Paintings 1 & 2 - Coyote Buttes and Denali

3 studies of Coyote Buttes before I painted the final

This past week, I took my paintbrushes on a little adventure—one to the fiery swirls of Coyote Buttes in Arizona and the other to the snow-capped majesty of Denali in Alaska. 

Two landscapes, two totally different vibes, and one artist (me) figuring out how to capture them in oil paint!

February marked the start of my 2025 project where I am teaching myself to paint in oil. It is a new medium for me and I am excited to learn and grow through the process.

Painting 1: Coyote Buttes, (The Wave) Arizona

First up: Coyote Buttes (aka The Wave). The sky in this one isn’t just blue—it glows. I used gold leaf underneath the sky, and the way it catches the light makes it feel like the desert is alive, shifting and moving with the sun. If you’ve ever seen The Wave in person, you know it already feels like a mirage, and I wanted to capture that energy on canvas.

Coyote Buttes - 11"x14" - oil on canvas with gold leaf

Painting 2: Denali - Denali National Park, Alaska

Then, there’s Denali—Alaska’s tallest, grandest, peak. Painting it made me feel tiny in the best way possible. I thought that this might be my only chance in the whole project to paint the Northern Lights. To make the mountain glow under the auroras, I used silver leaf on a black canvas, giving it this subtle shimmer that shifts as the light changes. It feels almost otherworldly—like a moment frozen in time.

I’m still figuring out this whole oil painting thing, but hey—every painting is a little victory. What do you think? Are you drawn to the golden glow of the desert or the icy shimmer of the mountains? 

Denali - 18"x24" - oil on canvas with silver leaf