Tag Archives: ink

Rocky Mountain Art Retreat

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The Teewinot art retreat went so well, I decided to do another more local to me. And I think I’ll keep doing these. I stayed at the YMCA in Estes Park and spent a long weekend drawing, painting, doing crafts 🙂

The YMCA has a whole craft center and you can make glass items! I broke up pieces of glass and put them in this mold, and then they put it in the kiln for me. It was fun! And shiny! And breaking the glass wasn’t as scary as I thought. They had a tool that was like pliers, and I was working with really small pieces, so there weren’t any crazy explosions of pieces. Once I got home, I made my pendant into a bolo tie.

And I found a quilt in the Visitor Center! This is “Friends” by Darcy Love, 2003.

I did a lot of drawing from my car, because it was very cold and my hands wouldn’t work outside.

Since it was so cold, I decided to see if I there were any art activities in Estes Park, like galleries or something. And I found Inspired Art Experiences! They have a bunch of different crafts you can learn, much like a sip-and-paint but for lots of different things. I did an alcohol ink lightbox as a gift for my friends, a batik, and woodburning!

The alcohol ink was a bit stressful since I was trying to depict an actual figure, their bird, and the ink moves very quickly. I think it would have been less stressful if I was just trying to make a cool background or fun color blending thing.

The batik was also a bit stressful, the wax came out really fast onto the fabric, so I had to move quickly. But it was fun! I did a batik at an art camp back in elementary school, so this was a fun callback. The teacher described it as making a coloring page for yourself, which it was – the wax separated the different zones, and then she showed me how to “color” it in with fabric dye. I enjoyed that part much more, just playing with color blending, almost exactly like watercolor “wet on wet” technique. And now it hangs in my kitchen, I’m quite pleased.

Then I did woodburning! This was very slow and meditative, and smelled amazing. It was essentially slow drawing. The tool was just a fat pen with a HOT tip on the end, and I liked finding the different pressures and speeds to do the shading and hard lines. I was also very happy that the teacher came back and was like “oh I like your Long’s Peak” – always satisfying to have people see the thing I’m trying to depict. 🙂

Overall, 10/10, will art retreat again.

Teewinot Art Retreat

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Last year, I spent one day in Grand Teton National Park, most of it yelling and pointing at the mountains… So I had to go back, specifically to sit and enjoy and look and make art 🙂

Teewinot is the original Shoshone name for this range and translates to many pinnacles, which I find much more fitting than the French name.

I had vague plans, but let my art heart lead and followed the rising and setting sun. It was stunning. I felt a little like Thomas Moran, walking about doing artwork, though I had the luxury of a car and like… A nice, developed campsite. I also saw two bears and a double rainbow, so it was a very good weekend.

From the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram, which was a bit underwhelming and extremely windy, but there was a great view of the whole valley and I got to see Corbett’s Couloir (the one the pros do backflips off) and I was stunned. It’s much bigger than in videos.
From Snake River Overlook, where Ansel Adams took his famous picture. The drama of this sunset lasted about thirty minutes and each moment was just as beautiful as the last. I liked the idea of using watercolor pencils and then maybe going back later with water, but I kind of like it just in pencil. This is also my first piece in my second sketchbook, since I finished the first one I bought in 2021! Not pictured: the lineup of photographers with fancy tripods that I was sitting next to.
Bonus: sunset from Snake River Overlook.
This one I tried using my watercolor pencils and then going back with pen. I liked it, though my pen didn’t mark over the pencil so well. Maybe the pigment is a bit hydrophobic?
Little black and black-green watercolor from Jenny Lake. Plus some white watercolor pencil for the permanent snowfields. I liked the bold style of the watercolors without pen, but it was a bit nerve-wracking to put down so much color at once.
One of my favorites of the trip, drawn as a postcard for a friend from Teton Glacier Turnout. I need to figure out how to draw trees in a way that doesn’t hurt my hand though. So. Many. Little. Lines. Not pictured: the couple that got engaged on the other side of the parking lot while I was doing this.
From Schwabacher Landing. I kind of knew this as I was starting this piece, but this is the piece I set out to draw, and I spent the weekend working up to it. It took me about an hour as I waited for the sunset, which was pretty but not as dramatic as the other one. Not pictured: the couple who sat and chatted with me as we waited for the sunset.