Sunday at Painted Hills

Despite a flurry of moths pinging off the walls and windows all night, and systematically throwing covers off and then blindly searching for them to put back on... I managed to sleep just enough and to wake up early to get off of the mountain and down to the highway in record time this morning. 

An hour drive and a hike up to a great vantage point and I was ready to paint by 9 am! Applause, applause!

Check out my fully loaded Kelty backpack, I was ready for anything.

After some sketching I decided on a composition without a sky, I think my first landscape without a sky!

Sunday seems to be a busy day in the park, I had a lot of opportunities to visit with people... Well anyone who made the hike up to the vantage point ;) I was surprised how many people just walk part way or just walk to the edge, take a photo and jump back in the car!

4 hours in, just doing some minor tweaks, a boy hiking ahead of his family stopped to see what I was doing. He was probably 8 or 9... "I think you're done. You've already achieved a lot of depth." His name was Cole, so Thank You Cole!

A couple from Bend came up about then so I asked the girl if she would take a photo for me...

Umm, could you get any FURTHER AWAY?? Too funny.

Overheated, thirsty and tired, I retreated to a small cafe in the bustling town of Mitchell ;)