Yosemite Trickster- Step by Step

Ever since visiting Yosemite National Park this past fall, I've had this image in my mind. I wanted to paint a picture to convey the fabulous slabs of granite that lay in slopes reaching miles toward the wonderful domes of Yosemite Valley. I also wanted to include a raven. We saw so many, and I enjoy painting a representational critter into a fairly abstracted landscape.

 

After a rough drawing, my first step is applying natural colored rice paper to the lower 3/4 of the paper. I take a putty knife and apply white gesso to the watercolor paper, then put down pieces of rice paper, smoothing the edges down with more gesso on my tool. For this piece I wanted to represent smooth slabs as the painting comes toward the view, so those pieces are large pieces of rice paper. The upper portion, however, I wanted to imply much smaller bits of rock to give the illusion of distance. For that effect, I wrinkle up the rice paper as I apply it.

 

One of the reasons I like this technique is that transparent watercolor is absorbed in such an interesting way. 

The gesso resists the color, while the rice paper absorbs and spreads it. It gives a look I can't get any other way.

So my next step is putting down some background color. The day I want to show is warm and sunny, so that guides my color choices--yellow, gold and orange. I place more orange at the upper left and lower right where my "Trickster" will sit.

 

I continue to add darker colors to the rocky ledge going away from the viewer. Later I can lift, or use gouache to lighten my foreground. A lot of this color is sitting on top of gesso which is easily removed.

 

Now is the time to lighten the rocks closer to the viewer, break up the rocks in front in slab-like sections. A purplish brown application of lines in uneven application makes the crevices, and lifting and a lightly tinted gouache lightens the areas at the bottom of the painting. Yay, I'm almost done!

 

Finishing "Yosemite Trickster" is a matter of painting in trees and shadows on the mountains. I use orange and a subtle blue to reflect the colors I have on and around the raven. I use lines to draw the eyes back, giving the feel of looking into the distance. I also cooled down the mountains with a couple of blue/purple washes. It is a matter of a bit here and there--step back-- a bit of color here to connect the parts of the painting--step back-- reduce this crevice--step back. I continue this dance in my studio until I see nothing that draws my eye to a bothersome point, rather than letting me enjoy the piece as a whole.

 

Yosemite Trickster. mixed media, 22 x 18 inches

Let me know if you appreciate reading about my process.

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 we'd not spent time to see.

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 300 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.