Nob Hill Side Road
Got one more snowy landscape in before driving back down the mountain. This one was just fifty meters east of the main lodge at Sugar Bowl looking south down the side road towards Nob hill and part of Mt. Disney.
Crows Nest from Jerome
I had a fantastic day skiing at Sugar Bowl today, and even managed to squeeze in a quick painting before the lifts closed. The view of Crows Nest from Jerome Hill, as seen from Central Pacific. Despite feeling a bit frozen after my hour-long session, I couldn’t help but grin as I skied up to the cabin. It was a truly great day.
Distant Snow on Mt. Diablo
Really clear sky’s in the Bay Area today. I could see the snowy cap of Mt. Diablo from the hills here in Larkspur. Had fun painting the view until I got rained out once again.
Via La Cumbre
Rolling rain clouds and sun were present over Corte Madera and Larkspur today. It was a lovely panorama from the Greenbrae overlook, with sharp blues and steel grays contrasting against each other. I wished I had more time to paint, but the storm was moving quickly; suddenly, it started hailing, and I had to run for my car.
Alexander Valley Snow
It snowed last night so the boys and I drove up the hill to check out the view from the Geysers overlook. It’s pretty uncommon to get snow here so we were having a great time of it. The boys and I threw a few snowballs and had fun driving our RC tank around in the snow. Afterwards I set up my gear and went to work. A few other people had the same idea as us and pulled over to admire the view. One of them was photographer Jerry Dodrill who was out hunting winter landscapes. His work is really beautiful, if you haven’t seen it he currently has a show at Sessions climbing gym in Santa Rosa and a photo gallery in Bodega, CA. Go Check it out.
Lost Sunset
There was an absolutely beautiful lavender sunset across the water last night. I wasn’t prepared and rushed out the door to try and capture it. Alas, I was too late. The light faded just as the painting was starting to get good. The golden hour had passed.
Freezing and frustrated I cleaned up the mess I had made and walked back home alone in the dark, regretful. If only I had more time or been there sooner… maybe things would have been different. The only thing for sure was that my timing was off. I wanted more time with that lovely light and I didn’t get it. Sigh, at least I got to experience something truly beautiful. It has been a long time since I saw a sky like that. As I wake and write this it dawns on me that this beautiful sunset got me outside painting again and for that I am grateful. The sun also rises.
Rainy Day on the Ranch
The heavy rain thinned out to a drizzle so I hiked up behind my mom’s to check the water level at the lake. As I walked towards the dam I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was full, It reminded me of a Steinbeck quote, “And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
The view down the valley to the south was rain soaked and lovely. I watched the clouds crawl down the mountains. Then after a time the rain picked up and it sent me running back to the house with another painting in hand.
High Tide on Tamalpais Creek
It was raining too hard to go out and paint so I stayed inside and worked from some stereoscopic reference pics I took last week. This is the salt marsh creek near Kent Middle School on a high tide. I really wanted to paint this one in person but I didn’t have the time.
Norther Alexander Valley
On Geyserville Ave just south of Asti looking east towards the geysers.
Shaver Grade in the Rain
The big storm hitting Marin took out the power at my apartment this afternoon so I went for a little adventure in the rain. I headed over to Phoenix lake to check out the overflowing spillway. On the north end of the lake I found this nice view of some redwoods on Shaver grade. This is just before the Eldridge crossroad. I probably should have painted the flooding creak behind me but I liked the light on the road better.
