Looking The Other Direction

Painting backlit snow is very difficult, as I discovered today. It is troublesome to judge color or value when one is looking into something so bright. I think I have exhausted this subject for a while, and will try something else tomorrow. The ice was cracking all around me as I was painting this, but I managed to stay dry. This view is looking the opposite direction from the one I painted yesterday. The colors look better in person than they do here on this post. Overall, it was a magical day, yesterday's heavy fog combined with a zero Fahrenheit overnight temperature creating a thick flocking on everything in the valley. A very gentle breeze blew the crystals into the air where they seemed to hover and sparkle like diamonds in the sunshine against the deep blue sky. It was very Doctor Zhivago. Study 6x8 oil on linen.

Sacajawea Peak

I hiked into the Eagle Cap Wilderness this morning. I had almost given up on painting because it was overcast, but it eventually cleared. I'm not terribly happy with this study (it looks too much like an illustration), but hopefully I learned something for the next one. The hike in was perfumed with the scents of wild berry and sage; it is blackberry and huckleberry season. Wildflowers are still thick on the ground and mosquitos thick in the air. I am not in shape for my upcoming Sierra trip so I thought I'd make myself do more hiking.

More Fun With Bales

It is amazing that there are still some snow bits remaining in August. This view is looking up Hurricane Creek, I have been wanting to paint this canyon shadow for a while -- I'm glad I waited because the crystalline sky and hay bales made it too tempting to pass up. I am very happy with this study, it turned out pretty much the way I envisioned it when I set up to paint; I wish that would happen more often!

Ponderosa and the Last of the Snow

I broke with my usual morning painting schedule to paint in the early evening because the weather was overcast in the morning, the remnants of impressive thunderstorms last night (our "fireworks"), and improved later in the day. This location is about 5000+ feet, just at the base of the steep incline of the peaks and the edge of the forest. The road ends just above this point and the only way in is to hike steep switchbacks, one of the more difficult trails into the Eagle Cap Wilderness. This particular area is interesting because there are some isolated mature Ponderosa pine and a few scraggly junipers in meadows. Only a few feet further and the forest is thick with a wide variety of trees. The snow melt is very rapid right now and the creeks (locally pronounced "cricks") and rivers are at or above flood stage. It won't be long now where there will only be snow at the highest north facing elevations. It will soon be time to hike up to a few of the alpine lakes. If I decide to sometime work this one up bigger, I'll subdue the snow in the background more. I also might paint this scene again on a day where there is more atmosphere; it was crystal clear today after the storms and I didn't want to fake atmosphere, I prefer to record what I see in a study.