Colorado is famous—and rightly so—for its spectacular fall foliage. Last week, our group of plein air painters, hailing from Ohio, Oregon and Connecticut, experienced this first-hand at the
Bruce Spruce Ranch at the foot of the San Juan Mountains. Locals told us the color was a week or so late, but we couldn't have picked a more beautiful week.
The day before the retreat began, we had a solid day of rain. But fortunately, our party was able to hunker down in the rustic cabins with wood stoves fired up, keeping us dry and warm. When the rain cleared the next morning, our first day of the retreat, we could see snow carpeting the higher peaks. Despite the weather turning fine after this, mornings proved cold throughout the week. The wood stoves ended up playing a vital role in our daily routine, and I got pretty good at getting a fire started. However, my wood-splitting skills didn't improve much. Although you could buy bundles of firewood, I foolishly chose to split my own for free; it wasn't long before I was enjoying the generosity of the spouse of one of our painters, who seemed to like splitting more wood than he needed.
A couple of mornings, to avoid having to wait for the day to warm up at the Ranch, we headed down the hill to Pagosa Springs, about 10 miles south. We found several spots along the San Juan River, which runs through town, that gave us views of colorful cottonwoods. Other days, we painted around the Ranch. Established in the 1930s as a guest ranch just below Wolf Creek Pass, it is surrounded by fishing ponds, cottonwoods and broad vistas. You didn't have to walk far for a stunning vista or an intimate view of a creek. Another day, we headed up to Wolf Creek Pass, which tops out at a literally breath-taking 10,856 feet, and on to the historic mining town of Creede. (The snow was gone by then.) We painted there, but we also visited my friend,
Stephen Quiller, which I think was a highlight for many of us.
Stephen Quiller is probably the best-known, all-round watermedia artist in the country. He works in any medium that uses water: acrylic, casein, gouache and watercolor. I think he is personally responsible for re-introducing artists to casein and gouache, and he also designed a very helpful system for painters of any medium, the Quiller Color Palette. (Did I mention he is also one of the artists I include in my book,
Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air?) He's also very personable and eager to help painters. Although his gallery had closed for the season, he offered to come into town to open it for us and to chat with us. During the gallery tour, I learned a surprising thing—he also creates beautiful etchings. A committed plein air painter, he likes to stay out of the woods in November because of hunters, and he uses that time to make etchings.
After the retreat, on the way home, Trina and I stopped in Abiquiu—famous for Ghost Ranch and Georgia O'Keeffe—where the annual studio tour was happening, and then spent two days in Santa Fe, visiting museums and galleries. All in all, it was a fabulous time, and we're eager to host another retreat soon.
If you're interested in my painting retreats, make sure you sign up for my newsletter, and you'll hear about them first. Right now, my Maine retreat (August 5-9, 2024) is full, but I've started a waiting list.
You can find out more about my retreats here.
By the way, I still have room in my one-day, studio-only workshop at Art Fest in Mesa, Arizona, this month. My workshop is on October 26th, and in it, we'll take plein air references (such as I gathered on this retreat in Colorado) and learn how to create finished studio paintings from them. You can get $20 off if you use the coupon code SAVEONMF.
You can learn more and sign up here.
Until next time, here are some more paintings and photos from the trip!
