Dragons in the Mountains

 

On My Way to the Ridge.

On a nice late summer day last week, there was nothing better I could think of doing than go exploring places in the mountains I haven't been yet. So that's what I did. After driving a ways up a jeep trail, I parked my 4Runner and continued walking through the woods on a trail to a large meadow. There I found another trail that led up onto a ridge. On that trail I came across this little red dragon, a horned toad which might have looked ferocious if it hadn't been but an inch long. After spending a few minutes watching and photographing the little lizard, I moved on up the trail. 

Little Horned Toad

Only a few steps later I found another, bigger dragon:

Bigger Horned Toad

Horned toads always seem to me a little like miniature dinosaurs, maybe something like a mini ankylosaurus. This horned toad, at four inches or so long, is the biggest one I've ever seen. Perhaps not quite dragon material to humans, but I imagine that's the way ants might see them. Horned toads eat ants.

Overlooking Diamond Fork

Continuing up the trail I reached the top of the ridge. From there I could see Strawberry Ridge to the east. To the west were the Wasatch Mountains, rising up nearly 12,000 feet above sea level. The view southward overlooked Diamond Fork Canyon and the Sheep Creek area.

Southern Wasatch Mountains; Mt. Nebo in the Far Distance.

There on the ridge I sat and enjoyed the evening. The weather was pleasant and the view spectacular!  As the evening grew late I watched a full moon rise in the east...

...and was also treated to a wonderful sunset in the west.

After dark, I hiked down off the ridge and headed back through the woods the way I had come. Broken beams of moonlight shone down through a forest of aspens and tall evergreens. Pale aspen tree trunks glowed in the bright moonlight. A small snake quickly crawled out of my path and into the brush by the trail. It was too dark by then to clearly see markings on the snake, but I'm guessing it was a racer or garter snake, judging from it's general size and shape. A rhythmic chorus of crickets and other night sounds accompanied my walk back to the car.

I ought to do this sort of thing more often.

Thanks for reading!

Utah County Plein Air Show 2022

12" x 16" Oil on Panel

The Utah County plein air event is going on now. Paintings for the competition were turned in last Saturday. The opening reception is this Friday, June 3rd from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the Health and Justice building, 151 South University Avenue in Provo. For more information, visit their website at:

http://www.utahcountyart.com/index.php

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

These are my two entries fore the show. I chose to go to a couple of the higher elevations in the county for these two paintings. I'm looking forward to seeing what other's have entered into the show! The exhibit will be up through July, I understand, so if you happen to be in the area, come see the show!

Lop Sided Tree

 

10" x 8" Oil on Panel

The tree really does look like this. 

There's a trail I walk from time to time that leads along the base of the mountains by town. At one point along the trail I can look up the mountainside and see this tree, my attention drawn by it's unusual shape. One day I finally decided to haul myself, and some painting gear, up the steep mountainside for a painting. The way was not only steep, but the ground was not very stable, making footing less secure. The tree was farther than I realized, so the climb took longer than I thought it would. Eventually I reached the juniper tree and the limestone cliff it was growing out of, and made this painting.

There was some wildlife I enjoyed seeing as I hiked up the mountainside and also along the way back down. Three vultures were winging about the area as I climbed, and later as I descended I crossed paths with some chukar partridges and a heard of mule deer. It's always a nice bonus when oil painting combines with nature watching!

Throwback Thursday Portrait

 

18" x 24" Charcoal on Gray Paper

I don't often do "Throwback Thursday" posts, but here goes one. This sketch is probably from the 1990's. This was drawn back when Doyle Shaw had a studio at the old Peteetneet building in Payson. Doyle had an open session once a week where he would find people to sit for three hours (with breaks, of course!), and everyone attending the session would chip in five bucks to help pay the model.

I can't remember the model's name, but I really enjoyed drawing her. I believe her parents had come from India. A week or two later, her husband also sat for us in a session. I seem to remember his nickname was Taj. Unfortunately, I no longer have the drawing I made of him. He had been born in India, but, when he was a little child, was stolen and sold into the adoption market. He was adopted by an American couple who believed he was an orphan. Years later, as an adult, he traveled back to India to find his birth family. It would not do justice to his amazing story for me to try and wrest from my faded memory the details of the adventure he told us about, but if I find out more, I'll post it here. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the drawing!

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing".

Merry Christmas from Jolly's Ranch!

 

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

Down the valley from where I live is a canyon in the Wasatch Range I've visited a lot this year. A few miles up the canyon is a city park that, I presume, used to be a ranch. I've driven past that park many times on my way to higher altitudes, each time thinking I should stop and paint there some time. Yesterday, Christmas Eve, was finally that time.

One nice thing about painting in winter: no bugs in your painting!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Taking a Walk Through Autumn's Colors

In recent months I've spent a fair amount of time wandering through forests high up in the mountains. These forests have aspens and evergreens on more northerly inclined slopes and in sheltered areas, while Gambel oak predominate on drier, more southerly exposures. Rocky Mountain Maple grow in their own little pockets or scattered throughout.

The colors this fall have been impressive in spite of a dry summer. Maples show a relatively wide range of color, with vivid reds and oranges, to yellow that competes with aspens and box elder for any sightseer's attention. Aspens shimmer gold in the breeze, brilliant against a backdrop of evergreens. Oak leaves display a subtle rust color, much more subdued than the showier parts of the forest.

On my woods walks I've seen chickadees, nuthatches, jays, and crows. Ruffed grouse are the color of the forest floor and can be hard to see. Chipmunks are quite common. They often show curiosity, their tails and legs twitching as they watch me before they dart away. Pine squirrels chatter from pine boughs here or there. High overhead, a few hawks in their migration wheel and glide across the sky.

Deer are common in these woods, as are wild turkeys. I've also seen moose and bear here. Judging from sign I've seen, elk roam this area, too, although I've yet to see them in this particular section of the mountains. No telling what other things, hidden from my view, have shared these woods with me on my visits.

One particular day in early October, I walked into an isolated patch of aspens surrounded by tall evergreens. This pocket of aspens was maybe about eighty yards long. Their golden leaves shimmered and rustled in the gentle autumn breeze. Trees still had most of their foliage, though the ground was nearly covered with fallen yellow aspen leaves, giving the impression of gold overhead and gold under foot. The air temperature was perfect. The soft breezes and whisper of aspen leaves soothing. The color was dazzling. I stood there for several minutes, quite content, in what seemed almost like a mild trance. Suddenly, a grouse thundered into the air from it's hiding spot nearby, flew the length of the aspen stand and into the pines. I watched the grouse fly, all the while feeling like I was trying to wake up.

My walk took me up through the woods and onto a ridge. An open meadow there provided a wonderful view of surrounding mountains. Being late in the day, the low angle of sunlight painted distant ridges and peaks with bright sienna and umbers, while cool shadows flooded into deep canyons. Those shadows soon covered everything. In the dark, I walked an old logging road to a dirt road that followed the main ridge between Hobble Creek and Diamond Fork. As I walked the road, a few deer crossed ahead of me. The deer were barely visible in the dark, appearing like ghosts. When I reached where the deer had crossed, I could hear them hurrying away through the brush. Mindful that things more concerning than deer roam these woods at night, I fished a flashlight out of my day pack.

Following the road back would be the long way, but I found another old logging road that seemed to lead in the direction I wanted to go. That trail led down to another meadow, one I was familiar with. From there I was able to follow game trails and cattle trails back to my car.

Spring City Plein Air 2020

 

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

Spent the last week painting and getting ready for the annual Spring City Plein Air show. Got a late start because I thought the event had been canceled like all the other plein air events this year. Found out two days into the event that it was still on, so I hurried down to Spring City to get my painting panels stamped and start painting!

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

Went to a place south of town for the first painting. The next day I went up onto the Skyline Drive and did an alpine painting of a group of trees overlooking the valley. I think it's the first time I've ever painted above 10,000 feet elevation. While painting the second day I kept myself hydrated by drinking water from a plastic water bottle I had brought with me. The bottle hissed when I first opened it at altitude. Later, upon returning to the valley, I found that the water bottle had partially collapsed from the change in air pressure. When I loosened the cap, the bottle reinflated itself.

12" x 9" Oil on Panel

The last painting was made at some red rock formations in Diamond Fork Canyon. It's not exactly Southern Utah, but between the red rock formations, the red sand, and some little lizards running around, I felt like I was stepping out of a southern Utah bubble when I was finished and left to go home.

The show will be mainly displayed online for the next couple weeks. For those wishing to purchase a painting from the show, you can click here, or go to springcityarts.com, click on "Plein Air Paintings", and follow directions from there. Last I looked, my paintings are displayed on page 10 of their "Plein Air Paintings" site.