As I mentioned in my previous post, I am off to Yosemite today. I decided to post to my blog after the trip, so am writing this several days later.
I had a fitful nights sleep, but managed to get on the road around 6:00 am. By the time I was going over Pacheco Pass into the San Juaquin Valley, the sun was an orange orb just rising over the distant Sierras. After a stop to buy some longjohns (thermal underwear) since it was going be quite cold, and a brief nap on the road, I finally wound my way into Yosemite Valley.
As I was just coming into the valley, an artist was painting right by the road. He was all bundled up and braving the cold of the morning to paint. It was probably in the 20’s. Well, I had to stop and meet this hardy artist! I pulled over, we exchanged hellos, and found out it was Scott Burdick. Scott is a internationally well known artist who primarily paints people and far off places, but he is also a well regarded plein air painter. Below is a picture of Scott along the roadside.

Scott was spending two weeks in Yosemite by himself. We promised to meet up sometime later, so I moved on to find a place to paint before checking into Yosemite Lodge. I settled on a field close to Cathedral Rocks. The light was great, just glancing blows off the massive granite structures. A few shots are below of the site and the painting.
The painting was finished about 2:00 so I decided to head over to the Yosemite Lodge to see if an early check-in was possible. It was, so I got settled, and went back out to paint and explore. I ran into Scott again, out taking pictures. We decided to maybe get together later to paint but he had to switch motels, so after leaving my cell phone number, we went our separate ways. By that time the light wasn’t great for painting, so I headed to the room for some relaxation. I had only about 3 hours sleep the night before, so a nice dinner and little rest was in store.