Plans Gone Wrong.

I have been dying to go out painting all week but one thing after another messed up my plans. Yesterday I had planned to paint in the mountains along a very scenic stream that still had banks of snow. It looked great. I was excited. The sky was blue, the light was perfect. There was a slight breeze gusting occasionally but I didn't think it was that bad. Suddenly it picked up and blew away one of my paper towels.  I can't be letting paper towels blowing around littering up the mountains of course so I went after it. Well, while I was chasing the paper, my whole setup blew over, landing my paint in the dirt and emptying out my whole container of solvent. So that was that.  Lesson learned - always take along a small can of back-up solvent in the car.  Also weigh down the tripod with rocks or something.  But I did take a lot of pictures so I may do a studio painting from my shots.

So, since that didn't go well, I went out again today, just locally, to a different place along the river here in town. Grass is starting to green up a little bit. The willows turn very red in spring before they start budding. Greening, 8 x 10.

A Surprise

So this morning I went painting. It's a sunny warm morning and I finished my painting around 10:30 and began walking back up the dirt road toward my car - about a quarter mile away. It's kind of a steep road and I was wearing my big brimmed hat and kind of looking down at the road as I walked.  So I couldn't see too far ahead, maybe 4 feet or so.  Suddenly I realized there was a black object hurtling toward me down the road, just a few feet away. First thought: What's a cat doing out here in the middle of nowhere? Second thought OMG it's a SKUNK.

 It stopped right in front of me looking menacing. I backed up immediately, pretty fast I might add. It turned away and went racing on down the road the way I had come, vanishing around a corner, as fast as ever. What was it doing out in the middle of the day? And why was it racing around?   There are some rabid animals in the wild here and there, foxes, skunks,  maybe it was one of them. If so I was glad it continued on it's way without harming me. But it was really amazing to see up close.

Here's the painting I did last Sunday right before sunset. Red Willows, 8 x 10.

Rocks

Here's the other painting from last weekend. We hiked up into the foothills, a warm day but still lots of snow in the shadowed hillsides and I painted this painting. Snowy Outcrop, 8 x 10. I am still working on some large paintings for an upcoming April show so I may not be getting a chance to do many plein air paintings in the near future. I did do one yesterday and will put that up after it gets a chance to dry a bit. Weather is definitely turning spring-like so I am looking forward to more outdoor painting later this spring and summer.

Break in the Weather, at last.

Yay! Daylight savings has started and the 2 weeks of cold and snow have finally passed, and the weather is getting more spring-like. I went out this Saturday and painted a couple pictures. Here is the first one. I have been busy working on several large paintings for an upcoming show in April so I haven't had much time to do small paintings outdoors, and the blizzard-like conditions were a definite deterrent. Am looking forward to light in the evenings again.
 Icy Banks, 8 x 10.