C1696

“Green River Reverie”

(Dinosaur National Monument, Utah)

Oil on Pannelli Telati fine cotton Panel

6”  x  8”

Click here to make this your Own

Imprimatura & Drawing

Block-in 

The Green River arises in the northern end of the Wind River Range in western Wyoming, first briefly flowing northwest, then loops out of the mountains to flow south along their western edge. It continues through western Wyoming, cutting the Flaming Gorge south of the town of Green River (where those of you familiar with the works of Thomas Moran will recognize the buttes and bluffs in some of his paintings). It enters Utah at the south end of the Flaming Gorge, turning east as it is blocked by the Uinta Mountains, flows into Browns Park, in extreme northwestern Colorado (definitely in Butch Cassidy country here), until it cuts through the eastern extension of the Uintas, at the Gates of Lodore. We are now in the northern section of Dinosaur National Monument. Rafting trips begin here. It now flows through deep canyons in the Monument, past the campground at Echo Park, near its junction with the Yampa River (an interesting descent of 3000” by car to get to), flows westerly from here, back into Utah and the western end of the Monument (Dinosaur National Monument, straddles the Utah/Colorado  border).

It is here where I came up on this quiet scene, not far from its egress at Split Mountain, and less than a mile or so below the Green River Campground. I have thought about painting this ever since my few brief moments here. I passed this spot several times in my explorations of this end of the Monument, and this time the lighting was just perfect. The contrasts of the purples and blues of the shadowed canyon wall (with its dark streaks of desert varnish), with the yellows, oranges and greens of the foliage, and the milky jade greens of the River itself, has stayed in my mind since those days I spent in the area in Autumn of 2017.  I stayed one night in the Green River Campground,  and it is quite pleasant as far as campgrounds go, with the River quietly flowing past. I spent the next 8 nights dispersed camping just outside the Monument on BLM land. The dinosaur bones are what bring most people to this monument, but if you are interested in geology and hiking intersting landscapes, Dinosaur National Monument is an interesting area to explore.

From here the Green winds south through eastern Utah, until its meeting with the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park. I did not see the source of the River, but I could see the Canyon of the source south from where I camped at Mosquito Lake up on Union Pass, after I witnessed the  2017 eclipse of the Sun. I travelled the length of the Green through western Wyoming; saw it in Browns Park; saw it enter the Gates of Lodore; enjoyed the cooling shade of the cottonwoods for awhile at Echo Park; witnessed its emergence at Split Mountain; and enjoyed this little scene near the Green River Campground. I am not familiar with the River between here and Canyonlands NP, but I did see it from high places in Canyonlands, and just like not seeing the actual souces, I did not see its endgame, but I did see the canyon junctions where it joins its waters to the Colorado, from a distance. There are rivers that stay in the mind, and this is one ... I would see it again, should I ever go that way.

Pigments used in the painting were:

Imprimatura & Drawing: Rublev French Red Ochre;

Pigments: W&N Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Ultramarine Deep Blue, Titanium White;

Rublev:  Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, French Red Ochre, Lead White #1;

Schmincke: Caput Mortuum;

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.

A Delightful Find.

(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.)

Tuesday, August 29-Saturday, September 2, 2017; to Brooks Lake, Absaroka Range, Wyoming.

C1638

“Afternoon Haze”

(Brooks Lake, Absaroka Range, Wyoming)

Oil Sketch on Centurian oil primed Linen Panel

4” x 6”

Click here to make this your Own

Tuesday: Much to do today, as I leave Mosquito Lake and head back to Dubois for supplies, a clothes washing session, and to the library to get a blog post published.  The post I did get published was “The Eclipse,” and what with filing photographs, it took me 3-1/2 hours to do, and no time to even check my emails.  Last chance I had to do that was in Rifle, CO, or I might have briefly cleared some in Green River, Wyoming, although I believe that I just checked on free campsites while there.  But this morning on the way to Dubois, it took me 3-1/2 hours to drive the 30.4 miles of forest roads to hit pavement, what with all the photo-recon I accomplished on the way, as well as the partial 4-wheel drive four mile side trip to Lake of the Woods, near Union Pass.  I managed to get everything done, finishing my washing just before 21:00, and headed north on 287.

My 1^st stroll along Brooks Lake …
Sublette Peak (left) & Brooks Mountain (right).

The outflow of Brooks Lake Creek.

Brooks Lake Creek with the Pinnacle Buttes beyond.

Brooks Lake Creek.

Denizen … there were quite a few of these in residence ...
some sort of ground squirrel.

Supping on Fireweed …
that’s Rosebay Willowherb to the Brits.

How interesting is serendipity … 24 miles up the road, 5 of which is on a forest road, brought  me to  Brooks  Lake, and the National Forest Pinnacles Campground, my intended way stop on the way to Jackson Hole and the Tetons Range.  It was 22:30 and as I squared away the truck, keeping my bear spray to hand as this is still very much Grizzly country, I could see a mountain ridge above me in the moonlight.  Well, the next morning, and the Sun arose behind that ridge, which turned out to be the Pinnacles Buttes.  A morning walk down by the lake, with a view across to Sublette Peak, and Brooks Lake Cliffs (Buttes?), and I realized I needed to stay around here for a couple of days; and so I have … a couple of days in the campground painting the Pinnacles from my campsite, and a few more above the north end of the lake at a free dispersed site, with a great view over the lake to Sublette Peak and the Brooks Cliffs, and I’ve had a visit from a Grey Jay, in both sites thus far.  Serendipity … I knew nothing of Brooks Lake, before I stopped for the night, on Tuesday the 29^th, and what a lovely find it has been!  Just as well, as Jackson Hole and the Tetons National Park will probably be heaving with visitors over this Labor Day weekend.

Pinnacles.

Pinnacles.

Pinnacles.

Brooks Mountain.

Resident Squirrel at my Campsite.

Evening Pinnacles from my Campsite.

The pigments used were:

Imprimatura: Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre

Drawing: W&N Cobalt Blue

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

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

Blocxx Ivory Black (in a green mixture).

After the Eclipse at Mosquito Lake in the Wind River Range, Part 2

(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.)

Tuesday-Tuesday, August 22-29, 2017; to Mosquito Lake, west of Union Pass, Wind River Range, Wyoming.

C1635

“Afternoon at Pinnacle Buttes”

(Brooks Lake, Absaroka Range, Wyoming)

Oil Painting on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

SOLD

Saturday at Mosquito Lake saw the weather back to sunny with puffy cumulus clouds drifting lugubriously along.  Several vehicles wandered into my campsite, during the day, and as quickly left again when they saw it was occupied; it’s the weekend so I suppose there will be a repeat performance tomorrow.

Sunday: no, there really wasn’t a repeat performance … a couple of cyclists pedaled through my camp, and later one motorbike saw my camp was occupied, and I heard two cars out on the road all day, and that was it.  A very hazy but warm day all day, and the Absaroka Range, 50 miles to the northeast, was lost in the haze for most of the day, appearing slightly in the early evening.  The antelope family was out grazing all day.  I wonder if they were about the first couple of days I was here, but I think I would have noticed.  The coyotes were talking in or near the wood at the north end of the lake at dusk tonight, whereas they were down at the south end two nights ago, where the pronghorns are now.

Following shots are taken handheld from 600 yards away … magic camera.

Pronghorn guy …

… sees girl, who’s playing coy …

… as she has a couple young’uns.

Not sure, but think these are Cinnamon Teal.

Evening light after a bit of smoke haze day.

Monday: haze thickened during the day until by late afternoon, Union Peak had disappeared … I believe that it’s smoke coming down from Montana forest fires.   Hopefully the wind will shift during the night.  The Pronghorns were there at breakfast, but must have departed shortly thereafter, since I never spotted them for the rest of the day.  I was sitting on a log in the wood taking photographs of a plant with berries, when the resident squirrel, started a run along a log to my left, along another a few yards in front of me, then along a third to my right, ending up on my log stopping abruptly about three feet in front of me, looked at me as if to say, “shit! What are you doin’ on my highway?” then scampered off behind me.  The chipmunks here seem to be as enamored with the fire circle as the pair up above Aspen at Lincoln Portal, although I’ve not caught them gnawing any rocks … never got a shot of these ones … never stayed still to pose.

My patch of woodland.

Forest floor … I actually found two late strawberries.

Smoke haze from Montana.

Tuesday: heading out today and happy the pronghorn family is still in residence, but down the road two miles is a herd of their peers. 

Last Morning at Mosquito Lake.

Pronghorns … there were about 30 more.

Goin’ off.

Lake of the Woods …
detoured on a desperate road to get here.

Pool on the Great Divide.

Shower approaching across Union Pass
with the Gros Ventre Range to the west.

Warm Spring Creek & Canyon on the way down
from Union Pass … drops of rain began,
but held off really, until I got to Dubois
and the library.

I am beginning to really like  these Pannelli Telati fine cotton panels by Belle Arti, out of Italy; there seems to be a good amount of ‘grab’ of the paint, and not so ‘slidey’ as some panels … I guess I’m finding that to be a preference.  Having been primarily a Watercolourist my whole career, I’m finding the technical side of Oils quite fascinating.

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.

M. Graham: Hansa Yellow.

After the Eclipse at Mosquito Lake in the Wind River Range, Part 1

(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.)

Tuesday-Tuesday, August 22-29, 2017; to Mosquito Lake, west of Union Pass, Wind River Range, Wyoming.

Note: you have seen the two paintings I did at Mosquito Lake in the last two postings, North to Wyoming, Parts 1 & 2.

C1636

“Morning at Pinnacle Buttes”

(Brooks Lake, Absaroka Range, Wyoming)

Oil Sketch on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this your Own

After the Eclipse I remained in my forest meadow all Tuesday, to give time for all those other eclipse watchers to head out from their camps and clear the forest roads.  I crept out on the Wednesday from my forest road joining the next forest road 5 miles to forest road 600, the Union Pass Road, much as a creek joins a larger creek to a river.  The various campsites that had occupants, when I came in on Saturday, were all gone.  The best thing about my meadow, deep in the mountains, was that only once during my time in residence did anyone come down there … a lone ATV with a couple exploring the forest roads.

My eclipse campsite.

Road to my eclipse campsite.

Further down the road from
where I observed the eclipse;
this is the Gros Ventres Range
 to the southwest.

One of the many forest pools I passed by.

Ducks at Park Meadow.

At the junction with Union Pass Road I paused for a time studying my map, and decided to go west a few miles to check out Buffalo Meadow and then a few more miles to Mosquito Lake.  At the latter I found a campsite overlooking the south end of this shallow lake and the Wind River Range extending to the south.  I have a 180° view, including Union Pass 15 miles away, Union Peak (over which the Sun rises of a morning), the valley of the Roaring Fork (a tributary of the Green River), and the mountains enclosing Green Lake, beyond which arises the Green River itself; the Lake is out of site from my vantage point.

My first evening view from my
Mosquito Lake campsite.

Flotilla.

I've seen these rays at dusk and dawn several times ;
I think it has something to do with mountain shadows.

Here I have chipmunks, squirrels, coyotes yowling occasionally, various small birds (including Lark Buntings, first identified at the end of June at the Pawnee National Grassland), an occasional family of four pronghorn antelopes (two young), a pair of hawks of some kind, and the lake has several rafts of wildfowl and a pair of Trumpeter Swans, the first couple of days. Of the wildfowl, I have identified Cinnamon Teal, and Blue-winged Teal. Whereas the weather was absolutely perfect up to Wednesday, it has been mixed since then, generally sunny, but with cloud increasing during the days, and very interesting storms passing by, occasionally over me, but mostly off in the distance.

Residents.

Storm over the Roaring Fork
of the Green River.

And after the storm passeth away ...

... The flowers seem happier.

And another storm passes over Union Pass.

 The storms move off into the distance at day's end.

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.

M. Graham: Hansa Yellow.