DAY 21

"We're Surrounded"

6x6" Oil on Canvas

We're holding up here in Montrose for another day. This is such a beautiful town surrounded by mountains and an ideal spot to paint. We are going to try and find a fishing stream today so Dave can use that fly rod that has been burning a hole in the back of the Xterra. I am excited to paint a mountain stream...that is if it doesn't rain. We had a violent storm last night right in the middle of our game of Scrabble. The pop-up rocked back and forth like we were on the ocean but survived the huge blasts of wind and rain firing down on us from the mountain. We had a few tense moments...at one point I thought we might just end up in Kansas with Dorothy before it was all over.

I struggled with this little painting trying to get the nectarine to actually look like one. It still needs a little work but I am happy with the way the cherries came out. To those of you that follow Carol Marine's daily paintings, she can paint cherries like no body's business. These were on the verge of going bad so thought I'd give it a try before they got pitched. Sorry all the photos of my work are at weird angles. The only way I can get them to come out decent is to hold them upright with one hand under the shade of a tree, and snap the photo with the camera in other hand...not an easy task, especially on slopes.

Here's a couple of photos from the RV Park that I snapped at my "magic time of day" yesterday. Magic time (for me) is that early evening time, right before the sun starts pulling down the shades, when everything in the landscape is seen in high contrast, flooded in a warm golden light that casts these elongated pools of cool shadows all around. It is magnificent!!! I think I love this time of day even more than sunrise. The gift of sight has to be the best gift of them all!!!