Out West, part 1
Margot Kimball, founder and director of Art for All
This is the first of Art for All’s Art Outside Summer Blog posts. Will you be making art outside this summer? Would you like to make or contribute a post to the blog? If so, contact us at hello@villageartroom.com.
It was an intensely busy winter and spring at Art for All, leading up to Spring into West Concord and the completion of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail Mural and Exhibit. I was ready for a vacation! In my 20’s I lived in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and I have a daughter living in Montana, so I was very happy to return to that area of the world and…. paint! I set my sights on making 30 postcard-sized watercolors while visiting and touring.
Painting the landscape in 1989
This image of my fish-self drawing and painting in the Cascades when I was in my 20’s is from my cartoon autobiography (more on that in a future post!).
34 years later, in the Rockies
Painting mountains is SO inspiring. It is a good thing we don’t have any around Concord or I would do nothing but paint landscapes!
Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.
Not too much stuff!
I kept things simple. All of my paintings used 4 x 6 inch pieces of heavyweight watercolor paper, pan watercolors, a plastic brush with a water reservoir built in, a mechanical pencil and sometimes a black pen. Occasionally, I wanted to add a bit of white. I had neglected to bring what I usually use for that (a white, matte acrylic like Acryla gouache), but I happened to have Bic Wite-Out and it worked well enough.
Painting in the car
A big shout out here to my husband, Matt, for driving about 1,500 miles around Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, allowing me to draw and paint as we went.
Next post: Craters of the Moon and Yellowstone National Park
Y
es, that really is me being a total Art for All nerd, wearing my hand-painted t-shirt on my travels. Some people just don’t quit! 😁
Will I make my goal of making 30 paintings? Find out next Monday in the next installment of Art Outside Out West!
