Draw Your Favorite Mountain!
Contributed by Brenda Jaeger
Alaska contains the most amazing mountains with names like Sleeping Lady, Lazy Mountain, Mount Shishaldin, Denali! One cannot and does not want to ignore them. Mountains remain one of the components of a vital Alaska that draws its people to staying here.
I hear from one friend that she loves the Chugach. Even when she’s out of town, she carries an image on her desktop to make her homesick. Another friend tells me the Talkeetnas grab her attention, and she will always be faithful to them.
As for me, I would like to tell you every time I go outdoors, I fall in love with the mountains again. When I look at the size of them, it amazes me that the image I see fits into my cellphone camera.
As I drive down the Glenn Highway to Palmer, I notice the shape of the Chugach Mountains as I leave Anchorage. Yes, I do take a picture with my cell; but the best thing is to jump out of my car, grab my drawing journal or canvas and paint, and go to work.
When drawing a mountain, look for the overall shape and size of the mountain. The process sounds similar to identifying a bird, except that the mountain doesn’t move. Blocking out the form, laying in the values or darks and lights, gives you the sense of the inner qualities of the mountain you want to remember on canvas or paper.
Notice the many colors and the patterns as the trees get closer to timberline. Are the clouds commanding your attention? Are you looking at cumulus, stratus, cirrus, or lenticular clouds? Sometimes the clouds move fast, and before you know it you can’t see the mountain at all. Mystery reigns.
Maybe the wind is blowing hard. Just clamp or tape down your canvas or paper to avoid the airplane “falling leaf” maneuver that the wind and the clouds are making as they play. Get to work drawing.
Use the side of the pencil or a sideways brushstroke to make the wind and rain visible across the mountain you are working on. Attend to detail, while sometimes wiping out detail will help create mass and a sense of strength. Keep your overall shapes simple and strong at first as you work through your process.
I know that tackling a mountain is one of the most exciting images to create. The effect of your lines and shapes will be to create huge height, steep gullies and crevasses, and sharp edges a nimble foot could run along. If you also hike and climb mountains, you will pick up even more data that you can translate into quality of line, which is a thick and thin line that depicts form and space. Press down to make the line darker and thus create shadow. You lift up to make the line lighter and show where the light falls. Drawing with quality of line with help you establish your masses.
What gets you excited about our landscapes in the Matanuska Valley? I have more to say about mountains! I hope to share it with you soon.
Brenda Jaeger teaches the techniques and process of art to all ages online and in her studio. Brenda has drawn and painted the Mat-su Valley for decades. See her work on Instagram: @brendajaegerartstudio. Brenda’s paintings Friends and Chickens are part of the collection of the Guidepost Pediatric, LLC, Palmer-Wasilla. She shows her work at the Georgia Blue Gallery, Anchorage, and Parsons Guitars, Independence, Kansas.