Ranch Enchantment

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is a plein air painting I did on a ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Steamboat was a ranching and mining town before it was a ski area and many of the working ranches still remain. This shed with the red trailer out front was an irresistible subject. I started with the cerulean blue sky then moved onto the green hills. Using three different values of olive green I painted the closest hill then added cerulean blue to cool off the mixture and painted the more distant hill.

The rail fence and the utility pole came next and I painted them both with a gray mixed with cerulean blue and brilliant orange. The dark spaces between the fence rails is a mixture of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. The barn behind the fence was painted using the same mixture with an emphasis on the warm burnt sienna. Now onto the shed. For the roof I used cerulean blue mixed with brilliant orange and when that was dry I dry brushed burnt sienna on top for a rusted look. Burnt sienna and ultramarine blue were used again for the shed, it is amazing what you can do with the same two colors. Another example, look at the fence and the windows on the shed, they are painted with the same mixture of cerulean blue and brilliant orange. The difference is the windows have an emphasis on the blue so that the glass appears to be reflecting the color of the sky.

You see the inside of the door because it is open and has not been exposed to the weather as much as the outside of the shed. It was painted with yellow ochre and burnt sienna. The trailer is Indian red with the same gray again for the railings. For the grass I used the same olive green that I used on the hills except I added yellow to warm it up. The dirt in the foreground is a light value of yellow ochre and burnt sienna.

One of the reasons I love plein air painting is you are working against the clock because the light is always changing. This forces you to make decisions and follow your intuition. It also helps you learn what you can do with just a few colors. Not every plein air painting turns out and that is as it should be. However, when you paint one that you really like the feeling is euphoric and you experience the joy of being an artist. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton

I hope you can join me for three days of painting on location at my Steamboat Springs Watercolor Workshop on July 24, 25, 26, 2026. For more information on the workshop, please Click Here and look for the tab "Steamboat Watercolor Workshop." Click on that and you will be enticed to travel to Steamboat to paint the mountain scenery.