Up and Over 1 & 2

 

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Next up from the Sierras are two very similar paintings. I started one of them outside, on location, on a slightly smoky day, near the beginning of the trip. The wind started to pick up that day, which ended up blowing out the smoke, but also blew over a couple of easels, including mine. This was incredibly frustrating, mostly because up to that point my painting was going really well. But my turp can was emptied (all over myself and my new backpack!), so I had no choice but to return to camp to get more. But by then the light had changed and I knew that to finish the painting it would have to be on another day.

So I returned a couple days later, at the same time of day, only to find my scene had changed considerably without the smoke. I ended up repainting it quite a bit, and the result is this second painting below. And I really like it, but I also liked the original feel, so I painted another one at home, from photos and memory, and that is the painting above.

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Atop the Granite

 

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Here is another painting from my August trip into the Sierras. It was done mostly on location, with just a few small touch-ups back in my studio. This spot is about 10 minutes from base camp, and one of my favorite granite outcroppings. Over the years I've painted it from several different angles.

Perhaps because our group is getting older, about half decided to ride horses in this time. I hiked in, but rode a horse out. Here is a picture of the in-riders. One benefit of riding is that instead of always watching where you're stepping next, you can look around and appreciate the view. The downside is that afterwards you're sore in places you didn't even know you had!

Early Rocks

 

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Hi there! I got home from my California trip last week, but have been so busy with visits from relatives, helping a friend move, and catching up in general that I haven't had a chance to post, much less touch up any paintings. Until today. To the right you will see my illustrious, Sierra, painting pals (names below), and above is the first painting I did (a morning scene). We hiked to Garnet Lake this year. As usual, we carried our art gear and mules hauled our camping gear, food and (fabulous) cook. We camped for 5 days in the same spot, pitching our easels where/whenever we felt inspired, making sure to roll back into camp in time for cocktails and dinner. Every year we say it was the "trip of a lifetime," and this was no exception. The place is amazing, but the people put it over the top.

Pictured (L to R): Mark Fehlman, Cleo Villett, Kim Lordier, Terry Miura, Michele de Braganca, Bill Cone, Tia Kratter, Scott Hamill, myself, Karen (cook), Elizabeth (cook's daughter), & Paul Kratter.

Scree Trees

 

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We use an app called "All Trails" to find most of the hikes we go on. They are rated as easy, moderate or hard. This one was ranked moderate, but the comments said some people might consider it hard. It was about 2+1/2 hours of lung-busting, heart-breaking UP, so we tended to agree with HARD. And the lake they promised at the end? We got a tiny peek of it from the top, WAY down the other side of the mountain, with no discernible trail to get there. The hubs and I agreed pretty quickly that we didn't want to go down just to come back up again. The silver lining of this particular hike was this scree field & cliffs about halfway up where I got some nice pictures. My favorite part is the way the shadows change colors depending on where they're pointing, and what light is reflecting back into them (cool sky or warm reflected sunlight). I thought about it the whole way back down, on shaky legs.

As you might guess, we are back from camping. : ) A couple of highlights: we saw a bear! Just a small, black bear, and it ran away immediately, but it was pretty exciting - closest I've ever been to a bear in the wild. And I went to an art opening! My first social event in FOREVER (boy was I rusty)! And a very cool show - artist Turner Vinson, who has lived in this area for a year now and has made some awesome Youtube videos of him painting here. Check them out!

Also, here is my very first gouache plein air, done right up the street from my house. This is just PART of my view, y'all. I'm one lucky girl. It's going in my personal collection. : )

A Tree with a View

 

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Another Sierra scene. Did I mention that it's a painter's paradise up there?

Sierra Rocks

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Up in the high Sierras there are many, many big slabs of white granite. I love the dichotomy of the near slabs and the far mountains. With a few trees in between for contrast.

Morning Rocks

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I found this scene just a few steps from camp (in the Sierra's), in the morning, before breakfast. This was the only time I painted so early on this trip. I tend to shy away from painting too close to sunrise/sunset, just because the light changes so fast. Maybe someday I'll get more brave. This was perhaps an hour or so after sunrise, and the light on these particular rocks didn't change a whole lot. That said, I still had to make some adjustments back in the studio - again mostly darkening the shadows.

Mountain Layers

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Here is another Sierra painting that I worked on more back in the studio. The biggest thing I changed was darkening the values of the shadow in the foreground. The reality is that as we look around at the world, our vision adjusts to the varying lighting conditions. When we look into shadow our pupils adjust (open) to see more there, and as we look into light areas, they adjust the other way. So when we paint, if we're not careful, our values can all start to fall in the mid range, without enough contrast. That's what happened here, but fortunately I was able to make the adjustments at home. Woo!

Peekaboo Mountain

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I still have more to show you from my trip up into the Sierras, but this one I actually did after I got home, from a photo reference. I am showing it to you now because I painted it for this month's Daily Paintworks Challenge. If you'd like a crack at this scene (or rocks in general, which is the theme of the challenge), follow the link for the reference. Anyone is welcome to submit to our challenges!

I hate to bail in the middle of posting my mountain paintings, but I am off to squeeze just one more camping adventure out of this summer. This trip is all about family, and not painting. : ( It also means I won't be able to ship until I return, which will be as late as 9/18/19 (2 weeks). I apologize for the inconvenience!

Mountain Crack

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I've tried a composition sort of like this before, but I guess I like it because here it is again. One huge difference between this trip and the three I've been on (to the Sierras) before, was there was no smoke! California has had a wet year, and because of this, the number of wildfires has been thankfully low. I'm happy about this for lots of reasons.

Boulder with a View

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Ok, I had to try one more landscape, for now. This is Garnet Lake, from my first year up in the Sierras. It was a little bit hazy when I was taking the photos, but I'm digging the exaggerated atmosphere. I broke some rules with the composition, but hey, isn't that what rules are for?

Running Through Shadow

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This is another one from some photos I took early in the morning in the Sierras. My camera couldn't capture this scene whole, so I took some photos of the mountains, trees and grass, and some of the creek in shadow. Then I worked some Photoshop magic and wove them together just enough to let me see the relationships. It was an experiment, and I'm diggin' the result.

Here is the whole crew from this trip: (L to R) Ernesto, Tia, Bill, Michelle, myself, Paul and Scott (excuse me, but all total bad-asses!!!!)

Good Morning Trees

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On the last morning of our Sierra trip, when the goal for the day was to pack up and hike out, I got up early and hiked around a bit with my camera. I got lucky in that it was relatively smoke free, and I was able to catch the morning light on everything, including the mountains. For each scene I had to take multiple photos, and then do some fancy Photo-shopping in order to "see" the details/color in the light AND shadow. I'm trying to paint these now, while the Sierras are still fresh in my mind.

Morning Mountains

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On one of our mornings up in the Sierras, we woke up to no smoke! It took me a minute to realize just why it was so beautiful, but then I grabbed my gear quickly and painted as much as I could before the light changed too much. I took some pictures and finished it at home, since we never had another clear morning.

Christmas on the Creek

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On this day (in the Sierras) I started out painting with two of my buddies across the lake from camp. After a crappy little waterfall painting and a seriously mediocre attempt at a grand scene (with way too much in it for an 8x10!) I decided to hike back alone for an afternoon nap. On the way I noticed a little used "trail" heading up between two rocky areas, and decided to scope it out. After a while the trail petered out so I continued on, exploring, and found a whole "upper" meadow with streams and waterfalls and great views. Well, apparently there was another, easier trail from another direction, and 2 others from my group were already there! So we painted there the rest of the day and the next day as well.

I painted this particular scene from the bottom of a waterfall, looking downstream. Some big clouds were rolling in, and I decided I liked the scene best when the back, background was in cloud shadow. The reality though was that the shadows changed constantly, (which is my least favorite time to plein air paint) and to be quite honest I'm not sure you can tell that it's supposed to be sunny in the foreground. But ... I quite like it anyway, and I hope it works regardless.

Outcrop

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This is the same outcrop as in my first painting, "Across the Lake," (see to the right) but from a different location, an earlier time of day, and cropped. This "outcrop," as I'm calling it, is a pretty substantial pile of rock that juts out into the lake. The water beside it is shallow enough to wade in to the knees (but cold!). If one wants to walk around the lake (to other good views) one must either walk in the water, or climb over the whole thing. I've done both. (This painting was also tweaked after I got home.)

Rocky Path

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Here's another one from the Sierras. If you know me, you know I LOVE this format for landscape painting. It's 6x12 inches. But it's tough to see here, so please click the image to see it better. As opposed to the first post (yesterday) this one is not entirely plein air. I definitely tweaked it once I was home, from memory, and using photos I took. I am NOT one of those people who is obsessed with  keeping it "pure," and never rework - instead I am in pursuit of a decent painting, at any cost. And I'm really happy with this one.

Across the Lake

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Well, we had no bears (up in the Sierra's, where I was last week), but the fires caused some trouble. There was smoke every day (often a LOT), and it definitely caused some delays getting home. But it was still a WONDERFUL trip, with good friends, and fantastic subject matter!

This is my first painting, done quickly on the first afternoon, after we dried off and warmed up, after being pelted by hail (and rain) on the strenuous hike in. Fortunately the rain cleaned up some of the smoke, but it was back again the next morning.

Narrow Enough to Step Over

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I painted this one from a photo I took recently in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This little creek was near our camp, and one of the few that we could step over easily. There were plenty more that took a bit of navigating. I had a few unsteady moments, but never fell in the water. Amazingly.

Tree Rock Mountain

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This is the last painting from my recent Sierra Nevada trip. Below is my whole group of comrades: (L to R) Ernesto Nemesio, myself, Kim Lordier, Bill Cone, Michele de Braganca, Lori Putnam, our fabulous cook & her daughter, Terry Miura and Paul Kratter.