Just as warm summer day skies seemed almost too blue, a soothing monsoon set it, extending this season’s bountiful blooms.
Linkins Lake – Independence Pass
Secret Tarns – up the Frying Pan
Pass-top Tarn – Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness
Locals Favorite – Savage Lakes
Not quite backcountry – but becoming one with nature…
This year’s Redstone Art Festival is from August 25 -27, 2023. I’m preparing a selection of work for display!
I’m enjoying Spring Geranium Journaling! It’s fun!
If you’d like to try: Start by selecting a simple subject that moves you. Look at it carefully. Then do a quick sketch with eyes closed, followed by a relaxed contour (keep pencil on paper) drawing. Last, sketch your final impression and add color.
Here are some examples:
Inspired by morning blue skies after succulent snow – an outdoor apple tree branch and an indoor geranium plant.
Thanks for looking at my interpretations. Have fun with yours!
It was forecast to be a wet week in the San Juans, but the two S’s felt that it’s always a good time to be in the mountains. After the last few dry, fiery summers, moisture would be welcome.
Early morning starts were essential to cover ground before the clouds expanded to join with the landscape below.
Mornings were clear, with a brilliant full moon.
We noted local occupants of the lake shores as we wandered their edges.
While light and water danced to the changes of day.
And flower petals glowed seductively against dark skies.
Mosses, lichens, sedges and rushes formed meadows and edges among the watery landscape.
Our silvery umbrellas like sentinels, reminded us of the night’s rain storm.
Still the mists swirled while colors unfurled.
It was to be an atmospheric weekend, loping along the Venable-Comanche loop in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado.
We had an enjoyable, scenic walk up the Venable valley, but as we neared Venable Lake, stormy weather surrounded us.
We quickly discovered that the most sheltered camp near the lake was also home to overly curious marmots and a bunny. It required convincing dissuasion to keep them away from our salt-enriched belongings. They found our pole handles and backpack straps particularly enticing.
Sunrise was misty and magical. We headed uphill towards the Phantom Terrace.
True to its name, the Phantom Terrace disappears into its rocky surrounds. There are a few tantalizing seeps along the way.
We chose to wait out the stormy afternoon at Comanche Lake and were rewarded with bright morning light the following day.
It was a perfect time to climb Comanche Peak at 13,200 feet. We had views to peaks and valleys on both sides of the montain range.
Summer flowers added to the beauty of the landscape.
As did the lakes, tarns and flowing creeks.
And all too soon, the day of our departure dawned.
A Cottage Garden in Glenwood.
Pinks and Blues.
Sweet Saxifrage.
Cactus Flowers with Bees.
Many surprises shelter below the rims of Cedar Mesa canyons. Water sources are especially magical for their life-giving qualities.
On Cedar Mesa, natural rock walls, floors and ceilings, provide shelter, and are an integral part of canyon living. Images pecked in stone tell stories, address spirits, map routes, and mark people passing. Painted pictographs abound; many are of hands pressed to stone. Indentations in the rock might be painstakingly tooled moki steps, sharpening marks, or hollows for grinding corn.
The alcoves reveal many scales of construction, from remnants of crumbling granaries, to fortified structures that are almost palatial.
Flowers of the desert provide alluring colors and tantalizing textures. They might be the beginnings of edible fruit like prickly pears, or provide medicinal qualities.
Stone-walled structures in seemingly inaccessible places blend lizard-like into the towering cliffs. Where do man-made impressions end, and natural surfaces resume? In some places, the two sing together as one.
The sun sets, the land darkens, and we wonder how many more mysteries are embraced by the canyons below.
