September 2021

 

In early September my painting class started up again after a year and a half of the pandemic. I was looking forward to going back, but when I arrived at the first class, I realized that it wouldn't be the same as before. Sitting in a classroom with a mask on was not so much fun and although there were only about 10 people, I didn't know who had been vaccinated, and that made me a bit nervous. I used the time to paint this view of the old ranch house at Jack Brook Horse Camp where we had been recently.

The following week at my class I started this painting of another scene from Jack Brook Horse Camp with the morning fog clearing. I inserted a couple of riders from another photo (Maureen and Christina). All I did in class was the blue sky, and then quit because I thought it was too messed up. Back at home I decided that I may as well finish it, and it is not too bad, but not one of my favorites. The fog in the trees is not very convincing. I missed the following week of class and then decided that I didn't really want to go back, so I'm just going to try to keep painting at home.

August 2021

 

For many years we have spent some time each year in this cabin near Big Sur. Because of the pandemic, we have missed the last couple of years, and when we found out that it was available again, we were happy to reserve it for a few days. Our son, Aaron, and his family decided to join us there. One afternoon, I felt like painting something, so I picked a view of the cabin as you first approach it. Ten-year-old grandson, Dylan, watched me as I started it, and then I finished it later at home.

One day, the kids discovered that they could get down to the creek that runs below the cabin deck. Three-year-old Marisol played with the sand and water while her mother, Alicia, watched. I usually avoid painting people because it's not easy to get them looking right. This time I felt like there would be nothing to lose but a piece of paper, so I went ahead with it.

A couple of weeks after going to Big Sur, we went horse camping at Jack Brook Horse Camp near La Honda. While we were there, I painted this scene, but it was another one from our Big Sur trip. We hiked out to the beach at Andrew Molera State Park where there was a lot of driftwood and lots of people. An older couple pointed out to us that there was a small rattlesnake nearby under a log. There was another one under the big log in front of all of the people in this scene, but they didn't seem concerned.

July 2021

 

There's a spot on our ride/walks on the Goldenrod Trail heading toward the water tower that I find kind of special. There are lots of pretty scenes along this trail, but I like this one with twisted oaks and big rocks sticking out of the undergrowth. I had painted it a few months before, in wintertime dormancy, and I recently noticed that it looked much different now in July. The poison oak leaves had turned red, making it quite colorful, and giving the scene a whole different mood. It may look inviting, but it's a place that's best avoided.

We're planning another trip to the cabin near Big Sur that we have visited for many years. I'm looking forward to it, and that got me thinking about our last trip there a couple of years ago. At that time, we did some hiking in Garrapata State Park, including a walk out on the headlands of Soberanes Point. I took some photos that day that I used on this painting.

June 2021

 

I came across a photo on Facebook that I thought would be fun to paint. I usually prefer to use my own photos for paintings, but this one caught my eye and reminded me of many past High Sierra experiences. It's of Cottonwood Lakes, a bit south of Mt. Whitney, a place that I've never been to, but it looks quite familiar anyway. It has been several years now since I've been to a place like this and I really miss it.

A couple of weeks ago we spent three days in Novato at a cow-working clinic with Chris Ellsworth. At one point in the clinic, Chris rode a cutting horse brought by one of the participants, and put on a good show of how it is supposed to be done. Working from one of my photos, I painted this hoping to capture some of the fast action. I don't know how successful I was, but I like it anyway.

Every September we used to spend a few days at Mammoth Lakes. We missed the last couple of years, but plan to do it again this year. I was thinking about some of the beautiful places we saw there and I remembered making the relatively easy hike up to T J Lake on our last trip. I used a couple of my photos to put together this scene.

 

 One of the places near Mammoth that we often visit is the Sherwin Creek Campground a short distance out of town. The campground is closed after Labor Day, but we like to wander around the area anyway. On our last trip there, I took a couple of photos of the cones under a stand of pines, and used them for this  painting.

May 2021

 

In mid-May, Maureen and I went up to the Placerville area to take care of some horses. Our favorite horse trainer, Chris Ellsworth, needed help while he was away from the ranch for a couple of days. So we fed 14 horses breakfast, lunch and dinner, which was pretty hard work, but in between feedings, we had hours of down time, so I worked on this painting. 

 This represents one of my all-time special places, the Lyell Fork of the Merced River in Yosemite. Many people are familiar with the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne which is followed by the John Muir Trail and PCT, but this Lyell Fork is on the other side of the mountain and much more remote. In September, 1976, I spent a week hiking solo from Yosemite Valley to Silver Lake on the east side of the range. I spent an afternoon and night in this beautiful meadow with the view of Mount Ansel Adams. I had it all to myself, as there was no one else anywhere near me for several days. There was an afternoon thunder shower and then as evening was approaching, the sky cleared and the mountains turned pink with alpenglow.

One of the places that Maureen and I like to walk is Bailey Ranch, a newish development near the top of the Hayward hills. There is an easy walk on a paved trail with a great view out over the hills and the bay. One day this spring some rocks and poppies caught my eye and they ended up in this painting.

March 2021

A friend told me that a couple of my old classmates were interested in online watercolor classes by Rick Surowicz. I wasn't really interested in online classes, but I checked out the many free instructional videos that he has on his website. I like his style a lot and he does a good job of showing how he does it. He often does a lot of masking and rather than painting masking fluid with a brush, he uses some other tools such as a fine line applicator, a color shaper, and packaging tape. After trying some of these methods a bit, I found some videos by several other watercolorists, all of them British, who created some similar scenes without using any masking. As has happened many times before, I watched lots of demonstration videos and was inspired to try some new approaches, but in the end, my paintings came out much the same as they they always do.

One of the advantages of the barn where our horses are boarded is that there is access to some nice trails. Several times a week we have been going out on them with Maureen riding Zim and me walking. Our favorite, the Goldenrod Trail, winds along near the top of a ridge, in and out of several small ravines. The area is mostly woods of oaks, bay-laurels and pines, with thickets of brush, poison oak and ferns. At one spot there are a bunch of big sandstone boulders, and every time I passed, I thought of painting the scene, and I finally got around to it. To me, it looked quite wild, maybe slightly scary, and that's how I wanted to show it.

Then I tried a scene from several weeks ago when we trailered out to a ranch in Briones where Maureen and Zim participated in a clinic. I walked around a bit and noticed horses grazing high on a hillside and cattle below, and took a photo. I ran into trouble right away when I started to paint it. I found that the fine line masking fluid applicator that I bought was not easy to use, and I dripped several big blobs of fluid right in the middle of the painting. Luckily, it rubbed off easily and I was able to start again.

Here is another scene from one of our trail rides/hikes. All of the horses love the fresh green grass growing everywhere this time of year. Sometimes Maureen has a hard time keeping Zim on the trail, but he is mostly well-behaved about it, so we reward him by stopping at some point and letting him graze for a few minutes.

February 2021

 One day I walked by and saw our cat, Sunny, sitting in the sunlight on the dining room table. I loved the pattern of the blinds on the pink tablecloth, and Sunny in the middle of it, so I took a photo and used it for this painting. She doesn't often sit up looking so meditative — she is usually curled up asleep somewhere.