Montana Views - Finally here!

Well, we did it! We moved to Montana! There is so much to see here, I am pretty overwhelmed with where to begin. I decided to start exploring really close to home. It is the beginning of Spring, and the grasses haven't turned green yet, so the dominant colors are browns, golds, oranges and reds, purple and dark green.

So today I got up, got the kids to school and took my dogs out for a walk. I decided to do a little exploring and found the Lone Pine State Park trail heads. I found single track bike paths along with walking trails that are nicely groomed. The dogs got a great walk, I got to see some fabulous moss and rocks, all in the solitude of the woods. Then I came home and took a nap for an hour. Feeling unproductive, I grabbed my easel and paints and decided to go paint.

The first Montana painting is below. (I actually did this one yesterday from a photograph I took a couple weeks ago. It is of a ranch on the Upper Thompson River. My husband and I took a drive out there the first week we were here.

"Upper Thompson"
oil on canvas
11"x14"
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

This second painting I completed today. It is literally within a mile from my house. At about the middle of the painting, in my head I got kind of frustrated, so I just said "Whatever" and just let the paint glide. I liked grabbing the dominant colors and just focusing on that instead of trying to get nitty-gritty accurate with the painting. It worked because I am not accurate with anything I do anyways. I am still not sure how I feel about the painting, but I like the colors and it was fun to do. 

"Three Mile Drive and Spring Creek"
oil on canvas
20"x16"
copyright Raette Meredith 2013