Three Aspens

I don't know which lake this was but I do remeber these aspens and the light on them. We were exploring the Eastern Sierras three years ago and we pulled over to this wonderful patch of trees. This is the intitial study in pastel. I first started out with small 2 by 2 sketches of this area in my sketchbook. This painting is small but I think it packs a little bit of a punch.

Lake Surface

This is a little sketch on Khadi paper from my trip to the Eastern Sierras. The water was amazingly clear. I'm going to do more studies of the water surface from some of the photos that I took. My strategy when out painting, is to capture as many drawings in ink as time allows. I later add color from memory or photos. I added sky color to the snow to make it look less like white cut outs.

Convict Lake

We spent an afternoon at one of Pam's favorite places in the Eastern Sierras. Convict Lake was absolutely beautiful. Pam got in some fly fishing while I sketched and took photos. This sketch was done in my Garza Papel sketchbook. The paper is very soft and is great for fountain pen sketching. The water was crystal clear. The surrounding mountains were a visual feast.

Rain Over Mono Lake

I completed the underlying sketch and added watercolor later. We were at the visitor's center which was right next to the lake. I was attracted to the lines created in the sky from rain in the distance. Mono Lake is a saline lake that does not contain fish. It also has limestone formations called tufas. The island in the center of the painting is called Negit Island.