Painting in Durango - plein air pastel

It's nice when you don't have to travel far to find something to paint.

Sky From 3rd Ave - 12x12"
pastel on light brown cardstock
© S.Johnson

And, after hiking up Engineer trail this morning, I was feeling too lazy to drive anywhere, so I just walked half-way across our street to the grassy median, and painted from there.  Sitting, of course.

I've sort of been wanting to paint this house for a while, so this seemed like the perfect time, especially since the next 4C paint out is in Silverton, and that's all about the buildings and architecture.  Good practice for that.

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Photos from the hike, which was about 8 miles and topped out above timberline at 11,900'.  This is a top-notch hike for wildflowers, and they were stunning this year - surprising, given the lack of rain and light snowpack.

No landscape photos, because about 1/2 mile from the junction to hike up Engineer, a cloud positioned itself right in front of the sun, and proceeded to grow to epic proportions in the windless sky, killing the light.  Disappointing from a photographer's standpoint, but that's the way it goes.

Instead, I bring you a batch of butterflies and paintbrushes:

Coronis Fritillary

Western Paintbrush - while the sun was still out

Rocky Mountain Parnassian
This, and the butterfly below, were stationary on flowers while the sun was behind
the clouds above timberline.  They require the warmth from the sun in order to fly.

Arctic Blue on Sneezeweed

Rosy Paintbrush

West Coast Lady - first of these I've ever seen

Purplish Fritillary

Painted Lady - underside

Milbert's Tortoiseshell

Utah cottonwood color - pastel

Kaleidoscope
12 x 12 inches
pastel on Artagain
© S Johnson

A studio piece that took far longer than it should have to finish (and subsequently, feels a bit over-worked).   It didn't quite meet my pre-painting expectations, but I got a lot out of painting it nonetheless.

From a photo taken about 25 miles south of Moab along Hwy 191 last year, at a rest stop situated next to one of those tickey-tacky tourist stops:  Hole N''The Rock.  Not to be confused with the road of the same name in the Escalante-Grand Staircase NM (also in UT), it started out as a house built into the large outcropping of Navajo sandstone by a Mormon pioneer close to a century ago.  That in itself is kind of interesting, but if you click on the link, what immediately assaults your aesthetic sense is the huge white lettering on the side of the rock.

Really?  Why?

At any rate, this beautiful Fremont cottonwood showing off its range of leaf color, was mercifully well out of view of the whole [hole?] view of all that.  Cottonwoods have these wonderful organic shapes to their trunks and branches, never orderly or predictable, and that is what draws me to them as photography and painting subjects time and time again.

Only one more day to get any painting in before I leave for Moab!  Thanks to expedient handling and shipping of an order placed on Monday, my two display easels from Dick Blick arrived yesterday, allowing me to leave on Monday instead of Tuesday.  Weather is supposed to be sunny and warm and dry during the event, which after the very winter-like storm that has been hitting our area for the better part of the week, is a relief.

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Photos taken yesterday along a drive up Hwy 550 to go check out the snow and fall color situation:

Aspen stand in full color in a fleeting moment of sunlight

Engineer Mountain as seen from the highway near Andrews Lake (~9,900')

Hermosa Cliffs closer to town (~8,000')

A hike to Crater Lake - wildflowers and monsoons

Friends from Flagstaff visited us over the weekend, and since all are avid hikers, I suggested we do the hike to Crater Lake, as wildflowers were likely to be peaking, and the trail - while high at its starting elevation - isn't particularly steep or strenuous.  It's about 11.5 miles RT.

Here are some photos from the hike:

A view of Engineer Mountain, as seen from Andrews Lake, where the trailhead for Crater Lake begins.  Monsoon storms were predicted, so we tried to get an early start.  

Cloud reflections in the lake - this is a 3-part vertically-oriented pano

Along the trail at one of the many vantage points of Engineer.  The wildflowers were incredible on this trip. Here, Orange Sneezeweed brightens up this open meadow section of the trail.

Higher up, a field of Elegant Death Camas (so named because they are very poisonous and many early settlers died from eating their roots), some purple daisies and Rosy Paintbrush make up the majority of wildflowers.

About 1/4 mile from the lake, a marshy field is filled with Elephant's Head flowers, which are members of the Snapdragon family.  

Crater Lake with Twilight Peak in the background.  Approximate elevation here is 11,300'.

The gang:  Radka (visiting from Slovakia), Eva, David and Wayne

Heading back, this is what the skies looked like about 30 min after we left the lake.  

Looking back along the trail, about 1 3/4 miles from the trailhead, as the trail leaves a wooded section...

...and this is what it looked like ahead.  

Taken about 3 min. before it started raining on us and the camera went bye-bye in the pack.  The rain started out as a light sprinkle, progressing to sleet and then hail that felt like getting hit with BB's.  There was lightning a few miles away, and thankfully by this time, we were in the final, forested switchback section of the trail.  We ended up running the last mile in the icy, cold rain, and probably not my preference after having just hiked 10 miles, but hey - it's an adventure!  I only slipped and fell in the mud once, and my trusty REI rain jacket at least protected my backpack and camera from getting soaked. 

Engineer Mountain - a matter of perspective

First off, I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July holiday weekend!

Ours was great, and got off to a great start yesterday morning with a hike up the trail at Coal Bank Pass on Hwy 550 to the local favorite mountain:  Engineer.   I've painted it, and photographed it on numerous occasions, and hiked it back in July '06.   I'll never get sick of it.

And, as such, I thought I'd combine the different perspectives I have of this mountain, via painting and photos, and as an artist and a hiker.

First, is the plein air piece I did on Friday, during our trip to Andrews Lake.  Actually, I had Wayne drop me off at Andrews specifically so I could paint Engineer, while he drove up the road to fish in Molas lake.

Engineer Mountain from Andrews Lake

16x8 inches

pastel on board with black-toned Golden pumice ground

The painting isn't anything to write home about; I struggled to get the right shades of green for the various slopes, and to try and effectively balance detail vs. abstract shape and eliminate poor compositional elements (namely, a bunch of spruce trees in the foreground).  It didn't help that some hiker went out of his way to come over and chat with me and ask me about the "chalks" I was using.  Well-meaning, but when he showed up, that was the end of the painting session.  

Despite the painting's shortcomings, I still found the process valuable, and I'll keep painting Engineer both from photos and on location.  

Now on to the photos from the hike yesterday.  The neat thing about this perspective of Engineer is that it shows the approach for summiting it (a non-technical climb).  See the lines of snow?  They show the east-facing slope the trail goes up.  

Along the forested trail

This photo is for fellow pastelist and blogger Dan;

go have a look at his blog to see why

A snowbank holds interesting shadows from surrounding trees, and casts its reflection in a small alpine pond by the trail, about 1 1/4 miles from the trailhead

Striking patches of Parry's Primrose were blooming at alpine and sub-alpine zones.  This is one of the earliest bloomers, along with the marsh marigolds seen in the background, at 10,000'+ elevations.

Base of Engineer pano

4-part landscape-oriented image shot at 18mm (so a wide angle of a wide angle view)

This is where we sat and hand lunch.  Click on photo to see larger image.

The snow to the left?  It's one of the thin lines of pastel in the painting.  

Approach to Engineer

click on the photo to see a larger picture; there is a peep coming down the trail on the snowbank just to the left of the middle evergreen...to give a sense of scale and how steep the trail is

Engineer Slope pano

3-part @18mm 

After this, it was time to put the camera away for the climb (we accidentally took the dicey route, very steep and lots of loose rock and dirt)

Scree Slope

The whitish-gray rock that forms the vertically-jointed cliffs is a Tertiary-age igneous sill (volcanic rock that has formed intrusions in older sedimentary rock).  It sounds like broken pottery as you walk across it.  This is not a hike to do if you cannot handle exposure.

Engineer Bench pano

2-part @18mm

View is to the northwest, showing Grizzly Peak to the left, along with several other smaller ranges within the San Juans.  The pile of rocks in the lower right-hand corner were stacked to form a small semi-circle on the leading edge of this ridge.

Note how many more clouds there are than in the earlier photos

Sky Pilot (Polemonium viscosum) eking out a living in a crack in the rock at 12,600'+

Due to rapid build-up of monsoon clouds over the mountains, along with sudden wind gusts and distal thunder, we opted not to go for the summit on this hike.  An earlier start on a day when no rain is forecast is on the agenda for the future.

Looking Back

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Fourth of July wouldn't be complete without fireworks, and we had the best view in town right from our deck.  First time shooting them, and I was finally starting to get the hang of it by the time the show ended:

How do you photograph fireworks, you ask?  

Two absolute requirements:

1) a DSLR camera with capacity for manual exposure (BULB setting, with cable or electronic shutter device)

2) a tripod

All these were shot at f/5.6, ISO 200 equivalent, both manual and automatic focus.  Exposure length variable.  Open the shutter when the firework goes off, and close it when the streamers fade away - 2-4 sec.

Summer comes to Durango

Some photos from our Purgatory Flats hike on Saturday:

A view of Engineer from the trailhead parking lot, still sporting lots of snow (and haze from the AZ forest fire making the afternoon light even worse)

Arnica sunflower - the leaves of this plant have medicinal use for bruises and skin irritations

The trail approaching a stand of bright green aspen

A Dusky Dreamwing skipper takes a quick stop 

Blue-eyed Grass 

Fairy Trumpet (I believe) preparing to bloom

"Summer Dreams" - black percheron in a field north of Durango along Hwy 550 

We stopped to take photos of some donkeys in the adjacent field, and this gentle fellow came over for some attention as well

Engineer Mtn - quartet miniseries

Tags:  Durango, Colorado - original artwork - landscape painting - Engineer Mountain - soft pastel.

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Living in Durango, I had to do a series of Engineer(s).  Engineer Peak is one of those iconic landmarks of the area that everyone knows.  I've taken so many pictures of it from various hikes and Hwy 550 that I had no trouble choosing 8 images to work with (four will be in landscape format later).

I've mentioned before that Engineer looks great from all sides, at all times, in all seasons.  My hope is that these paintings give a glimpse into why Engineer is such an enduring (and endearing) fixture for the Durango area.

Engineer #1 - summer flowers

9x3 inches

black Colorfix

Taken along a section of the Crater Lake trail during our summer '09 visit, we were treated to both alpine wildflowers and a monsoon storm.

Engineer #2 - from the Colorado Trail

9x3 inches

This doesn't read like I wanted, but this is a view from the Colorado Trail looking across a valley and the slanted strata of the slopes that make up the area.  Aspen (some in fall color) and fir/spruce form almost orderly lines along the slope.  

Engineer #3 - Late Fall

9x3

A late fall image, also taken from the Crater Lake trail, but a few miles higher and south.   The trail was covered with golden grasses with scattered spruce and fir.  

Engineer #4 - Winter 

9x3 inches

Taken this winter on one of our snowshoeing trips, this is the view from near Andrews Lake (also the location of the Crater Lake trailhead).