Sunday, September 2, 2007

DIABLO LAKE OVERLOOK, COLONIAL PEAK, PYRAMID PEAK











Painting for a second day at Diablo Lake Overlook is relaxing. I feel as if I know a little about the view, even though the light is different today and I am painting different peaks. I use many of the same color mixes, and I'm not having to invent strategies for every subject I paint. I take advantage of all the greens I've mixed for the first painting by carrying my palette, still set up, to a second viewpoint.

Today's visitors include more of the odd black beetles. One of them totters up a pine branch, wobbling as if his antennae were too heavy for him to balance. As the sun breaks out, warming up the earth and grasses, grasshoppers snap and jitter around me. They are surprisingly colorful, flashing bright yellow wings in their brief flights.

The clouds come and go, and suddenly, at one o'clock, the wind whips down the valley. Holding onto my easel, I get all the color notes down, then pack up for the day.

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