Another Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Oh What a BEAUTIFUL Day, where the deer & the antelope play! We are thrilled to discover yet another incredible area -- in Wyoming, just south of Pinedale (90 miles south of Jackson). We're in a great RV park with huge spaces & views of mountain ranges on 3 sides. Luckily, we've only had 1/2 day with bad smoke from all the wildfires in ID, OR, and WA states.

Yesterday's sunrise was spectacular, and the sunsets are similar. The rivers & streams are plentiful and pristine, the mountains are just a few minutes drive, and we've seen an abundance of wildlife including gazillions of eagles & hawks & California condor, antelope & deer (dang! no grizzlies!). 

My photo of the antelope buck with his harem is typical; maybe I'll paint their 'best side' one of these days. The bird is an immature golden eagle, which we scared up from his rabbit lunch in the middle of the road; he flew to the field and watched us watching him and finally just flew away -- we were hoping he'd come back to his yummy meal so we could see him up-close-and-personal, but no such luck.

From Son Greg, in the Costa Rican Bribri village

I'm so darn proud of my son!  He's doing his doctoral research with the Bribri indigenous tribe in the tiny remote village of Yorkin, Costa Rica.  This is very interesting reading, so I decided to share.
http://anthropology.ua.edu/blogs/gregbatchelder/

We plan to visit him the fall, spend time in the village, help support the village's Eco-tourism project, and also visit a part of Costa Rica [and perhaps Panama] that we've not been to before.

Sweet Memories: Oregon Coast final

Three of my favorite wildflowers that I overlooked previously. 

Sweet Memories: Oregon Coast #3

The South Coast is also known as the 'Wild Rivers Coast', and for good reason. The rivers are pristine and abundant. The forest service provides great roads along the rivers as well as numerous access points and some campgrounds. When we were there, water was very low due to the recent droughts; it's also the dry time of year. Like the salamander? There were a bunch of them!

Sweet Memories: Oregon Coast #2

Stuff just grows here! Flowers I've tried to cultivate in my garden grow WILD and HUGE. Everywhere we went we found a profusion of incredible wildflowers.
To top that, it's a 'Foodie Heaven'. All kinds of berries grow wild for the picking and there's a network of organic farm stands & farmers' markets. I posted a picture of one day's haul. The cows and their resulting dairy products are raised in graze-land, free of added hormones, antibiotics, and all that nasty stuff we simply don't need. And you can buy 'pasture poultry' direct from the farmers! Needless to say, we ate well on seafood and all the trimmings! Sure wish that was the case everywhere!

Sweet Memories: Oregon Coast #1

As promised: select photos of the ocean, beaches, life in the ocean along the southern Oregon Coast. We saw 100s of sea lions, basking on the off-shore rocks, we frequently had gray whales just offshore (10-50 yards), and then there was the major OOPS shrimp boat that managed to hang up on the rocks. Horseback riding is popular and permitted on some of the beaches.

Whereabouts Update

After spending a good deal of the summer on the South Coast of Oregon, we headed east across Oregon, Idaho, and into Wyoming.  We're currently in a great RV park about 12 miles south of Pinedale; we're on the edge of the Wind River Range and Bridger Wilderness.  Pinedale has grown into a lovely little town over the past 20 years and now offers everything we need.  The area is incredibly beautiful with pristine rivers, streams, and lakes in addition to the mountains -- we have lots of exploring to do.  We've already determined this is a great place to spend time on the 'snowbird' migration.  I'll post some pictures soon.

THE ALPHA OF OMEGA-3

This is another watercolor on YUPO.  It's a Sockeye Salmon, and my grandson Justin provided the catchy title --- which I absolutely love!  Thanks, Justin!

This technique is really fun and seems to be a good way to present animals, birds, fish, etc.  There's absolutely no drawing involved, which I find extremely freeing; however, it's real easy to lift out pigment if the image just isn't right.

The Alpha of Omega-3 (5 x 14)

PLAY TIME!

When I get tired of doing 'realistic' paintings or even mixed media collages, I turn to YUPO, a delightful polypropylene surface that's exciting to paint with watercolors.  I get incredible color saturation, and you just can't beat the 'juicy' effects.  There were peacocks who gave me the dickens on my walks in Dayton NV, and they inspired me to paint these:

Ya Got It, Flaunt It (3 x 8)

Do NOT Mess With Me! (8 x 8)

FROM THE BEACH TO THE EASEL

I've been horribly lax about posting updates, but I have a good excuse: I'm absolutely LOVING the Coast of Oregon + I've been doing some painting.  These are acrylic/mixed media/collage on Gessobord; they all incorporate things I've picked up on the beaches, especially like the agates.

Beach Dreams, 5 x 5

Agate Tide, 8 x 10

Detail showing agates and textured collage 

La Petite Agate Tide, 5 x 5

 This little piece could be presented

any direction.  Which would you

like best?