it's some view from Kratka Ridge

East of Waterman Mountain is Kratka Ridge and nearer to it than the mount is a disused road I wandered up one day. I found a view that I soon decided to paint.

I got some gel medium to experiment with, building up structures before putting the paint down, mostly for the decaying SR-39 in the background. The road was an impressive cut through the mountain to me at the time.

Painted: Nov 5, 2011.
24"x18" (IIRC) acrylic paint on stretched canvas

Sulphur Mountain Rangeland

The foothills of Sulphur Mountain.  This is from a mountain bike ride just a few days before starting the painting.  I tried to get to the top, but it is a long way up for a first mountain bike ride and first bike ride in a long while.  Plenty of nice views on the way.

And as usual, it has sides too.

Sulphur Mountain Rangeland
acrylic on stretched canvas
24" x 12" x 1/2"

Lost Fence in Tule Creek

An old fence is nearly hidden in the tule grass near Tule Creek.  This is from the same hike in April and was also painted in May shortly before the painting in the previous post.

Lost Fence in Tule Creek
acrylic on stretched canvas
8" x 8" x 1/2"

In Flight Over Tule Creek

A bird takes flight over the pooling waters of Tule Creek, a place I hiked in April before doing this painting in May.

In Flight Over Tule Creek
acrylic on stretched canvas
8" x 8" x 1/2"

Windswept Trees by Telescope Peak

The trees along the ridge to Telescope Peak show well what the prevailing wind is and it was blowing in a rather prevailing way as we crossed along it to the peak.  Death Valley makes a stark background.

Windswept by Telescope Peak
acrylic on stretched canvas
8" x 8" x 1.5"

Gaviota cold spring

Down the south side of the Santa Ynez Mountains near Gaviota, there's a burst of trees by some grass and a spring below.  I found it while exploring the area.  Today, I painted it, with some liberties.

Gaviota Cold Spring
acrylic on stretched canvas
8" x 8" x 1.5"

Dry Lakes Ridge

I stopped and sketched this view at the time, so it is no wonder that I might go back and paint it too.  This is the lower of the false lakes along Dry Lakes Ridge and the one that is full of grass rather than sage.  It is painted on an 8" square of stretched canvas with 1.5" edges, so nearly half the painting is hidden around the outside.  Finished it today.

Lake of grass, lowest of the false dry lakes
acrylic on stretched canvas
8" x 8" x 1.5"

Rocks Along the Ridge to Cathedral Peak (no. 2)

Another of those rocks along the ridge.  This spot was a bit less green and the inclusions all hollowed out.  Completed today.

Rocks Along the Ridge to Cathedral Peak (no. 2)
acrylic on canvas board
7" x 5", $46

Rocks Along the Ridge to Cathedral Peak (no. 1)

I liked the inclusions in the sandstone along the ridge as I hiked up toward Cathedral Peak, so decided to make some small studies of a couple spots.  Only one flower was blooming, but in late summer around here, that's not too bad.  I decided to start with one including the flower.  Completed yesterday.

Rocks Along the Ridge to Cathedral Peak (no. 1)
acrylic on canvas panel
7" x 5", $46

Oak on a Gaviota Ridge, again

I returned to the same tree (as seen in the previous post) the next day, but give it a completely different treatment still combining the schematic nature of my sketches with the more interesting coloring that a proper painting allows.  For this one, I started with the outline, then brought in water and other colors to blur the line and bring in many more colors.  This particular paper (Fabriano Artistico) grabs the colors a bit more than I wanted.  I really have to do a few more like this, but I'll use another paper brand that I was basing my expectations on (Daler-Rowney Langton Prestige).

Outline of an Oak on a Gaviota Ridge
watercolor on 100% cotton, rough watercolor paper
12" x 9", $68

Oak on a Gaviota Ridge

Heading back to Gaviota for some watercolor of an oak on the ridge, from a photo taken back in October and painted in the middle of August.  This was fun, combining some quick, bold painting and the schematic nature of the sketches I do.  I actually rather liked the initial painting and it was hard to carry through with the plan.  Here it is, in progress:

Oak on a Gaviota Ridge
watercolor on 100% cotton, rough watercolor paper
20" x 14", $175

Franklin Pass, passing into the interior

Something a little more recent: this is the view from Franklin Pass as one comes over the Great Western Divide into the interior where there are no roads.  That is the popular direction for hitting this spot, but we were finishing our hike.  Stretched out below was a bit of the last two days.  To the left of the central ridge, we could see the wall of Big Arroyo which we had climbed out from the day before.  Coming up Soda Creek on the left, we eventually climbed the central ridge and dropped slightly down to Forester Lake in the center.  On this day, we had lost a little more elevation before starting the climb up the pass.  The far mountains contain hints of places we were the year before.

Franklin Pass panorama
acrylic on stretched canvas
36" x 12" x 3/4", $540

fencing on the edge

Another one referencing my trip along Piru Creek from Hardluck and completed yesterday.  Once in Hungry Valley, the land is dry and affected by human use.  The difference in vegetation in the areas fenced off, the open area, and the fenced in trail caught my eye at the time.  The peek of cliff that is otherwise hidden makes me oddly happy.

At the Edge of Hungry Valley
acrylic on stretched canvas
20" x 16" x 3/4", $400

sunset at the beach

One last bit of wet color in the form of a sunset at the beach during a low tide.  The dark rocks, the bright edges to the clouds... not sure I quite managed it.  The reference is taken from a December 2012 day.  The painting was completed on the 5th of this month.

Clouds of Sunset
watercolor on rough, 100% cotton paper
12" x 9", $68

twilight over Los Angeles

Some more darkened land in the twilight.  This one comes from Inspiration Point.  Every community seems to have at least one of these, and this is the one above Altadena.  The day, way back in January 2009, was pristine and the hike lovely, even when I found out the batteries had finished in everything that might give me light on the way down.  Okay, there was one annoyance, but it got replaced more cheaply than the batteries.  This painting was completed on the 4th of this month.

Los Angeles Twilight
watercolor on 100% cotton, rough paper
12" x 9"
$68

twilight at Whitaker Peak

Trying out my new watercolors with a wet technique on some rough paper.  First, a bit of twilight from Whitaker Peak while the sky is still red and the burned branches of the chaparral are still stark against the colorful backdrop and the little bit of hint of storm moving in is lit from the bottom.  I'll probably have more of the light show from that day in November 2012 later.  The painting was completed on the 3rd of this month.

Whitaker Peak Twilight
watercolor on rough, 100% cotton
12" x 9"
$68

Strawberry Peak

I painted a tree a day for the month of November (2012).  This one from the 21st is of the cliff on the north side of Strawberry Peak in Angeles NF and the trees are a bit incidental.  The reference is from a hike way back in April 2007.  It's a spot I'd like to return to, but is still closed due to the Station Fire.  The current closure expires in 10 days, so maybe it will be open again. Or they'll have another in a week or so to extend it another year, which is how it has been going.

Strawberry Peak Face
watercolor on rough cotton watercolor paper
12" x 9"
$68

Sunset Cliffs

I saw some pictures of Zion and found them inspiring, particularly the first photo in this Modern Hiker post.  Something about the trees still in their winter corpse-like state against the cliffs made me wonder.  I've been having a bit of insomnia and the brain playing with watercolors didn't help, so I got up and tried out one of those thoughts to see what would happen.  Did it work out?  Well, there is certainly potential there.  It had to dry before starting the trees, so I got some sleep.  By the time I woke up, I'd decided not to use a mixture of deep grey and black for the trees, but grind some of an ink stick to use.  The ink stick really does make a wonderful black.

Some memories of specific cliffs are bobbing to the surface, there may be more cliffs coming.

Sunset Cliffs
watercolor and ink on watercolor paper
9" x 6"
$35

Mt. Wilson

Stepping back in time quite a bit further, there is a moment of mist that felt a bit inspiring to me and I had to try something out.  We were climbing out from Valley Forge (no, not that one) up to Red Box on a late July 2007 morning after an overnight with a bit of experimental cooking and now trying to be showered and into work by 10AM... and there were the trees and the mist on the hills.  Memory says it was the trees that had to be done, but my journal suggests it was the hills.  Memory does play tricks.  The painting was done August 5th, 2007.

Mist and Pines Above Valley Forge
acrylic on canvas board
9" x 6" (uncertain)
gifted to a fellow hiker (so I only have the old and rather poor photo)

Piru Creek

One more square foot of Los Padres NF.  Completed today, this is along Piru Creek near the Smith Fork from the same hike as a couple posts before where I was trying to get myself lost but failed.  The creek was shallow, but running and full of growth.

Piru Creek Cattails
acrylic on stretched canvas
12" x 12" x 0.5"
$180