Missoula paintings by monte dolack

Living in the Rattlesnake Valley on the edge of Mount Jumbo’s upper north slope creates opportunities for wonderful views. Over the past twenty years while walking almost daily on the mountain or nearby I have thought many times that I wanted to make a painting of the view looking out across the valley. This recent spring was an extraordinary year for wildflowers and the  yellow bouquets of Arrow Leaf Balsam  were particularly abundant. I went up  almost every evening for sunset and it was always beautiful but one evening in late May the light was extraordinary. Working from memory, photos and sketches I made a series of small drawings and paintings based on the valley landscape looking south across the Missoula Valley and up into the Bitterroot Valley. I then began a larger scale painting looking thru the wildflower foreground across to the larger geologic shapes and mountains in warm evening light. The resulting painting is now reproduced as a  fine art poster print with a detail of it gracing the cover of the Missoula Convention and Visitors guide.