Icy River Sketchy (Saturday)

Iced River--Columbia River @ the Richland Y.
I loved the melodious movement of the young branches.

The day sunny and the temps warmer than usual, though still not warm enough for this fair-weather artist to paint on an icy Columbia River shoreline near the Richland Y. I always sketch before painting anyway - gives me a better opportunity to work out composition. As you can see by the boxes inside the sketch, the image kept growing and went from vertical to horizontal format. It's a great view of Rattlesnake Mountain, all lavender and shadowed, peeking above the horizon line while the low water in the foreground was still frozen over. The breeze off the icy surface chilled my fingers in fingerless gloves, and I knew my easel would likely rock about so I'm saving painting for another day. 

My day's goal was to "be in the landscape" and so for about 30 minutes, I was. I did paint in the studio afterwards for a bit too. Will post that painting at a later date.

It's all about the light....

I took a nice walk along the Columbia River out towards Willow Pointe yesterday with my dog Finn and managed to capture some striking images. These are two of my favorites. Ya gotta love that magic afternoon light we get this time of year. In this first one I especially like the way the far shore is lit, while the foreground is in shadow. I'm always amazed by the ability of modern cameras to pick up so much detail in the shadows.

In this second one, I am mostly enamored with the composition, the contrast in scale with the detail of the grass in the foreground set off by the majestic sky and the sweep of the much grander shoreline in the distance.

But this is just what was running through my head. I am actually more interested in what is running through your head right now as you see these images. I believe that we all create for an audience, real or imagined, and so I would really like to know how (if) these images affect you, so please leave a comment below, and don't worry, I have thick skin. In the end, I really only have to please myself and, at least with these two images, I am pleased...