Painting Along a Nature Trail ✿ Watercolor Plein Air Vlog #62

Ever feel you're being watched? In this week's vlog, I take you with me to explore Pineridge Natural Area, the first designated natural area in Fort Collin's extensive system. I meander around for a couple miles, sharing tidbits about critters, plants and more before settling on a scene to paint. Will I finish it before lunch? We shall see...
#artvlog #colorado #watercolor #pleinairpainting
Art Supplies:
- Robert Simmons #14 Sapphire Round
-- Robert Simmons #8 Flat
- Arches 140lb ROUGH press paper block (the orange one -- 12 x 16 inches)
-- Mjello palette
-- En Plein Air Pro watercolor easel
- watercolor paints by Winsor Newton and Daniel Smith
-- Best Brella plein air umbrella (sadly no longer manufactured)
Camera: iPhone SE and Insta360 Go 3 (on a lanyard necklace)
Music: "Acoustic Breeze" by Bensound
Anything else you'd like to see? Let me know! I'm trying to post something every week, usually on Wednesdays but sometimes Thursdays.
***
Laura G. Young
Bird & Nature Art
Fort Collins, Colorado
www.lauragyoung.com
Blog: lauragyoung.blo...
Facebook: / laura.g.young
Twitter: @LauraGYoung
Instagram: @laura_g_young

[@NancyTipton-u8e]

Loved going on your walk with you…interesting terrain and beautiful views…and once again so enjoyed (and learned from) watching your painting process…thank you for sharing the finished painting. Hope you had a fantastic lunch.😊

[@LauraGYoung]

Aw! Thanks for coming along -- the lunch was quite yummy.😊😊

[@suzannemarshall7458]

So enjoyable to watch this appear on your vessel. Thanks for identifying flowers and birds.

[@LauraGYoung]

So happy you enjoyed the IDs! It's one of the ways I like to connect with what I'm painting. :)

[@KathyTincler]

Beautiful painting! I loved your walk and the identifying of everything. Thanks much for sharing.

[@LauraGYoung]

Thanks, Kathy! I hope to share more, as time allows. (It's been a busy couple of weeks).

[@WildWoodlandsSW]

Lovely day out,and a great result! 🙂🌳🐦

[@LauraGYoung]

Thanks so much, WW!! :)

[@itsmekimmielc]

lovely video. I just loved it. great labeling of wildlife around you as you paint. and I learned alot about watercolour painting. i just started myself. Thank you.

[@LauraGYoung]

Hooray! Welcome to the watercolor club! It's the bestest medium ever (but I am a bit biased.) Thanks so much for coming along and bestest wishes for your creative journey, L. :)

[@sambill2045]

Beautiful video and a lovely painting too, thank you👍

[@LauraGYoung]

…and thank you for your kind words! 😊 🎨

[@nataliedokter8159]

Thanks for taking us along with you! What beautiful scenery, I used to go fishing there as a kid with my grandpa. I enjoyed learning about the various birds. And it was nice watching you paint. :)

[@LauraGYoung]

Oooh, that's so cool that you got to spend that time with your granddad. Neither of mine were much for outdoor activities, despite having grown up on farms. I did get a lot of porch-time with 'em, though. :)

[@moonchaserstudio]

I love how you did the clouds! I learned something! 😄

[@LauraGYoung]

So glad to hear! I love watching how other artists work, too -- no two of us paint alike, even if we have similar experience and/or backgrounds.

[@providencevalleyfarm5270]

I'm enjoying this since I can't travel anymore, the kids bring home photos from Colorado, but it's not the same. Glad you're watching out around you for the furry neighbors. Even in Central Kansas. at our old farm, we had mountain lions! Someone had released a pet along the river near the farm & it regularly came through our land & often stole calves & sheep from the neighbors. In town I don't need to worry what's out there behind the bushes anymore. Coyotes came up to us during the day, but the bobcats & lions were more dawn & dusk visitors. My kids often saw & heard the lioness & her cubs. She came to visit one of their bonfires (I think she wanted hotdogs) but she scared the kids to death. After a couple of visits we gave her a wide berth, and I only ever saw her from afar, about 1/4 mile or so. I had two questions, first, in the last video I watched from May 2023, you mentioned the dryness, which we deal with here north of Wichita as well. Do you ever use a vaporizer or humidifier in your studio? I have to use one most of the time, due to lung issues, and I notice when it's running I have a harder time controlling the water on my paper. Our dryness is usually in the winter or late summer when the heat hits 100+. Second question, which of the Sapphire brushes do you recommend? Blick has them on clearance, sadly no rounds, but I have very few flats so I was thinking of stocking up on some flats and oval washes?

[@LauraGYoung]

Answers! :) 1) We have a whole-house humidifier that keeps things around a steady 40%. Outside it can very dramatically, especially as we have such wild temperature/weather swings. 2) Yeah, the flats are great. I'm sad they might not be available for much longer. I have them in a few sizes but mostly use the 3/4" and #12. No experience with Sapphire oval washes, but I imagine they could be useful for larger works. And wow, that's cool, that you have had all those encounters with a a safe outcome. Mountain lions and bobcats are abundant in the foothills here, and we've had more reports in recent years (probably 'cos we have a higher human population than ever). There's been two attacks not far from this area -- younger animals that weren't as experienced and therefore hungry -- so I'm mindful of their presence. That being said, I'm far more wary of moose! Thankfully, those (mostly) keep to themselves along the river corridor. However now that we've got two wildfires going on at once, it'll get interesting in the coming weeks as this tends to disrupt normal patterns....

[@KathyTincler]

Hi! Your channel is brand new to me this morning and I have been marathoning a lot of the vids...they are delightful! I liked and sub'd. I am a super newbie to the whole entire artworld, trying hard to learn watercolor. I'm 76, live on the desert in Riverside Co., CA. It's been really slow going as I struggle with hand, shoulder issues but am determined. My progress is pathetically slow but am not bothered/discouraged by that. I don't know if it was this vid or one other but you were in the wild and showed a brush that you said was great for cloud painting. The latest trend for KZbin watercolorists has been paint boxes and brush sets specifically for florals but none for cloud paints and brushes....this just came to me. It seems like marketing because so much of the paints and brushes look just like the ones they and even I already have! I think ppl do great with basics and with my income that will just have to do with little bits of add ons here and there....but I do just want everything! LOL (seriously) Anyway, I am curious as to what brush you are using for clouds. Thans you for sharing your wonderful work and bits of your life.

[@LauraGYoung]

Hi, Kathy! I'm so happy to hear you're learning watercolor despite some steep challenges.(I've begun to struggle with shoulder and joint issues, myself.) You are absolutely correct about "specialty" brushes -- a lot of it is marketing. That being said, I've found certain ones to be slightly more helpful for certain tasks -- like the Japanese ink brush I use for foliage, for example. The cloud brush video I believe was this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYO6iqqveayAe9ksi=s_PrPe1UWsLvBh9H&t=282 . I'm a creature of habit and tend to still use my Robert Simmons "Sapphire" #14 Round for skies, even though there's many others that would work just as well. Thanks again for reaching out. It's so awesome to meet other artists who love exploring this medium! If you ever have any further questions, let me know and I'll try to help out where I can. Bestest wishes, L :)

[@terrilikens4975]

The power of the spritzer in the arid Southwest! I heard those strange noises in your video, but couldn't identify them. BTW, you've inspired me to enter a small plein air competition this October. Still haven't settled on a medium. We'll call it a learning experience.

[@LauraGYoung]

Hooray for entering competitions! And yeah, water spritzers are a MUST if one is working 12 x 16 inches or larger. As to mediums: if I could go back in time, I'd tell my younger self to just use whichever one I was the most experienced/comfortable with. Painting on location is hard enough without trying to master a new medium at the same time (which in my case was oils).

[@CIMMER14]

Its such a beautiful area! How do you devide on wait small area to paint? Its 9ver whelming when Im outside and the scenery is so beautiful! Your painting gives the flavor and feel of the area and day.

[@LauraGYoung]

It took a lotta of practice for me to figure out how which scenes I want to paint. But now that you mention it, that would make an excellent video topic, as all my artist friends and myself each have our own different ways of approaching this. Stay tuned… :) :)

[@RJinspire]

Brilliant work Laura, I wish I could paint, thanks for visiting my channel and liking the African Indian videos

[@LauraGYoung]

Thanks, RJ! -- as I always say: if someone has a desire to paint, they'll eventually find the means to do so, even if it's later on in life. (Same with travel. It's not just for the privileged few. Where there's a will, there's a way!). :)