aaron bell

Painting #1 Painting #2 Painting #3 Painting #4 Painting #5

watercolors by aaron bell

The paintings I create are a combination of two mountain areas in Idaho. There's a hill with pine trees behind a small cabin I built near the Clear Creek National Forest, which I use year-round. In the winter the snow reflects the moon shadows off the trees similar to these paintings. The trees I have created are from an area in the Sawtooth Mountains near Red Fish Lake. There is a stretch of forest about fifteen miles long where a lightning strike fire devastated the pine trees; it is a dead zone. I drove through the area just before dawn a year ago. There is a haunting tragic beauty to the forest in that area. I have tried to recreate the feeling I had while driving through it that morning. Combined, those two areas are what I see when I sit down to paint. I have since joined the Clear Creek Volunteer Fire Department to help and learn more about forest fires. Although fire is devastating it also clears the forest for new growth

There are only a dozen paintings in this series of style; moon-shadow pine trees/mountains. I'm looking forward to transcending into different seasons, adding splashes of bold color and painting varied landscapes.