C1493
“Autumn in
American Basin”
(Colorado
Rockies)
Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel
4” x 6”
Back in October I spent
more time in the Colorado Rockies than I had intended, since I was waiting for
the government shutdown to end and the National Parks to reopen and I didn’t
want to move too far west, so as not to miss some of those that I wanted to
see; who knows how long it might be before I might pass that way again. On October 7th, after three days
on the forest road south of Gunnison, I continued south to Lake City and Lake
San Cristobal, one of the larger natural lakes in Colorado; about 700 years
ago, the Slumgullion Slide came down the mountainside and blocked the Lake Fork
of the Gunnison River, thus forming the Lake.
I found a great campsite on the south side of the lake at a county
campground at no charge, it being after the season; I was the only one there after
my first night, spending 4 of the next 5 nights there.
After setting up camp on a
cliff above the lake, I began a drawing in my sketchbook and finished it the
next morning, before exploring up the Lake Fork and eventually ending up at
11,500’ at American Basin. To get there
I had to pass along the scariest two-mile stretch of road I’ve ever driven; a
single-lane track cut from mountains-cliffs on the right and shelving off down
into a river gorge on the left so deep and narrow the water remained unseen
below; I had to keep my eyes on the track ahead, but I kept wanting to look to
the left and down. After 2 miles the
cleft broadened out into a pleasant valley, with the river running through it
before it plunged into the gorge I’d just driven. This valley, about 5 miles long, was full of
miners and boasted several towns back in the late 1800s. Now I met a few hunters, one all the way from
Alaska, scouting out the deer population before the season opened on the
following Saturday.
A few miles further on I
arrived in American Basin just in time to cook supper and settle down for the
night. The temperature was a bit odd in
that there was a chill breeze wafting down from the snow field on the basin
wall to the south, but the ambient temperature itself must have been higher since
I felt warmer in my sleeping bags that night than the first night on the forest
road where I had painted the Autumn Cottonwoods; and I was about 2500’ higher
in altitude.
The next morning I rolled
out of my sleeping bags at first light and as the first rays of the Sun touched
the mountain spires I began the little Oil Painting above. I was struck be the
morning shadow gradually moving down the western flank on the right, as well as
the cloud shadows. The russets and ochres
of the Autumn grasses and leafless bushes contrasted nicely with the violets
and blues shadowed areas. I don’t
believe any of the snow on the mountain wall is a glacier, but certainly we are
in a glacial basin a remnant of at least the last Ice Age, if not at some time
since. A couple of months ago I
revisited the painting and glazed in some colour, strengthening the work
overall, but especially the shadows, and thus the contrast between the light
and shade. I have signed this work S.T.
Johanneson, instead of with just my monogram STJ, thus denoting it to be a
complete painting, as opposed to
being a sketch or study, and if you have read under the
“Stuff” tab that means a higher starting price, as you may have noticed.
I had hoped to attempt to
go higher from here up to 12500’-plus, as the track continues steeply up to the
right-rear behind our viewpoint, and crosses a high pass, but the snowfalls
already occurring in September, had blocked it at that altitude; and Winter
is coming (sorry, for a moment I thought I was inside Game of Thrones), by that evening snow was in the forecast, so that
afternoon I backtracked down the desperate road, only passing one vehicle on
the scary two-mile stretch (luckily we met at a passing spot), and on below to
my campsite on its cliff above the lakeside.
There I awaited the snow and watched it gently fall over 36 hours; it
only accumulated about 4” as it was warm enough to melt a certain amount as it
landed; I was hoping for more.
No imprimatura, and the pigments used were: Yellow Ochre, a touch or
two of Cadmium Orange, Venetian Red, a little Sap Green, Cobalt Blue, and
Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.
