Around mid-September, I painted in Glacier National Park on Going to the Sun Road. It was a beautiful day with the clouds swirling around the mountain peaks and the sun bathing us in its warm glow. Gini Ogle and I set up our easels in the pull out parking area on the big curve where we had a stunning view of mountains in front of us and a foreground of vibrant foliage.The clouds were creating interesting light and shadow patterns on the scene.

Photo of Glacier National Park mountains.

©Francesca Droll—reference photo of the mountains from Going to the Sun Road.

There were a lot of onlookers as we expected. The pull out is a large one and attracts many tourists to photograph the view. We had quite of few people talking with us as we worked. We both had put out finished paintings with the thought that we would critique each other’s work. However there was an unexpected benefit in that the onlookers could see our finished work along with our current work in progress.

Photo of Francesca Droll's painting of Glacier National Park

©Francesca Droll, “Glacier Peaks in the Clouds”, 9″ x 12″, pastel en plein air on archival paper.

As I was finishing up my scene, a couple of very nice gals from Colorado stopped to talk with me. One was an artist and could identify with our experience. They were both very complimentary of the painting on the easel and before I knew it, I had sold it right there on the spot. It was a thrilling experience!