The Story Behind the Artwork: Wyoming Storm
I took the photo that created the base for this Digital Photo Watercolor (a photo transformed digitally using 3 different software programs, a pen, and time) in 2011 while on a trip to Cody to visit family before moving here permanently in 2014. Growing up, I travelled the state to visit family regularly. As a child, I had a hard time appreciating the beauty of the landscape. But somewhere in my teens, that shifted – maybe due to the many trips through the state. Even now, I fall more deeply in love with the Wyoming landscapes in all their geological variety.
Driving to Cody that year while coming up out of Thermopolis, an August storm rolled through with a touch of lightning and virga (dry rain—rain that evaporates before hitting the ground). Always keeping an eye out for scenes and details to photograph for another passion of mine, currently on the back burner, is sketching and keeping field journals.
I could see this scene unfolding as I drove – quintessential Wyoming – a small group of cottonwood trees on the wide open prairie full of golden grass in late summer, and a bluff in the background. This would be a scene to practice with. So, I grabbed the camera, aimed over my shoulder, and released the shutter without looking or composing the shot, as my eyes needed to stay on the road. If I got it, fine; if not, fine.
Surprisingly, what I got was exactly what I hoped for. The shot allowed me to practice landscape sketching, but I couldn’t really recreate what my eye saw. Later, when I discovered how to present some of my photos as Digital Photo Watercolors, I knew this image would work well with this type of processing. The result was exactly what I saw in my mind’s eye when I released the shutter.
Purple Sky
The clouds in my Digital Photo Watercolors often turn purple or a deep navy with a touch of purple through the process—and I let them. Steam around the thermal features in Yellowstone often shows up as purple even in straight photos. I used to think this was off until I went to the Monet exhibit in Denver a few years back. There, I read a quote from Monet: “The color of the air is violet.” Yes, I agree with this master who studied light and color so closely. It is what I find as well.
I find great satisfaction in “Wyoming Storm”—it sums up so many of the scenes in my mind of so many places in this lovely, geologically diverse state.
Article by Janet Jones
Owner of Cody Journal and SnowMoon Photography
Janet has a rich history in Cody with her grandparents moving here in the late 1930s. Her grandfather started Wyoming Well Service. Janet is a writer, photographer, graphic designer and webmaster. Cody Journal and Cody Calendar blends her skills and talents with her love of the area.