When faced with the austere grandeur or rolling silhouettes of these natural wonders, what landscape painter could not find kinship with the naturalist John Muir, who once proclaimed, “the mountains are calling, and I must go.” Lured by the same call of the wild, the artists featured here drew inspiration from a range of spectacular views — from snowy peaks and craggy sierras to verdant slopes and vibrant mesas.
“Last Snow on the Peaks” (watercolor, 14 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.)by Francesco Fontana“Burning Off the Morning” (watercolor, 16 x 20 in.) by Susan Lynn “The town of Telluride, Colorado, sits at the end of a box canyon with an iconic waterfall that feeds the river on the valley floor,” says Susan Lynn. “In the early morning, the rising mist from the river burns off very slowly as the sun rises beyond the mountains. I found it a wonderful challenge to stand on the valley floor and try to capture the suffusion of morning light along with the gradual revealing of the mountains.”Boquilla Canyon ll (watercolor, 14 x 20 in.) by Richard Sneary“Sentinel Shadows” (watercolor 21 x 29 in.) by Roland Lee“Telluride Welcome” (watercolor, 12 x 16 in.) by Richard Sneary“Fencepost Remnant” (watercolor, 12 x 9 in.) by Susan Lynn “This was painted while participating in the Telluride Plein Air event in Telluride, Colorado. All around Telluride are ranches that often date back 150 years or more. It is not unusual, even on public land, to find remnants of former fence lines and original homesteads. I loved the contrast of the decaying, temporary manmade object against the seemingly timeless mountain range.”
