Study of a woman's back

Oil on cavas 11" x 14".

Mountain Light

After a religious mountain experience I read this piece from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Nietzsche. It seemed to fit...

"O sky above me! O pure, deep sky! You abyss of light! Gazing into you, I tremble with divine desires. To cast myself in your purity - that is my innocence! And when I wandered alone what did my soul hunger after by night and on treacherous paths? And when I climbed mountains, whom did I always seek, if not you, upon mountains? And all my wanderings and mountain climbing, it was merely a necessity and an expedient of clumsiness: my whole desire only to fly, to fly into you!

Study of Cassy

Cave Painting

A week ago I hiked around Summit Lake, in Hatcher Pass, determined to paint. The weather was not going to stop me! It wasn't raining so I followed the stream down the hill and started sketching the waterfall. The wind started to pick up and it looked like it might rain. Sure enough a few minutes later drops of rain began to appear on my drawing. I told myself that a few drops were not going to deter me but five minutes later I had to give up as a steady drizzle began. I gathered up all of my painting gear and headed back up the hill to a shallow cave I saw on the way down. I was going to paint my first cave painting... the rain was not going to stop me. There was just enough room in the shallow cave for my easal and me. Conveniently the cave was designed so that there was a ledge where I could put my paints and brushes. Perfect! I could paint in the rain and keep my paint and painting dry. The view wasn't the greatest but I soon found something to paint. As I was sketching, the rain came down heavier and a drip formed on the ledge above and to the right of me about a foot away. I started painting while keeping an eye on the drip which was becoming wider. I kept on painting. Then to my dismay the direction of the rain changed. I painted frantically as the little stream of water, from the lip of the cave, steadily moved closer to my pallete. Water soon started to drip onto my pallete and my oil paints started to change consistancy. I kept on painting but now the stream of water from above was falling directly on to my pallette. I kept on painting as the pools of water on my pallete merged together. I was trying to capture a little essence of what I was seeing before it was too late . Now my paints were submerged in water...time to stop. I had not finished the painting but I did take away something from the experience that I am sure will show up in a future painting. Here are some photos of the waterfall, the view from the cave and my unfinished painting.

Last Light

Last week, just before the sun set behind the mountains, I caught some of the last color in the sky. Hatcher Pass.
Oil on Canvas, 8"x 10".

I was hiking up to Gold Cord Lake today and half way up the hill I was startled by a sound right in front of me. I looked down and a couple of feet away were two Ptarmigans. I had almost stepped on one of them. For some reason they did not fly away but just moved away a couple more feet. I had left my camera in the car so I started sketching them. They did not seem bothered by my presence so I just kept on drawing and drawing... About an hour later I realized I would probably be able to get my camera and they still would be in the same place. So down the mountain I ran to get my camera. On the way back I had to walk really fast because behind me was a large group of people with dogs. I felt sure they would scare the birds away. Fortunately I found the birds again and was able to take photos of them before they were scared away.

Dance of the Clouds

I exhibited this painting earlier this year but was not completely happy with it. I decided to cut it down from 22" x 28" to 20" x 24". I then used some sand paper to smooth out some of the rough spots and give the surface a little more tooth. I then glazed it with a yellow/orange mixture. I simplified the clouds, softened edges and basically repainted most of it to make it more pleasing to my eye. The new one has a much warmer feel to it.