On to the Tetons ... sort of.

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Saturday, September 9, 2017 to Friday, September 15, 2017; to the Tetons ... sort of.

C1640

“Morning Light … Grand Teton Tops lost in Cloud”

(Wyoming)

Oil Painting on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

4” x 6”

Click here to make this your Own

 

Saturday: After photo-recon near the boat landing, I finally left Brooks Lake, taking the road past the Brooks Lake Lodge, on what turned out to be a relatively desperate road about five or six miles to Wind River Lake and US Hwy 26/287.  I did not need 4-wheel drive, but a high clearance vehicle is a necessity, and in wet weather the mud to the west of Barbers Point, the highest point on the road, could be a killer, sending one sliding off into the valley below.  I found this out from a chap who works at the lodge, who had driven a couple of guests to fish at Wind River Lake.  I was surprised when arriving at the end of the road that there was no sign warning RVs and Winnebagos not to attempt it, as it is single track for much of the way.  Wind River Lake is a small lake, really a large pond, by Minnesota standards, and is considered by some to be the headwaters of the Wind River.  It is also just a few hundred yards from the crest of Togwotee Pass. 

View from Barbers Point back the way I came … that’s the good section.

Two Ocean Mountain in the distance … still on the desperate road to Wind River Lake.

High Mountain Meadow.

Could be Moose country.

Back side of Sublette Peak and Wind River Lake.

Sunbreak on Brooks Mountain.

There was a Bald Eagle at the lake, and I wondered whether it was the same one I’d seen at Brooks Lake, which was not at all far as the Crow Eagle flies.  There is a good view here of the far side of Sublette Peak from that which I’d been looking at for ten days; also of the south end of Brooks  Mountain.

On the desperate road I met Doug, a hiker, doing part of the Continental Divide Trail, but who was heading home to Idaho for a few days of rest and recuperation, as he had encountered some foot problems during the past few days on the trail.  I would like to have given him a ride towards Jackson Hole, but my truck is full to the brim … my bed area has a lot of stuff on it during the day, especially when driving, that gets moved at night.  The passenger seat has 7 gallons of water in strapped into it, and in the foot well I have my deep cycle AGM battery, as well as another 3 gallons of water in 9 stainless steel flasks, and on top of that is a small backpack with my essential painting and drawing kit.  Hope you got a lift all the way to Jackson, Doug.  As it was I was only going another 20 miles down the highway, before turning off onto Forest Road 30168 (also known as Flagstaff Road), ending up at a site above Sagebrush Flat, about seven miles in.  Here I have a view of the cluster of peaks around the Grand Teton, 23 miles distant; Mount Moran is out of sight to the right, blocked by the slope of the hill I am camped on.

Mountain Man Country.

The old Blackrock Ranger Station.

Interior.

Mary’s Lake on the way to my next campsite
above Sagebrush Flat.

Mount Leidy from my campsite … Sagebrush Flat is below me
between here & there and out of view.  I’m about 7 miles south
of the Blackrock Ranger Station.

Sagebrush.

Sagebrush Blossoms.

First Evening

Aspens beginning to turn.

Tetons on my second Evening …
the Grand Teton is the tallest Peak seen.

For you tech-heads the pigments used were:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red

Drawing: W&N Ultramarine Deep

Painting: W&N Venetian Red, Cobalt & Ultramarine Deep Blues, also a touch of Cerulean, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale.

Rublev:Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Purple Ochre & Lead White #1.

Smoky days & final days at Brooks Lake … sort of.

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Wednesday, September 6, 2017 to Saturday, September 9, 2017; to Brooks Lake, Absaroka Range, Wyoming.

C1637

“Morning on Brooks Lake Creek”

(Absaroka Range, Wyoming)

Oil Painting on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this your Own

Thursday: A very smoky day; the worst thus far.  I finished my fifth Oil of this Brooks Lake area, at 14:00 today, and after a lunch, drove the mile to the end of forest road 516, that I had been camped on, noting a couple decent campsites, but none with the view I have had overlooking the lake, and thus conducive for painting.  It also provided shelter from the sun, being partly tucked into a small grove of trees.  I then moved camps to the south end of the lake on Forest Road 515-1C, and had a slightly earlier supper.  This is for tonight only, as in the morning I am off, and hope to get several blog posts lined up for publishing.  By the time you read this there will have been two or three posted before this one.

Smokiest day thus far.

I have seen no large wildlife here in the form of deer, elk or bears, although the meadows 150’ below by the lake should have attracted any or all of them, and I surmise must do at times.  A couple who parked near me and hiked down to the lake to fish, were surprised I’d not had any sightings, as they come often to fish, and had in fact seen some elk along Brooks Lake Creek on their way in that morning.  I have seen a Bald Eagle several times during the nine days I have been at Brooks Lake, and once saw him splash into the lake after a fish (the one that got away), and heavily take off from the water again.  The Grey Jays, there are oft-times three of them, visit a couple times a day, and have shown me something I have never seen before from a Grey Jay; attempting to snatch butterflies from the air by fluttering after them in a butterfly like fashion.  They were successful once every few times, and when so, would land with their catch, plucking wings off (perhaps other things too), before partaking of their repast.  Can’t believe I have been here ten nights now, especially since this stop was to have been only a one night stand on my way to Grand Tetons National Park … serendipity!

Thought this was my last view of the Pinnacles …
and a hazy one.

Brooks Lake through the trees.

A lot of these formations around here.

Friday: My sojourn at Brooks Lake finally came to an end (or so I thought … read on), as I headed back down Forest Road 515, and upon reaching the main highway, jogged right a quarter mile to the day use area of the Falls Campground.  Here I took a half mile stroll to the Brooks Lake Creek Falls.  It was much higher than I had expected.  The water almost slides, and in places actually does, down the steep slope into the canyon below.  Oh it falls over little cliffs on the way down but, mostly it seems to slide.  And it is a long slide … at the furthest extent, I was a bit above the level of the top of the falls and about a hundred yards or so away, and the bottom of the falls was directly below me, perhaps 300 feet into the depths of the canyon, and as I have said sliding more than falling most of the way down.

View on the way from the Lake to Hwy 287.

Pinnacles from the beginning of the walk to Brooks Lake Creek Falls.

A few yards before the top of the falls.

Top of the Falls.

About 1/3 of the falls is seen.

About 1/3 of the falls is seen.

Woodland walk on the way back to the car.

After this delightful interlude, I toddled back on down to Dubois, 20 miles distant, to top up my tank, food and ice supplies, and spend the afternoon in the library to post the blog.  This I did, but being Friday the library closed at 17:00, instead of the 19:00 I was expecting, so instead of getting a two or three posts lined up for publishing I just managed one.  I also checked my recent emails (the older ones have to wait), as I really have been cut off from doing that since Aspen, 25 days ago.  And that’s all I did, as I did not have time to open any one of them.  Even then I finished up my online work by sitting outside the library after they had closed to use their Wi-Fi.  By the time Dubois was left behind the Sun was setting, and it was too late to get over the pass and find a new campsite near Jackson Hole and the Tetons, so back to my last campsite on Brooks Lake.

And surprise, surprise … after another very smoky day, as I prepared my SUV for the night and a late supper, the stars came out brightly for the first time in several days.  Whereas the night before, I could just make out the Summer Triangle of the first magnitude stars of Deneb, Altair and Vega, and little else, now the sky was full of stars, perhaps not as bright as an altitude of 9100’ would normally give you, but almost.  And later the Moon arose brightly over the Pinnacles with just a slightly yellow cast, instead of the almost red it had been the night before.  The wind must have changed.  And I thought of Michael, a greying biker I had met earlier in the day as he filled his water bottle in the town park, who had been driven off of Union Pass, by the smoke wafting down from northern Montana 500 miles distant, and instead of hiking up a 13000’ peak up there in the Wind River Range, decided to pack it in and head south, perhaps to Colorado, or maybe on to New Mexico.  Another day and he might have got up that 13000’ peak.

Final dawn light from my 3^rd campsite here.

The outflow of Brooks Lake Creek, beginning its journey
to the Falls a few miles away.

West from the boat landing.

North from the boat landing.

East from the boat landing.

Speaking of the Pinnacles, as mentioned, later in the library a chap named John commented on the explosive nature of the origin of the Pinnacles … I will have to look that up.  I have been wondering about their geology.

The pigments used in the Painting were:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red.

Drawing: W&N Cobalt Blue.

Painting: W&N Venetian Red, Cerulean Cobalt & Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale.

Rublev:Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Purple Ochre & Lead White #1.

M. Graham: Hansa Yellow.

Looking at the Great Divide.

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Saturday, September 2 to Wednesday, September 5, 2017; to Brooks Lake, Absaroka Range, Wyoming.

C1639

“Moonset at Dawn”

(Brooks Mountain, Absaroka Range, Wyoming)

Oil Sketch on Centurian oil primed Linen Panel

4” x 6”

Click here to make this your Own

Saturday: Over across the lake from my dispersed campsite is Sublette Peak and Brooks Mountain [I met Brooks Lake Lodge local who set me straight on the name], which mark the Continental Divide, and at present I am on the eastern side of it, so the streams here will be flowing to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.  I’ve been bouncing back and forth over the divide since crossing Independence Pass the day after leaving Salida.  I crossed from the Atlantic to Pacific flowing waters there, and back again when I crossed over South Pass, at the south end of the Wind River Range, and back to the west side a day later when I crossed over Union Pass before the Eclipse.  An interesting aside here is that in the Union Pass area waters flow in three directions; east to the Mississippi and the Atlantic, south to the Green River, which joins the Colorado and eventually into the Gulf of California (which separates Baja from the rest of Mexico), and northwest into the Snake River, which joins the Columbia and the Pacific, between Oregon and Washington.  On Tuesday I recrossed Union Pass to the east side, to Dubois, and am still on that side here at Brooks Lake, looking at the Divide in the form of Brooks Mountain, and watching the shadow of the Pinnacles Buttes slowly crawling down its face in the dawn light.

View from my 2^nd Brooks Lake Camp at the north end of the lake.

Flowers in my Camp.

Afternoon light …
I believe this is part of the Pinnacles,
but this mountain is separated
from the main body by a Valley.

Evening.

Morning Shadows.

Monday, Labor Day: Extreme smoke haze from the forest fires way up near Glacier National Park in northern Montana, so much so that you could not tell the Sun had risen by the usual shadow descending the cliffs across the lake, and those cliffs themselves were almost lost in the haze, although only two miles, or so, away.  The lake surface itself was calm until about noon, after which a breeze blew up for the rest of the day, but that had no effect on the haze.  In the evening twilight, the usually bright planet Jupiter could hardly be seen, and in fact I had to find it with binoculars before I could make it out with the naked eye.  By the time it lowered into the notch between Sublette Peak and Brooks Mountain, it could only be made out with binoculars, before it passed behind the latter … now that is haze!  However, it made for a beautiful warm, reddish-gold full moon … gosh! Two weeks since the eclipse already!!

Wednesday: A light ground frost this morning, and still a bit of smoke haze, as was yesterday, although nowhere near as much as on Labor Day.  Jupiter was easily seen last night and the Moon was its usual silvery self by the time rose high enough for it to have crested the Pinnacles and tall trees behind my campsite.

Morning.

Sublette Peak.

Montana smoke-haze in Wyoming!

A bit of mist on the Lake.

Add Sun beyond the Great Divide.caption

Smokey Evening.

Moon setting through a smoky dawn.

Smoky Moon.

The pigments used were:

Imprimatura: Rublev Ercolano Red

Drawing: W&N Cobalt Blue

Painting: W&N Venetian Red, Cobalt & Cerulean Blues, also a touch of Cerulean, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale.

Rublev:Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Purple Ochre & Lead White #1.