I love to paint outdoors - in the wilderness...perched on a boulder beside whitewater rapids. Sitting on a bed of pine needles, surrounded by snowbanks, with a raven watching from the branch overhead. I climb mountains, above treeline to paint the bare rocks of late summer. And sometimes I simply walk out into my garden and plop down to sketch a flower.

I travel as far and as often as I can into the wild places of the American West, Canada, Alaska, and around the world to create the paintings in my BlueOtterArt shop.

Follow my adventures! Visit my website at solga.com or click the Facebook button.

Paintings done from real life are unique. They capture a moment in time and a freshness that you just don't get painting from a photograph. My watercolors are painted with river water from the eddy at my feet, from a mountain spring, or the last swallow from my waterbottle. There are plenty of challenges working outdoors. Sunshine beating down, or passing storms pelting my painting with raindrops. Shadows constantly moving. And bugs! You don't even want to hear about the bugs.

But the truth is worth the effort! I welcome you to Blue Otter Art, and hope you discover a painting or print that you would like to favorite, to share with your circles, and perhaps to buy for yourself.