chinook Learning Services from Sept 20-22, 10 to 3pm each day (Thurs-Sat). We will be covering watercolour, gouache and acrylic in the class, using your choice of photo reference. Focus will be on puddling of colour for vibrant effects as well as edge control, composition and simplifying reference material to make sure your viewers will see what you intended them to see in the work.

"Pienza Laundry", fluid acrylic on illustration board, double matted with archival mats
on auction at DPW ON SATURDAY beginning at $100, click here to bid

This another demonstration of fluid acrylics as watercolours, except that the acrylic in this case is used transparently (building), translucently (sky and backgroud trees) and opaquely (laundry and roses). These different levels of opacity really make it feel like the sun is shinning on the subject and adds surface interest to the painting.  Some advantages of fluid acrylics over watercolours are: you can layer and glaze without making mud, the colour remains vibrant even when dry, you can use opaque and translucent passages to make the surface dynamic, and you can frame them like an oil painting without glass. The only disadvantage that I can think of is that you can't lift them when they are dry, but heck, you can always go in with opaque media!


This is some of my wonderful class at my spring workshop. Everyone said they had a wonderful time and learned a lot -I think I may have converted some of them to the dark side!!


 I am about to hold another watermedia landscape workshop through Chinook Learning Services from Sept 20-22, 10 to 3pm each day (Thurs-Sat) for the low, low price of only $295!!. You will make more than that back using what you will learn in the workshop in your own work!! We will be covering watercolour, gouache and acrylic in the class, using your choice of photo reference. Focus will be on puddling of colour for vibrant effects as well as edge control, composition and simplifying reference material to make sure your viewers will see what you intended them to see in the work. If you would like to join us, please click here for more information and to register.

PLEASE NOTE: MY WORKSHOP SCHEDULE HAS CHANGED DUE TO A TECHNICAL ERROR IN DATES!!! PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED SCHEDULE ON THE SIDE OF MY BLOG OR ON MY WEBSITE. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION : )



Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Tuesday

Upcoming Watermedia Landscape Workshop by Sharon Lynn Williams


 "Elbow River Spring", 7 x 7", watercolour double matted in archival mats
$260 framed

I am about to hold another watermedia landscape workshop through Chinook Learning Services from Sept 20-22, 10 to 3pm each day (Thurs-Sat). These paintings are my demonstration paintings from the workshop I held in the spring, and never had a chance to post. We will be covering watercolour, gouache and acrylic in the class, using your choice of photo reference. Focus will be on puddling of colour for vibrant effects as well as edge control, composition and simplifying reference material to make sure your viewers will see what you intended them to see in the work.

 "Falling Creek", 10.25 x 14.25", fluid acrylic double matted in archival mats
$490 framed

This was a demonstration in fluid acrylics and how they are actually superior to watercolours IMHO! Some advantages are: you can layer and glaze without making mud, the colour remains vibrant even when dry, you can use opaque and translucent passages to make the surface dynamic, and you can frame them like an oil painting without glass. The only disadvantage that I can think of is that you can't lift them when they are dry, but heck, you can always go in with opaque media!
So if you are interested in learning how to paint glorious paintings in watermedia, you can find out more information and register online here. Please note the low price of $295!!!


Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, commission your own painting or contact me to do a workshop in your area, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)


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Friday

A Few More From Colorado -plein air paintings by Sharon Lynn Williams



"Caught In The Act", 8x10" plein air oil on board
on auction at DPW, beginning at $80. click here to bid

It was late in the afternoon the day after the competition paintings were handed in, so I went out with new friend Anne Rogers to see what I could do with the pressure off. I was set up to paint this lovely stream when low and behold, a fly fisherman stepped into the scene. Now if you have ever tried to paint a fly fisherman plein air, then you know they don't stay still and they don't stay in one place more that 10 minutes! I decided to give him a whirl and quickly go in his gesture -one try, that's it. After I was reasonably satisfied with him, I painted in the rest of the scene loosely, so as not to upstage him.

"Morraine Valley", 9x12" plein air oil on board
SOLD

It was fun to try to capture the atmosphere between the lovely ponderosa pine and the mountain valley behind it. Amazingly enough, it took me way longer to paint the mountain than the tree, even though the tree looks like it would take longer. It is difficult to paint something with close values and colours and still have it read as a 3D object.


"View From Fern Tree Cottage", 9x12" plein air oil on board

This was a quick sketch of the view outside our lovely little cottage nestled along the Big Thompson River. Ken and June were our hosts at Bradshaw Cottages, just a hop, skip and a jump from downtown Estes Park. If you are ever in the area looking for a quiet retreat in a beautiful setting, check them out!

That's it for the Colorado paintings! It was a real blast -thanks for tagging along with me.By the way, photographer par excellence, Jim Rogers, photographed all of the painters at the event, made a movie of it and posted it on YouTube here -if you want to take a look see who my competition was!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Thursday

Plein Air Rockies 2012 -final day and Quick Draw



"River Light", 12 x 9" plein air oil on board
SOLD
The finale of the painting part of the competition is the Quick Draw, in which the artists have 90 minutes to paint and frame a painting, and then the paintings are auctioned off in a live auction which follows immediately. It is a hectic time and very stressful for the artists! I chose to do the river which was just catching the morning light, casting it in a glowing golden light. I liked the idea of the coolness of the trees and rocks in the shadows contrasting with the sunbathed creek.


Here I am posing with the painting for the new owner. Hopefully she was able to get it back to her home without smearing the wet paint!! (please excuse the 'hat hair"!)

Later that evening the awards were announced and $12,000 in prizes given out. None to me, but I was just happy to have been invited to participate. The caliber of artists present was incredible, including many famous American artists (Jeff Legg , David Harms, Scott Freeman and Doug Braithwaite to name a few). It was truly humbling to be in such company, and they were all super nice people. I was fortunate to be able to snag a wonderful painting by watercolourist Gene Youngman, and I found out later that it was in the running for Best of Show. Lucky me : )

I was interviewed for the local newspaper and got a 2 page spread, which you can read here if you like. So ends another wonderful painting trip into the Rocky Mountain National Park. I wonder if I will be invited back again next year???

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Wednesday

Plein Air Rockies competition -day 4 & 5

 "Lumpies Gossips ii", 4 x 6" plein air oil on board
SOLD
SourceTek provided mini panels and frames for us to do a tiny painting on, as another part of the competition. I did a cool rock formation in the Lumpies Range, the same place I painted from last year. I loved how the rocks looked like two people deep in conversation -with a third turning their backs, hence the title.

"Long's From The Stanley Hotel", 9 x 12" plein air oil on board

I began this painting on day 2 just 1 hour before sunset, so needless to say I had to go back a couple of times to get it finished. This is the famous Long's Peak, one of Colorado's 14ers (peaks over 14,000 feet), and it is an icon in the area. (Incidentally my hubby climbed it a few days later, getting up at 3am in order to be off the peak mid-afternoon when the lightning often happens -that was the day after the painting was done for the competition, so I just slept and recuperated!)

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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Monday

Plein Air Rockies 2012 competition -day 3


 "Big Thompson Canyon", 9x12" plein air oil on board
SOLD

Monday it was very cloudy and cool, and the haze from the nearby forest fires was putting a damper on the views around town, so I knew I had to find a more intimate view. We drove back down the canyon and I found this place with the overhanging rocks that I thought would make an interesting painting. I wish it had of been sunny, because then I think the painting would have really had some punch. As it was, the values were very close and the colours were quite neutralized -not my natural inclination at all. I loved the dead pine tree in the back as it added a nice spark of colour, but I know that the locals are really grieving the pine beetle infestation that has been killing off a lot of their beautiful trees. This is the only painting that I did that did not make it into the show.

"Waiting Place", 10 x 8" plein air oil on board

On Monday evening we held the 'Nocturne Paint Out". This was only my second attempt at painting at night, and it was quite fun. I had a headlamp on so I could see what colour was on my brush, but the painting itself was getting some light from a nearby streetlamp. I did this in Riverside Park, the location of Saturday's quick paint. The exposure on this photo is not correct, the painting actually looks much better in reality. That's what happens when you are forced to shoot wet oils in less than perfect conditions!!!

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me at williamsdotsharonatshawdotca (insert characters for the dot and at!)

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