I must confess:  I've developed a huge love for painting outdoors. 

Previously, I only painted in a watercolor on hiking and backpacking trips. But now, I'm enjoying painting with acrylic and gouache outdoors, in addition to watercolor. Each medium has its use in certain situations.

For instance, in watercolor, I create a quick watercolor sketch of the area, using large, splashy washes, bright colors, and finishing it all off with lyrical calligraphy. It takes me around 30 minutes. The supplies are lightweight, easy to use, and packable. I don't sell my watercolor painting journals. They are captures of my life. A history, so to speak.

Alternatively, I'll choose gouache if I want to paint a small, more accurately-designed piece on panel that I can varnish and potentially sell. It takes me around 1+ hours to finish a gouache. The supplies, while heavier and bulkier than watercolor, are still quite light and packable.

If I have 2+ hours and only a short distance to walk, I'll paint in acrylic. I usually paint larger, more precise paintings, allowing plenty of time for composition and proportions. I design these paintings and focus on capturing the essence and my emotional connection to the area. The supplies are much heavier, however, so a shorter distance to the painting site is key. These pieces are done with the idea of eventually selling them as a finished plein air work.

In June, I had a chance to create both acrylic and watercolor plein air paintings in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. I didn't take gouache because I had to limit my space.

The first day in Telluride, I packed my backpack with acrylics and took the gondola up to mid-mountain to work on capturing  a portion of the San Juan Range. This proved to be incredibly challenging. In fact, after I decided on a composition and blocked it in, I became overwhelmed with the multitude of snow chutes, rocks, and shapes within the mountain. I wiped it out and began again, with a tighter composition. It was an exhausting, but thrilling, paint session at 11,000 feet in elevation!

This was a magnificent view of the range and the valley town of Telluride. Overwhelming in beauty.

The next day I chose to take a short, steep hike up Cascade Falls, and took my watercolors for an easy, lightweight backpack. On the way down these beautiful falls (wow, what a gorgeous hike), I stopped at a rock and painted a portion of the waterfall.

This was a much quicker sketch, where I could sit on a rock, use my lightweight, easy supplies, and quickly grab the impression of the area.

Another day, I had an urge to paint Red Mountain in acrylics. Because we were driving, I was able to use my heavier acrylics backpack, and walk the few hundred yards to the site where I could spend 2 hours capturing the essence of the beautiful mountain. It ended up being pretty cold that day, with strong winds. At times, my husband held open his coat next to me to protect my easel from the wind!

I was able to spend a little more time on this piece of Red Mountain, really focusing on the shapes and colors within the mountain.

The next day, we started from Ouray and drove the Million Dollar Highway to the town of Silverton. On the way back, we decided to hike part of the Colorado Trail near Molas Pass. Again, because I planned on hiking for a longer distance, my watercolors were best choice. We hiked a few miles until I found a good spot to paint Electric Peak. I remember Kinglets calling as I painted. 

This was a nice, quiet, non-taxing watercolor painting, where I absorbed the surroundings and relaxed into quickly capturing the area.

I enjoy the versatility of expression in two or three mediums, depending on how far, steep, and challenging the area is, or how much time I have. If it is a long distance, or steep, I can easily fit my watercolor painting supplies into any backpack; it's light and it doesn't take up much room. Watercolor sketching is also much quicker. So, if I feel I have limited time, watercolor is the answer. 

If I want to spend more time on a detailed, saleable painting, but want to walk or hike a long distance to get to the painting site, I'll take my lighter weight gouache set.

If I have 2 hours or so, and and easy access to a good painting site, I'll pack my acrylics. With my acrylics, I spend more time on the composition, details, and real essence of the area. This is, in a sense, a deeper lesson for me. A real study of how trees, rivers, grass, and rocks come together. I always plan my compositions out to create a beautiful painting. I "design" these painting more than I do my watercolor sketches.

Painting outdoors allows me to slow down, absorb, and enter into an almost meditative state of painting what I see. In either watercolor, gouache, or acrylic, the results are the same: A day well spent.

Do you have questions about painting outdoors? Drop me a comment below. I'm happy to help!

Thanks for reading and enjoy painting, relish each other, and bask in nature's beauty.

Sarah