The Famous Yosemite Shot

Ansel Adams shot on top and mine below...

I still have some work to do!

Painting of El Cap

Yosemite Falls and El Capitan

Painting with Penny Otwell

Getting a Quick Drink from Yosemite Falls

A Couple Wildlife Shots

This buck ran right past me on the trail,
but stopped long enough for me to get this one!

Below the buck, is a photograph of a blue grouse. They are awesome birds.
Very cool looking, but also make these loud whoom whoom noises.

Half Dome From Snow Creek

Vernal Falls

My Time at Yosemite!

Out of the woods! I have not had any internet access while in Yosemite National Park so I am here in a nearby town trying to catch everyone up. The last five days have been an absolute blur. No part of the trip has gone so fast. Yosemite was incredible. The day we arrived we hiked out to Snow Creek and stayed right in front of Half Dome. Hiking up the four miles was one of the hardest treks I’ve ever done. It might as well have been straight up because the whole hike was full of tight switchbacks. A switchback is basically a zigzag that goes along the side of a steep hill or in this case, mountain. It was tough, but worth it in the end. My friend Mac and I stayed up late taking pictures. There was a beautiful full moon that lit everything up.

Then next morning we hiked about ten miles down to Yosemite Falls. The falls were huge. It is incredible how powerful water can be! The water was also so cold. Everything that ends up in the falls comes from melting snow and glaciers. It’s like dipping your feet into a gigantic ice cube! The long hike took us down to Yosemite Valley, which is where most of the park’s activity takes place. The Valley has all the big attractions; El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Sentinel Falls, Cathedral, the Merced River, and much more.

The next morning I began my painting adventure with an incredible artist named Penny Otwell. She has painted Yosemite for many years and has a very cool abstract look to her artwork. Penny and I started out painting in a meadow looking up at a mountain. It was a nice shady spot where we spent several hours. The rock faces out here are just huge! The next spot we picked for the day was near Merced River and the Royal Arches. The Royal Arches are these very interesting cuts in the side of the mountain.

The second day I painted with Penny we visited some of the big attractions; Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, and El Capitan. The morning was a great time to paint Yosemite Falls. Purple, red, and yellow light bathed the falls. With the contours of the rocks surrounding the falls, the shadows and highlights changed quickly. This was by far the quickest painting I made. I tried to move quickly and it really helped. With picking the colors for the painting, I reacted spontaneously. I love the way this painting turned out. I’ll get pictures up of it soon. The painting of Half Dome was unfortunately an awful experience. We burrowed down near a river. The mosquitoes were horrendous. Even though I sprayed down, there would be hundreds swarming around me. It’s really hard to paint when you are swatting. Some mosquitoes left that spot a little more colorful, thanks to my accurate paint brush swat! We ended the painting day by going to El Capitan meadow. The view from there made me feel small. El Cap is just so big. This was the most abstract painting I did. The grooves and lines of El Cap are so hard to draw accurately. I started with a simple line drawing, but then just started adding color. All kinds of green, purple, and yellow spread over the canvas. I really enjoyed making this painting…even though it doesn’t look like El Cap. I ended the day by eating dinner at a local pizza place inside Yosemite with Penny and Mac. It was great to unwind with the two of them. I will definitely miss painting with Penny. She was such an inspiration!

Today we are heading down to Kings Canyon National Park. I have no idea if I’ll be able to get internet, so it may be a couple days before my next update. Hope all of my students are having a fun summer!

More Pictures of Rocky Mountain

This is where I ended up camping for the first two nights of my trip.

This photo goes out to Mrs. Gulley, our librarian and a fellow advocate of coffee drinking. Breakfast just tastes better when you're by a bubbling brook!

A mountain stream up by Andrew's Glacier, the water is so cold and fresh.

It all comes from melting glaciers.

There are lots of pines everywhere in this park. They have very few trees here that we have in Indiana. In this picture I captured a pinecone hanging out on a rock near the river.

Painted all yesterday!!

Here are my first two paintings. The first one I painted down by Glacier Creek in the morning. Although this location was just off of the road, it was very peaceful. The only people who came by were fisherman. I got to see them catch a small cutthroat trout! Pretty cool.

I started by blocking out the big shapes I saw in the landscape.

I finished up by adding some texture and working with the highlights and shadows.

This painting was done on top of a giant boulder looking out to Long's Peak (the highest mountain in the park). I watched a beautiful sunset and was really happy with the way the painting turned out.

I will try to get some close-up shots of these soon!

Today is my last day in Rocky Mountain National Park. I'm going to go for a hike this afternoon then will be taking off. In a couple days, I will be in California in Yosemite National Park. I'll be meeting up with a landscape painter there named Penny Otwell. I really love her work. You can see it at www.pennyotwell.com.

My Attempt at Ansel Adams

I have arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park!!!

I'm into my fourth day on the trip and I have officially arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park. Very exciting. I got in very late last night and everything was closed up. There was no way for me to get a campsite so I ended up camping out in the back of my car! I have a big hatchback so it was actually pretty comfortable. I awoke at sunrise to an air temperature that was in the low thirties! There was frost on my car. That definitely doesn't happen in Danville in the middle of the summer.

At about six this morning I drove all the way across the park on Trail Ridge road. It's the road in the orange in the picture below:

Here are some picutres I took while driving across Trail Ridge Rd. this morning!

After passing through the park, I went to the Backcountry Office. This is a place where you can talk to park rangers about where you would like to stay in the park. The park ranger told me there was an opening for one of the best spots in the park and that it was usually completely full. I was very excited to nab that one! If you've never been backcountry camping, it is a lot different than your normal campground. You wear a big backpack full of everything you'll need for a couple days and then you hike out and away. You set up your camp out in the woods. There is no electricity, phone service, showers, or even a toilet! It's a one of kind experience. I will be out in the woods for the next five days. Hopefully I will make it back into town for a day of updating everyone, but if not, the next time I write I should have some new adventures, photos, and a couple paintings!!

Still in the car...

Day Two: This is my first time driving clear across the state of Kansas and it may very well be my last. After what seemed like forever, I'm now in Colorado. The landscape is getting a little more beautiful; less flat land and more hills. In a hour, I'll be in Denver and nestled up next to the Rocky mountains. After spending the night in Denver, I'll head to Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday. This will be my first stop at a park and will get settled into a campground and start painting. Getting very excited!

This is a picture of Geary State Fishing Lake. I camped out here just for the night. Pitching a tent in the dark is no fun, but it was beautiful to wake up to this!

Finally, I crossed the Colorado border. Woohoo!

The journey has begun!

The journey is in full swing. I am heading out west to go to nine different national parks where I will be painting, taking photographs, and writing about the experience on here! For the next six weeks, I will be living life outdoors in some of the most beautiful places in the world. To say the least, I'm very excited. I will be giving updates every day or two.

I'm officially on the road as I write this. My friend Mac is driving and I have portable internet. We just left St. Louis and we're heading towards Columbia, MO. We'll end up camping somewhere in Kansans tonight. Tomorrow we'll be in Colorado! The weather has been crazy so far, lots of rain.