During the Telluride Plein Air Festival, a friend was asking me about painting rainbows. A few of us were marveling at the recent rainbow sightings in and around Telluride that week.  Another artist friend and I agreed that many artists' attempts to paint rainbows are unsuccessful because the colors in a rainbow are so "transparent".  This makes it quite a challenge to portray them in the landscape.  The rainbows here in Colorado are VERY vibrant-something I just don't remember seeing too much of in California-maybe because there's less "atmosphere" for the light to travel through.  Here are some links about rainbows I found interesting: https://ssec.si.edu/search?keywords=rainbows and  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/not-all-rainbows-have-every-color-180957605/  Truly very interesting! but I digress...

After this conversation, I was paying more attention to rainbows and the way they visibly change (become more transparent) as they pass over different elements in the landscape. On my drive home to Ridgway after the festival. making the turn off  Hwy 145, I was awed by a stunning rainbow over the foothills at the base of Hastings Mesa.   I quickly snapped a photo, and later painted from it in my studio. This is "After the Rain"  8" x 16" oil on canvas panel.

We've been so thankful for the rains that have quenched Southwest Colorado the last few weeks!  "After the Rain" has become a fun new project, and one that I've been able to study daily, again, thanks to the abundant rain.