Plein Air in Denali National Park, Part II

I only lasted 3 hours on my first day of painting, due to the high winds, and almost gave up. After I got to camp and had a meal, I felt better and decided to stick it out. The next morning the winds were down a bit. By eleven the wind died, the sun came up, and it was a glorious day. In a lull between buses, I had an unexpected visitor. He appeared from around the corner with very quiet steps.

Then there were two.


Over the next hour or so, several rams emerged from over the edge of the cliff. They were making an annual migration, and probably nervous about being at an altitude where bears might turn up.


Before long, there were photographers all over the place. Funny how that works.

I needed to catch the 5:10 bus, and got busy packing. I moved gear to the other side of the road so that I could hail my ride, but had to wait for the rams to mosey along. That's my easel and paint box on the ground.


Turned out they wanted me to move, so that they could comfortably hike up the trail behind my position. I did my best to keep a respectful distance, but soon found myself in a bit of a swarm. Eventually we all got sorted out, the bus arrived, and everyone got to see them again, up on the hill around the corner.

The next day, the weather was back to cold and windy, but it never got as bad as the first day. Here is a photo taken by Mr. Michael Mauro on painting day 3.


I'm particularly grateful that he sent it, because I had managed to damage my own camera. Thanks, Mike! I lasted another 2 days, then headed home to complete the painting in my studio. My next post will show the final result.

Plein air in Denali National Park, Part I

Right after Labor Day I made my annual plein air painting trip to Denali National Park. In past years I have camped at the west end of the park road, and concentrated on the views in the vicinity of Wonder Lake. This year I stayed on the east end, car camping at Teklanika campground, and riding the green buses west to my painting site.

I also changed how I worked. Previously I painted as many small panels as I could during my week in the park. This year I decided to go for the big picture. I set up at Polychrome Pass on the first day, and spent the entire time on one painting.


Because I was riding the bus with all my gear every day, I needed a way to carry a large wet painting without completely disturbing the paint, my fellow passengers, and the wonderful bus drivers. My solution was to use two 16 x 20 panels. I clamped them together to make a 16 x 40 surface, and packed them in a 16 x 20 panel carrier for the trips to and from camp.

I also ordered a new easel, and I was really happy with it. This design is called a Take-It-Easel, and is beautifully made. The first painting day was difficult, with wind gusts up to 40 mph. My easel was steady! The weight of my paint box anchored it well. I went for the original rather than the cheaper knock-offs, and am glad I did.

I also carried a piece of heavy cardboard, measuring about 10 x 30, to help brace the outer edges of the panels. That was the most awkward item to carry on the bus. However, once the panels were clamped in place, all was well. Until that moment I had to throw big rocks on whatever I needed to put down to have a free hand.

Here's my notebook with rocks and my foot, since both hands are holding the camera. No matter how hard the wind blows, I make my Munsell notations. For those who are interested in such things, the view was very much in the 5YR range, with some variations in the YR and R hues. Luckily, I used my notes from last year to mix up and bring what I needed.

I chose Polychrome Pass primarily for that great sweep of glacial plain, with rivers, mountains, snow, skies, and weather. My second reason was human presence. Every one of the many buses traveling the park road stops at Polychrome Pass. I met 50 - 60 friendly and enthusiastic people a day, had my picture taken about 20 times a day, and ran out of business cards. Next time I'm bringing at least 300.

I figured that, because of the many buses, the wildlife might choose to be elsewhere most of the time. As much as I like to see wildlife, I preferred to see wildlife at a respectable distance.


Once I had spent a few days there, my attitude shifted a bit. There was a bear close by for several days, and I am sure the bear knew of my presence, but like all the other bears in the area, my bear was too busy putting on fat for the coming winter to indulge in idle curiosity. Just in case, though, I kept the bear spray on a belt around my waist.

Before long, just about everyone in the park knew about the crazy woman standing out in the wind 5 or 6 hours a day, easy to see from a distance in her bright yellow rain gear.

Many thanks to Mr. Rob Chambers for the photo at the top of the post, and to the kind person who took this one with my camera! More photos in Part II, coming soon.

A wildlife commission

I don't think of myself as a wildlife artist, but every now and then I get a commission for a wildlife piece.

The task is to depict the subject accurately, in a characteristic pose and setting, with a sense of life and liveliness. I don't think it's at all easy. My hat is off to artists who dedicate their careers to this work.

The bird in the painting is a Bohemian Waxwing. We get them in flocks during the winter. They love the mountain ash berries above all others.



This is the painting at the beginning. It was a second beginning. There was actually another start, which I discarded when I realized I had misjudged the composition. I started over on this new panel. The good thing about starting over is that it goes much faster once the problems have been sorted out.



When I was a volunteer at our local wild bird rehabilitation center, I made some sketches of a bohemian waxwing who was our guest. I used other references to pin down details, especially the color notes. If you look closely you will see my Munsell notations for various parts of the bird. Waxwings have the most beautiful subtle coloring, with very gradual transitions from one hue to another. Their plumage has a fantastic smoothness.

I have not posted for some time because I was traveling out of the country. Now I am about to make my annual trek to Denali National Park, so I hope to have some good photos to post in a few weeks.

6" x 8"
oil on linen panel
SOLD

Denali Plein Air Trip Part 1

On September 7th my friend Mary Bee Kaufman and I headed into Denali National Park with plans to spend a week doing plein air painting, just as we did this time last year (see earlier posts for that trip.)

I also wanted to see if my Munsell reference books would help me to see and mix colors more accurately. I brought the Munsell Soils book, used by geologists to identify and classify soil samples by color. The range of color samples in the book seemed perfect for the high, dry, autumn tundra we were going into. I also had the Munsell student book, which contains higher chroma samples than the soils book.

(If you are unfamiliar with the Munsell system, please see the two posts that precede this one.)

The bus ride to Wonder Lake campground takes approximately 6 hours from the park entrance. The weather was wet at the beginning, then cleared a bit, but by the time we reached Polychrome Pass the clouds were moving back in.

It rained steadily for the next 3 days. We were glad that our tent was snug and dry. We even had cots and a wood stove. Mary Bee wrote in her journal, I sketched her portrait . . .

Then we took a hike out the McKinley Bar trail, a relatively easy destination that starts a short distance from the Wonder Lake campground. The nice thing about rain is that the colors are vivid in the moist atmosphere. The ground vegetation in this very marshy area was diverse and wonderfully delicate.

And there were thousands of big, fat blueberries.

So we kept an eye out for bears, but we thought a moose sighting would be more likely. They love to stand in ponds and chew the grasses. We saw no moose, but a few days later a bull, a cow, and a calf were spotted in this area.


Never go camping without a big umbrella.

The following day, we launched a big project. After collecting many samples of the local foliage, we set up our notebooks, my Munsell books, our specimens, and our paints in the picnic area (tables and a nice roof). For the rest of the day, we analyzed foliage colors, mixed them, noted their position in the Munsell charts, and wrote down our findings. We knew this exercise would pay off once the sun came out and we were painting again.

This story will be continued in Part 2

Peach and Yellowjacket

This is the demonstration painting I started at Fireweed Gallery in Homer last Saturday, the day after my solo show opened there. The yellowjacket was not alive, but when I saw him laying near the door of the gallery, I couldn't resist including him, in honor of the long tradition of bugs with fruit in still life paintings. He looked better when I revived him through the magic of painting. You will see by the photos below that I edited the painting in other ways as it developed.

8" x 6" oil on linen panel

To purchase, contact me at info@carollambertarts.com

The wonderful Paul, with his tape measure and sharp eye, is my best advisor for hanging a show!

Irene Randolph, the owner of Fireweed Gallery, snapped this picture of me at work on the demonstration painting.

Paul took this one and got my entire setup. The dolls in the case are by another Fireweed Gallery artist, Charlene Jump.

The show runs through August 4th. I hope if you have a chance to visit Homer this month you will visit Fireweed Gallery and please leave me a note in the guestbook.

Self on Palette

Every November the University of Alaska Student Union Gallery hosts a juried exhibition of self portraits. It's called No Big Heads, for its requirement that no portrait exceed 12" in any dimension. My submission, painted on a very beat up old palette, slightly cut down to meet the size requirements, was just juried in. It's really handy to have the paints laid out on the painting!

I always try to do something a bit whimsical for this show. Here are some entries from past years:

Self with Copper Ore (on copper)

Self with Drapery


Self with Bowling Girl and Giant Goose


Self with Magpie


Oil on wooden palette
Approximately 12" x 9.5"

This one is not for sale.

Raising the Beam

Here is your typical Alaskan painter, mosquito netting rakishly folded away from the face, standing by the outhouse to complete a masterpiece. The sign on the outhouse says "Hippies use back door No Exceptions!" (outhouse humor.)


And here are her friends, doing their best to raise the beam of the new addition on the remote cabin.

And here is the mamma bear with one of her two cubs, visiting the area the next morning, just minutes after abovementioned artist returned from abovementioned outhouse!



Slightly out of focus because the photographer got a little excited. Also, bears move a lot. That's the cub nuzzling mom.

And here is the painting.

Oil on linen panel, 8" x 10"
SOLD