October 2022

Our last horsemanship clinic of the year was about working with cattle at the V6 Ranch in the mountains east of Paso Robles. It was different from the other cow clinics that we have been to in that it was out on the range of a huge ranch instead of an arena. Every day the riders would go out in the morning and gather a herd of about 40 yearling steers and bring them back to camp where they would be worked in the afternoon. One day I followed them out for about a mile until they were out of sight. As they returned, I took a few photos of the gathering, and I used one of them for this painting. I think it gives one a good idea of the cowboy experience of this place.

September 2022

 We spent the week after Labor Day at Mammoth Lakes. We used to go nearly every year, but it had been four years since our last trip. One of the hikes that we did was to Heart Lake, about a mile of climbing up the east side of the lakes basin. Everything was beautiful, just as we remembered it — pine forest, aspens, sagebrush and great views. I was going to paint the scene of one of my recent shots, but then I happened to look through some older photos, and found one of the same hike that included our dog, Darby.

One day while we were staying in Mammoth, we drove way out east of Mono Lake to look for wild horses. We found an article online which mentioned several likely side roads off highway 120, and we tried the first one listed. A few miles out on a dirt road we saw some tiny spots on the horizon. We stopped and started walking toward them. We realized that the distances were deceptive and it would be a very long walk, so we went back to the car and tried to get closer on dirt tracks through the desert. The roads were bad and we were risking getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere, so we gave up. We did actually see horses, though they were far away, and we were impressed by what a huge, beautiful area they had to roam in.

Another day of our stay in Mammoth, we went to Rock Creek for a hike. The end of the road at Mosquito Flat is just about the highest trailhead in the Sierra, at 10,300 ft. Climbing higher on rocky trails into Little Lakes Valley is not easy, but we made it as far as the first lake. The scenery is wonderful with high peaks all around and reflected in the lake.

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.