August 2022

In 1999 we made a trip to the Southwest, a big loop around the four corners. We had done a similar trip seven years earlier and wanted to revisit some of our favorite places and add a few new ones. One of those favorite places was Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Like all of that part of the country, it is full of red-rock mesas and canyons. Ever since that trip I have wanted to go back to the area, but never got around to it. I guess that influenced my choice of a scene to paint.

Here's another scene from that same Southwest trip. On our way from southern Colorado and into Utah on our way to Capitol Reef, we stopped at Natural Bridges National Monument. The canyons and bridges were quite impressive and we hiked around a bit to see them. This was the last bridge that we came to, the Owachomo Bridge. I had forgotten the name, but found it by looking up the park map online. I wanted my painting to have sky with some softer-edged clouds. As is often the case with watercolor, that area took only a minute or two to paint but it was the most challenging part.

July 2022

 

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we spent four days at a friend's cabin in Big Sur. The weather was perfect and everything was beautiful. One day we drove south and stopped at a couple of spots to take in the views. This painting shows what we saw at one of them.

On our last evening in Big Sur, we went out to dinner in Carmel Valley at a Japanese restaurant. On the drive back to the cabin, we stopped at Monastery Beach to see the sun just going down in a beautiful sunset. I tried to capture it in this painting.

On our first full day in Big Sur we went for a hike in Point Lobos State Park. We had avoided the place for years because it was always crowded and they don't allow dogs, but we thought we should give it another try. We parked on highway 1 and headed north to Whaler's Cove, then followed the North Shore Trail. The trail is pretty rough, but it was so beautiful with the rugged granite headlands, deep blue ocean, pine and cypress forest and lots of wildflowers. I used one of my photos with a bit of artistic license and it turned out pretty good.

From the Point Lobos park entrance, we walked through forest which opened to this view of Whaler's Cove just ahead. It was such a nice scene that I snapped a photo before we arrived at the beach. I chose it for this painting because I liked the trees and the expectation of a nice view just ahead.

 One day in Big Sur we hiked the short trail out onto Soberanes Point in Garrapata State Park. Just as at Point Lobos, the weather was nice and the seashore was beautiful. I liked a photo that I took of a wave hitting a big rock and used it for this painting. The red coloring above the rocky shore is from ice plant which seasonally turns red. It is an invasive alien plant that is found just about everywhere on the California coast.

Near the end of June, we went to a three-day clinic in Novato for Maureen and Zim to work with cattle. I took many photos and I wanted to paint something from them. I chose one of Chris riding Shiner and separating a steer from the herd in a rodear. Riders make a wide circle around the herd to keep them bunched together while one rider cuts one out and tries to keep it out of the herd. To start it off, Chris demonstrated how to do it with Shiner, who is an excellent cutting horse.

June 2022

 

I was trying to think of something to paint, and I thought maybe a still life, but then I remembered that some time ago I had noticed the hibiscus flowers growing by our front door, and took a photo of one of the blossoms. At the time I was fascinated by the long stem with the tiny yellow dots and red balls which I had never noticed before. The plant has been there for years and has survived several winter freezes, but it always comes back. It turned out to be relatively easy to paint, with the dark green background done wet on wet in about a minute, and the rest fairly simple to do.

May 2022

 

I continued with paintings from my photos of the 1999 backpacking trip with my friend, Gerald. This one is from the morning after dealing with the slide in Slide Canyon and we were hiking up the trail to Burro Pass. It was a beautiful place with rocky meadows, lots of Indian Paintbrush, and views of Matterhorn Peak straight ahead.

The morning after crossing Burro Pass and Matterhorn Pass, we climbed Matterhorn Peak. This painting is based on a photo that Gerald took of me at the summit. The view is south over Whorl Mountain. Some of my best moments ever have been on high Sierra peaks, and I wanted to show that. Having myself in the the middle of the scene added to the challenge. For years I've avoided painting people because I thought it would be too hard to do. This time, I figured that if I were try a portrait, it may as well be a self-portrait to avoid offending the subject. I don't think it looks much like me but at least I'm not offended.

April 2022

 

 In July, 1999, My friend Gerald and I did a five-day backpacking trip out of Twin Lakes, near Bridgeport. It was a loop of around 50-60 miles into northern Yosemite with a lot of off-trail hiking. On our second day, we crossed into Yosemite and left the trail at Rock Island Pass. Approaching Rock Island Lake, we hiked through beautiful meadows, and as I stopped for a photo, Gerald continued on ahead of me. The lake was an awesome place to spend the night, very silent and no people. I woke up at dawn to see the moon over the lake and the sky in shades of indigo and purple.

The next day, we hiked east into Crazy Mule Gulch and then down into Slide Canyon. We battled ferocious mosquitoes for several miles up the canyon until we reached the feature for which the canyon is named. An enormous section of the northwest canyon wall had broken away and fallen to fill about a half mile of the canyon bottom. This must have happened relatively recently in geologic time because no vegetation has grown there. I thought it wouldn't be too hard to cross, but when we got out into the middle of it, the rocks were the size of cars and houses with deep gaps between them, and we had to retreat and find a way around the edge of the slide.

I've been enjoying seeing the world turn green and flowery and felt like showing it in a painting. A photo that I took years ago on a hike in Garin Park expressed it pretty well. As often happens, when I was about halfway done, I thought I had totally messed it up, and was considering throwing it out and starting over, but I kept working anyway. When it was done, I decided that it is not too bad.

March 2022

 

In mid-February we made a three-day trip to our friend Jodie's place near Placerville. We brought Zim along and he was happy to stay in the pasture with some of his old buddies. Maureen got to do plenty of riding with Chris and Claire. It was a nice, relaxing time. We made several short walks a half-mile down the road to the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River which was flowing with plenty of water.

One afternoon Maureen was riding in the arena with Chris and Claire. Maureen was on Zim, Chris was on Zim's brother, Zaphod, and Claire was on Marvel. Some poles were randomly placed to encourage the horses to pay attention to their feet. I chose a photo for painting because of the late afternoon lighting, and I think it came out quite well if you don't look too closely.

 Our youngest grandchild, Marisol, turned 4 a couple of weeks ago. She loves our cat, Sunny, and whenever she is at our house she follows Sunny around. Maureen thought it would be nice to give her a little photo of Sunny on a refrigerator magnet. So I got down on the floor and took a close-up of Sunny's face with my phone. Her expression is one of surprise at me getting close on the floor. Later I thought that it would make an interesting painting, and here is the result.

February 2022

Before we went to Paris, we made another trip with Margaret and Bernard, this time southward in England. We stayed a couple of days in the Cotswolds, in a B&B in Bourton On The Water. The first place we visited was the village of Lower Slaughter, the subject of this painting. We loved the old-style houses built with yellowish stone that make it feel like going back in time. We walked a mile or so through the fields and woods to Upper Slaughter and on the way got caught in a downpour. We took refuge in an old mill which was now a little cafe, where the host entertained us by singing old songs from the big band era. It was a very memorable time.