The last couple of weeks have flown by. From driving for 6 days to reach Southern Utah, to spending time at activities and events with family, and watching sporting events of nieces and nephews. We have been going almost nonstop. That means I haven’t had a lot of time to devote to large paintings.

So I have mainly painted tiny, in a car, bouncing along from one activity to the next. This has been fun though, as I have a whole new area of inspiration to paint from.

When we started out on the trip, I started painting snowy things I saw. But then I decided I needed some color, so the flower provided a nice pop of color, even if it was just in a tiny little sketch book.

As we traveled along, the weather got warmer and we started to see more fields and trees. We didn’t actually see leaves on trees until we got to Idaho, but the trees were budding out and had started to look fluffy, as if any day their leaves would burst into the bright vibrant green of spring.

These last 3 small paintings I did once we arrived and were driving about with family. The red mountains around the area, inspired the center picture, the trees and brush inspired the third, and the beautiful mountain and flowers is reminiscent of Alaska.

I have had a bit of time to paint a couple of larger paintings. The lilacs and butterfly, and a beautiful yellow and pink rose are both 8×10. The lilacs are painted in acrylic as that’s what everyone was painting with that evening. The rose is done in watercolor.

I love the fresh views and opportunity to paint something new. The Lilac’s and butterfly were actually from the lilac hedge separating my parents and sister’s homes. The most beautiful yellow butterfly was just sitting in the sun on one of the flowers. The roses are in bloom down south in St. George, UT, where we’ve been several times to watch sporting events.

The world is a beautiful place, no matter where you go. I love that painting captures moments in time and saves them in a beautiful unique way for many years to come.