Painting in Yosemite

In the mornings I am in a painting class until 2 pm.

This is my classroom.......






Here is my painting of Half Dome.







There were just a few little patches of snow left on the mountain from Mondays snow.


Later in the day Mr. B joined Marcy, Joanne & myself in a late afternoon painting Plein air & wine tasting. It's a charmed life.

While everyone else chose to paint Half Dome, I turned the other way and painted a little stone cottage with a beautiful Dogwood tree in front.







While driving back to the lodge, we saw a lot of people pulled over to the side of the road with cameras clicking away. There is only one reason for that - a critter!

Well it turned out to be a BEAR. And I thought they hibernated in the Winter???






So this is a photo from my digital camera screen from my good camera taken with my iPhone. I forgot to bring my connector for my camera to transfer photos to my iPod.

After the bear pulled off some bark on several trees looking for some tasty treats, he started heading toward the tourists. At this point the Rangers said they would have to send him back where he belongs. I thought they would use tazers or something. But no, they simply ran at the bear, waving their arms and shouting!

Thank goodness for brave Rangers!

Location:Yosemite, CA

Upper Falls

Yesterday I drove up to Yosemite and into the Valley. I drove through a little snow at the pass. It was lovely to watch these silent snowflakes drift gently to the ground or onto my windshield. So peaceful. The Dogwoods are in full bloom and are beautiful, huge and white.







Once I had brought everything in from the car (because of the bears you need to bring in every scrap of paper or risk a ticket or a surprise bear car destruction!) then I pulled the big ol' cushy chair up to my panoramic window overlooking the forest and poured myself a nice glass of wine and grabbed my current book to read. Talk about relaxing!









Today as my first painting class here with my mentor, Marcy. We were all told to dress for snow so I had on a vest, coat & fingerless gloves. As the day wore on everyone began peeling layers especially those of us in the sunshine.

We were in a big meadow where you could paint Upper Yosemite Falls on your left or Half a Dome on your right.






This photo is from my room yesterday as it was much sunnier today although we did get rained on some today!

I painted the falls as they were filled with water and just spoke to me.

Class was over about 2:30 and after a short break, Marcy and I will head back out to paint some more!

Location:Yosemite Valley