October 2024

The night before we left Mammoth, it snowed at the higher elevations and we heard that Tioga Pass was closed. We packed up and left in the morning and when we got to Lee Vining we asked about the pass and heard that it had just opened again. The road was clear and dry but the peaks above the pass were dusted with snow. Near the top, we stopped for photos and I used one of them for this painting.

There was a post on Facebook to advertise Chris Ellsworth's clinic at V6 ranch this year. It included a photo of Chris riding out in the hills of the ranch. It was a great photo and I was inspired to try and paint it. The clinic starts next week and Maureen and I were signed up to go, but she decided that she was not yet ready for the rough riding and long hours in the saddle. I've enjoyed being there the last couple of years and I'll miss it.

September 2024

 

I still wasn't done with Pioneer Basin. I did another painting based on a black and white photo that I took on the 1967 trip with my dad. I used an old Rolleiflex camera with 2 1/4 inch square film. It was a great camera and made very sharp images, but it got stolen when some kids broke into our house in the early 70s. Dad and I were wandering around the basin when we came across this little tarn which made a great view with the high peaks of the Mono Divide beyond it.

We spent a few days in a cabin at Tamarack Lodge in Mammoth Lakes. It was the first trip that we were able to do since June when Maureen came off her horse and broke seven ribs. We borrowed a portable oxygen machine that made it possible for her to handle the high elevation. We had some very cold weather but enjoyed the beautiful location. One evening I saw a pink sky out of the window and hurried out to get a photo by the lake in front of our cabin, and it inspired this painting.

One day while we were at Mammoth, we went up to Lake George and walked along the shore. Maureen was not able to do any real hiking and this was a good alternative. The lake was all sparkles and I wanted to capture that in a painting, I tried a method that hadn't used before. With an old toothbrush I splattered masking fluid onto my paper over the area of the lake. I hoped for nice little round droplets but it turned out pretty messy. I went ahead and quickly finished the painting, but felt that it was not as good as I wanted. Looking at it now, I think it is not so bad.

August 2024

 

For the last couple of months I haven't had the time or energy to do much painting. Just a few days after our trip to Big Sur, Maureen got bucked off of Zim and broke seven ribs. She spent a few days in the hospital and then had to go back for a few more days weeks later. She was in a great deal of pain and was not able to do very much for a long time. She has very slowly recovered and now is doing all right but still taking pain meds and using oxygen most of the time. So I recently got back to my painting, and did this scene from Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. On our October, 2023 trip, we stopped there on our way from Capitol Reef to Moab and found it to be a very interesting place with lots of colorful rocks. There was a little valley filled with hundreds of hoodoos that we could wander among. There were some kids climbing on the rocks, and one of them is in this painting.

I've been thinking about some of the special places that I have known in the High Sierra. One of them near the top of my list is Pioneer Basin. One thing that all of those places have in common is that they are not easy to get to. This one is no exception, being a couple-days hike in from Rock Creek over 12,000 ft. Mono Pass. I first visited it with my dad in 1967. I was young and full of energy, but dad was in his 50's and found it hard but he really enjoyed the spectacular location. I visited it once again in 2008 with my friend, Gerald, and this time it was I who was finding it hard going.

After finishing one painting of Pioneer Basin, I wanted to try another. I chose to do a repeat of a scene that I painted several years ago. I thought that maybe I would be able to improve on my earlier painting, but it turned out to be very similar and in some ways not as good. Anyway, I enjoyed doing it and that's what really matters.

 

July 2024

 

On our 2019 trip to British Columbia, after several days on Salt Springs Island we were headed forVancouver Island. We arrived at Vesuvius just as the ferry was leaving and had to wait an hour or so for the next one. It was another rainy day like much of our trip. I took a few photos with my phone and used one of them for this view from the ferry docks.

As we were leaving the Big Sur area in June, we stopped to walk around the headlands at Soberanes Point. Our car was battered and eventually totalled by our insurance, but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed watching the waves breaking on the rocks.

June 2024

 Our plan was to spend four nights at the cabin near Big Sur where we have been going for many years. We arrived Monday afternoon and spent Tuesday driving down to Nepenthe for lunch and then a hike at Andrew Molera. That night around 10 o'clock we were both reading and enjoying the total quiet when we heard a big crash outside. We went out and found our car half covered in branches and badly dented and the rear window shattered. It was still driveable, so in the morning we packed up and left. On the way, we  stopped for a short walk on the headlands of Soberanes Point. It was a beautiful scene and a line of pelicans flew past which inspired this painting.

We had lunch at the Keva Cafe at Nepenthe and I took a photo of the scene which I used for this painting. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it a lot.

May 2024

One beautiful spring day I decided to go hiking at Las Trampas. It was my first hike in a long time in a place other than the trails at the barn where we keep our horse. I took a few photos and many of them were of wildflowers. Later, I looked through them for something to paint, and this shot of a fiddleneck flower stood out. I liked juxtaposition of the hills in the background and the close-up flowers.

Here is another scene from our little hike in Valles Caldera, NM, last October. The trail wandered through open forest near the edge of a big area of grassland. One bright aspen stood out against the dark pines. It was a great place to be on a beautiful fall day.

We went to a barbecue at Norma and Mike's ranch way back in the Livermore hills. We enjoyed seeing old friends on a beautiful warm day. I did a little hike up the road and took a few photos. I seem to be attracted to tree trunks in my paintings and here is another one. I thought about painting something with more interesting subjects, but this one said more to me.

April 2024

I went ahead and did a second painting of this scene from our 1973 backpacking trip in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, this time in landscape orientation. It helped a bit that I had already painted it but I still had some of the same problems as the first time. Still, I think it gives a pretty good impression of our incredible campsite view.

We spent another week in the Placerville area again to help Chris and Claire by feeding their horses. When we were there in February, the weather was awful, but this time it was nice and we had a good time there. We made a couple of walks down to the Cosumnes River and sat in the little park just watching the river flow. It reminded me of the Bob Dylan song. Back at the house, I painted the scene.

This scene is from last year's trip to the V6 ranch for a cattle working clinic with Chris Ellsworth. I had followed the riders on foot as they rode out to gather the herd, and took a photo as they were moving them back to the horse camp. Hot, dusty work.