By Lucinda Wood
Home of the Water Ouzel, watercolor by Lucinda Wood
Scouting a good view to paint a major waterfall of the North Fork Yuba River last month, I climbed a rock out-crop and came face to face with another waterfall, dancing down the canyon wall opposite me! Such a heavenly surprise, it took my breath away! The roar of the waterfall at flood stage below me had covered the voice of this side stream, falling gracefully about 100 feet down the cliff! The sun only lit the top of the falls, the rest fell into shadow and deep green moss, then into the wildly churning North Yuba River. Smitten, I returned the following week during the Lost Sierra Plein Air Festival to paint. After a bit of rock climbing, I found a ledge big enough to set up and paint from. This was probably the most inspiring, exhilarating location I have ever painted in! But my perch was precarious! My ledge sloped slightly towered the roiling river far below, so I had to tuck my paintbrushes into a pocket of my pack, or they would roll off my tray and probably land in the river. The branch of a fallen tree kept my pallet from sliding off. I was a cliff dweller in training!
Wednesday, I sketched and painted the waterfall, from 10-2. Thursday, I painted from 8:30-5:30. The competition was Friday noon, so I had to finish on Thursday. Rain and snow had kept me away Monday and Tuesday. Here is the work in progress:
Thursday morning
Water ouzels, or dippers, as they are now called, came and went from the falls all day! As I painted the log near the bottom of the falls, I saw a dipper fly into a gap behind the log, out of the flow. A nest! There were many returns. Dippers also frequented a place in the moss higher up on the right, another nest? I have never seen so many dippers before, and when they sang their lilting, beautiful songs in that deep, stone canyon, it resonated like a cathedral! They are great improvisors, and their songs rang high and clear over the roar of the many falls! Ethereal! These are some of the blessings of painting on location!
Once a small, blue butterfly danced around me and landed on my magenta coat sleeve! Nearby, on “my ledge”, mountain pride penstemons were beginning to bloom, the same color as my coat. Perhaps butterflies can see color!
Home of the Water Ouzel took third place in the competition the following day, against wonderful submissions from artists who came to paint from all over the country!
Gift of the Rain, watercolor by Lucinda Wood
The first day of the Lost Sierra Plein Air Festival was rainy, cold and sometimes windy. Thankfully, my friend, Barbara, has an umbrella over the table on her deck, and a beautiful view! But, when the rain got heavy, it misted through the shade umbrella. This created an interesting pattern on the wet paint of the forest! The deck had a section with a roof, which I retreated to when the mist got too heavy. I could see part of the view from there. When the rain let up a bit, I returned to the table with the umbrella and painted the left bit of forest. While it was wet the rain got harder again, misting that bit of forest, too! A perfect match! Thanks, God!
The meadow below me was a wetland, and red-winged blackbirds filled the air with their music-box-like songs! Once, I saw motion beyond the edge of my painting and I saw a sandhill crane leaping and dancing for his lady, wings spread! Two other times, horses cantered about through the pasture, chasing each other in the rain! Such a delight!
Once, I thought the umbrella might lift off, so I hung onto it while I painted. Then, when I took a lunch break inside Barbara’s warm house, she watched as the umbrella took flight! It survived the trip. And I survived the day, thanks to Barbara’s hot drinks and visits to her warm kitchen! Thank you, Barbara!
Fog Taking Flight, watercolor by Lucinda Wood
Rain begets fog in our neck of the woods, so the next morning I set up to paint the fog playing hide and seek with Claremont Peak. While painting, I saw motion over the edge of my paint mixing tray. A pocket gopher kept popping his head up out of his hole, just three feet from my boot! They’re kind of cute when they’re not in my garden!
Pocket Gopher
Home on Oddie Way, waterc0lor by Lucinda Wood
Saturday was the Quick Draw Competition, part of the Lost Sierra Plein air Festival, where we complete a painting in two hours on a location of our choice down town. I painted this darling home on Oddie Way, and my watercolor won first prize!
The Essence of Quincy, watercolor by Lucinda Wood
I began this painting the second day of the festival in the afternoon, which was sunny with big, cumulous clouds. The next day, I returned to paint there again, but the sky was cloudy, which changed the scene. Finally, about 7pm, the sun made it below the clouds and I could paint the light and shadow. Suddenly, about sunset, jubilant cries from sandhill cranes broke the calm, some from the sky, some from the meadow. They called to each other and gathered on the ground at day’s end. Such music! It echoed, swirling around in that narrow west end of the valley! Then two more sandhill cranes flew in, trumpeting like long lost friends reunited at last, the others calling back! We humans could learn something from them!
This painting I finished on location the Monday following the festival, when the sunny weather returned.
Cliff Dwellers, Bush Monkeyflower, Feather River Canyon, watercolor by Lucinda Wood
In May, the cliffs of Feather River Canyon are bursting with bush monkeyflowers in bloom! All the way down the canyon I looked for a safe place to pull off and paint them (I am done with hazardous painting locations!), but where the cliffs are sheer and tall, there is usually very little shoulder. Finally, on my return trip from Chico, I found a reasonable place to pull off and paint! There was even a little hidden stream there, with water music, shade and wild foxgloves blooming along it! I am so grateful to have been able to paint a subject that has inspired me for so long!
All of these plein air paintings are on display for the month of June at Main Street Artists Gallery in Quincy, CA. Opening Reception is Friday, June 6th, 5-7pm. Home on Oddie Way and The Essence of Quincy have sold, but the rest are available through Main Street Artists Gallery.
Thanks for traipsing through my adventures with me!
Lucinda Wood