Virginia Lakes. Eastern Sierra’s




In an attempt to escape the heat, I made a day trip up to the Virginia Lakes area. I’d been here before on a photography trip, but failed to make any interesting photos. These lakes are at about 8,400' and crystal clear. The biggest lake has two small waterfalls that fill the lakes. 

I brought a small sketchbook and gouache hoping to try some plein air. When I arrived it was 72 and sunny. Perfect!  I hiked around for an hour or so, ate a lunch, then went find a composition I liked.


When I arrived it was perfect weather. 



 I didn’t have an easel or anything. I just sat on a rock with my sketchbook in my lap. I was just starting to sketch in my first painting when thunder rolled over my left shoulder. I wasn’t far from the car and it was still sunny so I continued on with laying in values. 


Value sketch in gouache. 




After about 5 minutes it started sprinkling then switched over to a full rain.  Since gouache is water soluble it’s not a good idea to combine it with rain!

It took about 10 minutes to hike back to car and as I made my way, the sky opened up and I was soaked. The temperature also dropped into the 50’s.  The weather showed no signs of relenting so I decided to finish the piece a had started in the car. Without the scene in front of me, I lost the colors and values that had drawn me to start painting. I persevered and spent about an hour on the painting. I’m used to gouache drying nearly instantly in the dry desert heat. It acts quite different in a cold thundershower. 

Red Lake in the Afternoon - 5x7 gouache en plein air



Can you see little hints of blue in the grass?  The area is loaded with wild irises that were blooming along with swaths of yellow wildflowers. It made me happy to be there. 



Wild iris of the Sierra's



The rain was very steady. It has been years since I've been in a thunder storm that lasted hours. Usually when it rains here, it lasts 15-20 minutes and then it's over. I laid my seat back and took a nap, lulled by the sound of thunder rolling through the valley and rain falling on the roof of my car. 


After an hour or so, the rain eased up a bit and although it was still drizzling and the constant sound of distant thunder was all around me I wanted to try and get another painting in. I sat on the back bumper of my car under the open hatch to keep me mostly dry.  This is the same mountain as before, but I'm right at the base of it.  I sketched it in with a wash of burnt sienna




And then I tried to capture the color as quickly as I could because heavier rain was moving back in.


During a Summer Storm - 5x7 gouache en plein air


All in all, I spent about 6 hours up at the lakes and really had a relaxing day. Even if I hadn't gotten any painting done, it would have been worth the drive just to get a soaking from a cool summer rain and walking through mountain meadows filled with wildflowers. I also learned a few things. First, I've got to commit to my brush strokes and that means I've got to think a little more about them before I put them down. Second, I need to use a little less water in my gouache or my colors get muddy quick. Third, I can not trust my iPhone to capture accurate color. It made every thing dull and bluish grey. My colors are way better than Apple's!




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