In August of 2023, I spent 3 days in the Rocky Mountain National Park with my wife. We spent our time hiking, taking photos and doing some ‘en plein air’ paintings. The two 8x10 oil paintings featured here began as an “en plein air” painting that I did while hiking. ‘Dream Lake’ was a more crowded and popular destination within the park. I had the privilege of getting my photo taken by several hikers that came over to see what I was up to. The ‘Big Thompson Overlook’ painting was on another hike where my wife and I climbed up onto a ridge just off the main trail and it gave us this beautiful view of the Big Thompson River winding through the valley. This one was started on our last day in the park. The time I spent painting it was so peaceful and relaxing… until some bees started getting curious about what we were doing! I finished both of these paintings in my home studio.