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I love backpacking in the Sierras and have explored hundreds of miles of trails.  Every new lake, river bend, wildflower meadow or glacier carved mountain pass I encounter leaves me wanting to paint. t has been a process learning the best tools to bring along to  capture some of these scenes.  The materials need to be lightweight and portable but at the same time give me the flexibility I need to capture the colors and light I am seeing.  Gouache has become my favorite tool for doing this because I can wake the colors up with a little bit of water like watercolors.  It is very versatile because you can use it like transparent watercolor or you can use the paint in an opaque way like oil and layer colors.  I generally use a watercolor sketchbook for these paintings and I love flipping through them later and remembering the experiences for the trail. 

Here is a little look at the process.  These images are from a recent backpacking adventure with my daughter in the Eastern Sierras.  I start off with a rough pencil sketch of the main shapes in the composition.

For my first pass of the painting I use the paint in a transparent way like watercolor.  I like the accidental effects that happen when colors and shapes bleed into each other and create interesting edges and textures.  

I then go over the top of the paintings with dryer, thicker applications of opaque paint that to break up these larger shapes with smaller details.  Mosquitoes, rain, wind and hot sun are just some of the challenges that make the experience authentic.  

The painting process of the image above was punctuated by rain.  At different times during the process sun would burn through and illuminate parts of the landscape.  A plein air painting is not a record of a single moment, but rather a record of an hour of observations and decisions combined into one image.  When I get home, I often use these field studies to make oil paintings like the one below.