Overlook and Underview

My morning painting location was nestled in a residential neighborhood that overlooks the town and has a great view of the mountains. I saw a Roadrunner dart by and a few rabbits zigzag while I painted.

It was early when I was up there, trying to beat the heat (unsuccessfully.) The morning is when the mountains are pretty much all in this beautiful blue shadow, the sun hasn't touched them yet. There was a water tower as well but I decided to take it out ;) 

My OpenBoxM easel aka Pochade was wobbly the past 2 days and so I went in search of a hardware store for a hex wrench to tighten the head on my tripod... Thought I'd seen an Ace Hardware somewhere but sadly couldn't find it and ended up at Walmart. They had a Hex kit for 1.97! Awesome! and I tightened the bit and all is well.

This afternoon I drove back to the lake and to Elephant Rock Island, I found a small road called Dead End Road, seriously, and followed it down to the back side view, an Underview to the Rock I've enjoyed painting so much. 

I loved the boxy houseboats floating around the island and decided to add them in for size comparison... But I'll have to look at this piece again tomorrow, I'm not sure I like the boats after all. Or maybe I need more? 4 isn't a good number anyway...

About halfway through working on this piece my eyes were watering like crazy. That happens to me when I paint around lakes or rivers I've noticed... Happened in France, Ireland and at home too. Wonder what the commonality is?

Went out to dinner with another artist (green chile burgers, yum) and then we each had a soak in the hotsprings, a wonderful way to end a day! Tonight's water was 109* Here's my somewhat sterile room.

Came back to the Residency compound and we joined another artist for a little star gazing. The moon is at half and is so bright with a good orangey penumbra, lots of stars and even some shooting stars. NOW that's a wonderful way to end a very good day.