Mammoth Lakes Day 3

Today we decided to head out to Devil's Post Pile and to look at the surrounding areas. I found this spot right after we got there at about 8 in the morning. This creek is I think called Kings river, a distributary of the San Joaquin River, but I'm not sure of that at all. This photo isn't great but it gives an idea I hope of how beautiful it was there. We've had perfect weather so far, and being between seasons for this area, there are no crowds. After our morning painting we had lunch and then hiked the half mile to the Devils Postpile and took lots of photos. The altitude got me after that so today was a one painting day for me.



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Mammoth Lakes Day Two

Today we all went to Convict Lake which is just a few miles south from Mammoth. It's a stunningly beautiful little lake nestled in the cleft between rising spires of rock.
I did two paintings and I sold the first one to a fisherman there who wanted a memento.

Day One - Mammoth Lakes

Here are two views looking South from the eyrie that is our host's vacation home. The weather is sunny and cool and tomorrow looks like it will be perfect painting weather.
Leaving at 5:00 am turned out to be not so hard at all, and once I hit highway 395 I was almost the only car on the road, (only a slight exaggeration).





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Mandarine Peeled

This is the last painting for a couple of weeks. I'm off on an adventure and hope to come back with at least a few nice landscapes. I hope to post photos of where I am and what I'm doing.

This subject of peeled citrus has a rich tradition among the daily painters out there. I'm not sure I would have thought of it without there already being amazing paintings of peeled lemons, oranges, tangerines etc. to be inspired by. So here's is my newest entry into that genre.

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Lemon on a Mexican Plate

Here is the same plate but looking down on it. I really love these plates. It's a good thing we stopped participating in the Rosarito-Ensenada Ride a few years ago, because I'd have more plates than walls to hang them. On Monday I'll be off on a trip for two weeks up to mid-state to paint in the Sierra Nevada, visit family and long lost and found friends. I'll try to post photos as I go, tho no paintings until I get back to photograph them properly.

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Mandarin Oranges on a Plate

Here is a trio of little Mandarin Oranges resting in one of the Mexican plates I usually have hanging on the wall. I've been looking at all the things I have scattered around the house that would make good subjects for a still life. I have a whole collection of plates that I bought when my husband used to do the Rosarito to Ensenada Bike Ride. While he rode the 50 miles, I would shop in Ensenada. A very nice arrangement. I'll be using this plate some more I think.

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Nectarines

Painting  Nectarines is a little bit like the peaches color wise, but the lack of fuzz changes completely the kind and color of reflected light or any specular highlights. I love painting the summer fruits, shopping more for how interesting or suitable they are for a portrait, than for how good I think they will be to eat. I catch myself at the market holding each piece up to the light, twisting and turning it, gauging the angle, tipping it this way and that. People must think I'm nuts picking fruit this way!

Red Onion

Here's another subject that's always on hand, always a challenge, and always filled with color and nuance.
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Red Peppers

Here are a couple of peppers that I absolutely love to eat grilled. And now I find that I like painting them a lot too. Trader Joe's sells them every summer, and they come from Holland, I think. They are much sweeter than regular red bell peppers, and now, alas, this  seems to be the last of them until next year.
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Still Life with Tomatoes and Bowl

I couldn't resist painting these tomatoes again but with some company...

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Tomatoes from Friends

Here's some tomatoes from a friends garden, another wonderful sign of summer both the tomatoes and the giving of them, because our friends are probably drowning in them by now. They are so sweet it's easier to believe they are the fruit they are rather than a vegetable. The vase too is from an old friend, a rectangular chinese vase which I love.

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Peaches at Summer's End

Here is the first painting I will be posting using the Daily Paintworks Auction. I haven't painted peaches yet this summer. It seems like I was never home, and now summer is almost over, at least officially. It's so hot here though that I get the feeling our summer will last well in to October. So here are some summer peaches. I love trying to get the fuzz right.

Another endless challenge.

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Lemons and an Avocado in the Shadows

Still playing around with the lemons in the shadowbox, except I added an Avocado just
to break it up a bit.

Lemons in the Shadows

Whenever I feel stuck, I go back to Lemons. Here are two fairly large ones from a neighbor's tree, so they're not the perfect, slightly plastic-looking ones from the market, but lumpy and big and a bit coarse. I liked how this one looked in a frame, so I'm including an image of that too, just to give an idea what a change it is to put a painting in a frame.