A Fall Trip 2012

Mike and I celebrated the change of seasons with a week-long trip to California and back. Our main destinations were Yosemite Park and Forestville, CA where good friends have moved from Hawaii. From there we chose spots along the way to visit other areas of interest.

Our first stop was Tule Lake. This is a very small, rural town in Northern California east of the Cascade Mountains. We had always wanted to see Captain Jack's Stronghold which is part of the Lava Beds National Monument. Our sunset view from our motel the first night inspired a small watercolor sketch.

 

 

There is another piece of historical interest at Tule Lake--it was the site of the largest WWII Japanese Internment Camp.

Our visit to Captain Jack's Stronghold was surprisingly emotional for me. In this really desolate environment, 50 or so Modoc Indians held their ground against up to 1000 Calvary soldiers for a year. And why?  The Modocs did not want to be pushed onto a reservation with Klamath Indians, who had already claimed the resources of the land. Once Captain Jack was captured, he was hanged as a murderer. The war between the Modocs and US Army was never acknowledged as such by the US Government.

 

We shared the Stronghold with two other visitors (deer).

 

A deserted cave at the Stronghold.

 

Modoc Medicine Pole--the sign reads "Medicine Pole, be respectful, do not disturb."

After leaving the Lava Beds, we made a short stop at a cliff with petroglyphs, some as old at 3500 years.

 

Our next night was spent in Reno at a humongous Casino Hotel. Once again we determined that neither Nevada nor gambling are for us. The following morning we headed up to Tioga Pass, elevation just shy of 10,000 feet. This was our route into to Yosemite National Park. (The first snow fell right after we got through, closing the pass for the season.)

 

As we dropped into Tuolumne Meadows, the scenery with the glacial rubbed granite was nothing short of breathtaking.

 

 

 

This view inspired a value sketch.

 

I think it could be a wonderful painting, but I might perch the fellow below on a rock to create a size reference.

 

And then we saw Half Dome.

 

And Yosemite Valley.

 

I began to realize that these views are the iconic images representing the National Park System for me. I felt I was seeing all this country, not only through my eyes, but also through the eyes of John Muir, Ansel Adams and Teddy Roosevelt. 

Even where we stayed, Wawona Lodge built in 1876, evoked the spirit of times past, when people traveled from all over, with great difficulty, to view the wonders of this place.

 

We spent three nights in Yosemite Park. The first day we had rain and sleet fall on us as we walked through the sequoias. I remember a photo my parents took of me as a toddler looking like an ant by a giant redwood, so I asked Mike to take a picture of me at 63 years old looking like an ant.

 

 

We spent the following days in the Valley itself. Guess who ignored the warning sign, "Danger: climbing and scrambling on rocks and cliffs is dangerous. . ."

 

We had one lunch at the famous Ahwahnee Lodge (built in 1926-27). We were too cheap to stay overnight at the rate of $450 per night. Also rumor has it that it is booked years in advance.

 

 

Everywhere one looks it is amazing. The same location can totally change both visually and in mood as the clouds roll in, the light changes, and the sun shines on the rock.

 

El Capitan

 

Yosemite Falls

 

Tunnel View

From the drama of Nature, we drove to San Francisco for a city experience. Wanting a great place to eat close to our hotel, we searched on Mike's smart phone and found a great Italian meal at a very unassuming place just 5 blocks away. The next morning we spent at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, where we were absorbed by The William S. Paley Collection: A taste for Modernism. I love our West Coast cities. 

 

Skip and Camille

A couple of hours after leaving S.F. we drove into Forestville, CA. We had not seen our friends for a long time and so enjoyed catching up and spending a relaxing night with them. The next morning, after loading up some paintings from Hawaii that they'd had in storage for me, we headed home to Blue River. It was one of those trips with so much variety that it's taken me a couple of weeks to blog about. I spent all morning sorting through pictures and writing this blog. Maybe I should have warned you readers that this was a long one!

Editing a Painting--Blue Moon Heron

I know I'm not the only artist who has to live with a piece for awhile before the final edits are done. The wonderful thing about painting gouache (opaque watercolors) on top of a smooth paper covered with gesso (a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment) is that the paint can be easily removed and reworked weeks or months later. 

Here is Blue Moon Heron as I published it a couple of weeks ago.Since that time, I've lived with it and I've had some feedback from other artists. Hence, some changes have been made. Remember, nothing should be so precious on a painting that it can't be sacrificed for the betterment of the piece.

• The yellow and green mountains from my original sketch are a distraction from the strength of the composition. They had to go.
• The largest orb behind the heron had to be larger to avoid an awkwardness on the left side where the dark and beige meet and the heron's beak almost hits the edge of the moon.
• And my "happy accident" of the red bleeding into the blue of the far wing was too distracting to viewers. 

 

The image below shows the simplification of the piece. I think the changes greatly improve the painting, but It's still not finished. The final issue is to help the upper band of the painting relate to the rest of the painting more definitely. For this, I added some blue to the upper part of the piece and did a bit of calligraphic work to relate to the line work in the bottom of the painting. I also softened some of the hard edges on the forward wing to make the head of the bird more clearly the focal point. You can see the final edits in the 3rd image.

 

What do you think about Blue Moon Heron now?

 

Blue Moon Heron, 21 x 18 inches

Giving Back--I'm the New President of Watercolor Society of Oregon

A year ago I agreed to take on the role of Vice President of this great organization, and this past weekend I was elected as the President. It will take time and energy to do a good job, but I stepped forward because I want to give back to the WSO because of the many benefits I have received as a member.

 

When I was juried into this statewide organization in 1999, I knew very few watercolor artists. By attending the conventions held twice a year, and taking advantage of the reasonably priced workshops given by  nationally and internationally known artists, I have met many talented and hard-working artists and made many friends throughout the state. I now belong to critique groups and have the privilege of entering my paintings into juried exhibits twice a year. All of these things have made me a better artist and have expanded my art-life greatly.

 

This recent Fall Convention was in Welches, near Mt. Hood. So many educational and fun activities were planned, and one involved several WSO members presenting a Victorian croquet game in costume for other members to sketch and paint. I couldn't resist having my photo taken with fellow member, Mark Findayson in costume. What a creative group with great spirit we WSO members are!