Walter Taylor

Some watercolor paintings 2004.

Except as noted, all paintings done plein-air, with occasional studio touch-up. With one exception -- the fantasy on the Chama River -- they are half-sheet size (longer dimension of painted area is about 20"). Thanks to Bill Lampe for making the original digital photographs.

Click on each small image to bring up a larger version.


Mesa below Shadow Canyon, Late March

I have done this scene many times, but no two paintings ever look the same. It was great to open up spring.


Quince blossoms, April 4


Iris, Late May

The iris on the right was given me by Matt, from his garden. Name unknown. This one features quinacridone pigments (as do Chama and BV, below).


Rio Chama, New Mexico, June and September

At a place called Willow Creek. As the merganser flies, this is about four miles downstream from Chris's house. In June, there was a merganser family conducting their business on the far side of the river (first painting). The second painting is a fantasy painted at home in Boulder after I returned in June. The third was on-site in September. Notice that the water level is much lower in September. The river is not dammed upstream of this place, but it does have disruptions such as field run-off and a gravel mine.


Arkansas River, Buena Vista, Colorado, July

I spent four days at one spot on the side of this gorge, right in the municipal River Park of BV (almost downtown). The scene was so complex (to my eye) that I got no finished painting on site. This is a studio work composed at home from notes, photographs and sketches made on site.

I think I am finally understanding the scene and would like to go back next year for another try.


Oregon Coast, near Yachats, July-August

Most of these were done from a lawn chair on the cliff fifty or a hundred feet above the beach. If one descends to the beach here (there is a steep stairway), one enters a different world of sand, sea and cliff-vegetation, where there is little discernible sign of human habitation. The last one shows where the Yachats river enters the sea near the town of Yachats.


Red Rocks Lake, August

It was so cool and wet this summer, that I did not reach this spot until late August. It is about an hour's drive from my house.