Painting Process: First Plein Air of 2025
After the sporadic rain and snow we had towards the end of March and beginning of April, I had a hard time getting motivated to go out and paint, but once the sun came out, you bet I was headed out! I decided to start with a view that required little effort and that I already know I love to paint: Mt Timpanogos.
We live on the hillsides of the valley, so we have a really beautiful view of Timp and Utah Lake not too far from our house. I quickly gathered my painting backpack, cleaned out the 5 month old paint stuck inside it (I really should be better at 'winterizing’ my gear), and set off to this special spot. When we move from this home, it will be hard to beat a view like this! and I will miss it for sure!
The key for me with getting out to paint, especially at the beginning of the season, is to make it as easy as possible: I plan things out ahead so I know exactly where I am going, or I make the decision as easy to make as possible by using the bare minimum in a close location and not even painting on a panel. This was one of those moments, I chose to paint in my trusty plein air craft paper sketchbook.
When I start a painting, I decide what exactly about the scene is drawing me and make that element the focus of my study.
In this scene, what I loved about it was the intensity in the sky and how darkly it contrasted with the snow on the mountain. so getting the values in the snow and the value of the sky as correct as possible was my focus.
I’ve painted Mt. Timpanogos so many times, I feel like I know it’s profile pretty well by now. Looking back at some of my earliest paintings of the mountain is a little embarrassing, because I clearly had a hard time with all of its canyons and relative peak heights. Nowadays, I would definitely not claim to be the best at capturing her face accurately, but I feel that I have improved immensely, I can more clearly represent her likeness now than I used to.
The finished product. My foreground is a bit of a mess but it wasn’t my main focus, as I explained earlier. As long as it was the color and value I wanted, I didn’t really care much about any fine details.
That is the final painting! It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish, and I think I really like it. It’s definitely a good start to the plein air painting season for me. I have many other events and paintings planned for the spring and summer, so stay tuned to hear more about my adventures this year!
Amber Ackerman
Sneak Peak:
As a bonus, here are a few other paintings I’ve worked on this month, no explanations, just pictures:
