plein air

I generally take a yearly pilgrimage to the Sierra’s to paint the fall colors, alternating between the Lee Vining area (with June Lakes, Virginia Lake, etc.) or the Hope Valley area. This year I chose Hope Valley. The season is a little late this year, primarily, I think as there has not been many cold days and freezing nights to bring the fall colors in.

I’ll just do one post of the entire trip, rather that separate day by day entries.

Monday, 10/11/10
Driving up Hwy 88, after having lunch with my nephew who had been doing contract electrical work close to Caples Lake, I headed over Carson Pass into Hope Valley. Since it was getting late in the day, I spent the time scouting out locations to paint over the next couple days. The valley was mainly green, but there was enough color in areas to make the trip worthwhile.

It was time to head to South Lake Tahoe where I had reservations at Harvey’s Resort and Casino.

Tuesday, 10/12/10
In the morning drove back the 20 miles to Hope Valley, which took twice as long as expected due to road construction, and did a painting along the West Fork of the Carson River, which runs the length of the valley. In fact, all my paintings would turn out to be along the Carson.

After driving down around Markleeville, not much color was showing there, so headed back to the same stretch of the Carson and did another painting.

Right below me in a pool, there must have been a hundred trout. There were a number of fisherman around, all catching them like crazy! Wished I would have had a fishing pole!

Wednesday, 10/13/10
Another trip through the construction down to Hope Valley. This time I painted the Carson in a more open area, however, there were no Aspen trees right in the scene, so no color to paint. I used artistic license and added a few trees in the background.

I then did a painting right by the junction of Hwy 88 & 89. As it turned out, all the paintings I did were within a mile of each other along the Carson River.

What a difference a few day’s make. By the time I left Hope Valley, much of the green was really starting to turn!

Thursday, 10/14/10
Time to head home, so I had a leisurely morning, and after checking out, drove up to the James Harold Gallery in Tahoe City and dropped a couple of the paintings off.

My son is spending part of the summer studying at Sophia University in Tokyo, so my wife and I went over for a couple weeks to tour around. It was a great experience, as Japan is such a varied and interesting country full of both ancient and modern marvels. However if you do go, avoid mid-summer as it is hot and muggy!! With the advanced rail system, is is very easy to get around to practically anywhere. I had a Japan Rail Pass, which allowed unlimited rail passage all over Japan for a full two weeks.

Generally when I travel with friends or family, I don’t have much time to paint, but usually take a small acrylic set in case the opportunity and time arises. I take an acrylic set particularly when I fly, especially internationally as it is easier to travel with as you don’t have to deal with turpentine, etc.

I won’t turn this blog entry into a travelogue, but Japan has so many wonderful things to paint, I did manage to do 4 paintings, which are shown below.

The first painting is of a temple complex at Shibamata, in Tokyo. It was only 3 rail stations from where I was staying, so I went out in the morning to do the painting.

I took a day trip to Nagano, only a couple hours by Shinkansen (bullet train) where the Winter Olympics were held in 1998. Nagano was like many cities in Japan, so I backtracked to a little town called Sakudaira. I walked several blocks from the train station where there were rice paddies, and I had a view of the surrounding mountains. It was very hot, and there was no good place to sit in the shade, so I ended up under an overpass sitting on the ground…Japanese ants and all!! Below you can see the scene and my painting materials on the ground. The long white structure in the middle ground are the Shinkansen elevated tracks—

I had been intrigued by all the Buddhist cemeteries which dot Tokyo and all over the countryside. Every neighborhood seemed to have one. I found that one was around the corner from where we were staying, so one morning went over and painted it…probably my best painting of the trip. I loved all the abstract shapes and colors. I also got attacked by a crow there..I think they are very territorial.

I also took an overnight trip to Hakone and Lake Ashi, which was the prettiest and most scenic of my visit. You can usually see Mt Fuji from there, but it was too hazy and cloudy to get a glimpse. I stayed in a hotel right by a rushing river which was great, so did a painting right there. The tall building on the right edge of the picture is my hotel–

I wished I would have had more time to do more, but took lots of pictures, so if the mood hits, I have plenty of material to do some studio paintings!!

Today I was reminded of why I am still in California. In spite of the high taxes, traffic, and other problems, it is still a great place to be, and a painter’s paradise. I had not been out with the Los Gatos Plein Air group for some time, as it seemed there were always other priorities, but today was a good day to join them.

The painting location was close to Morgan Hill, about 20 miles south from San Jose, and then a few miles into the Eastern foothills. After arriving, I looked around and realized I could spend a week painting within 100 yards of this spot. Between the valley below, the old barns, the foothill oaks, it was a great place to be. A storm front was on it’s way, which helped dramatize the landscape.

After walking around and visiting with some familiar painting buddies, I decided to paint the same scene many of the others were doing. Below are some photos–

After looking at the above photos, no matter how much I brighten up my greens, I still have not matched the emerald quality of the California hills during the winter rainy season!!