Back from upstate Pa.

My brother and I returned from our yearly flyfishing trip to upstate Pa.  We enjoyed some good trout fishing at the four streams we visited.

 I took my acrylics with me so I didn't have to worry about wet paintings up there.

The one set up I made was a piece of masonite with holes drilled in the four sides which I tape a piece of canvas to and a bungee cord for wrapping around a tree or in this case a clothes line pole, this takes the place of a tripod The moon was minutes from disappearing over the mountain at dawn and I had to hurry to catch some of it.

We had the full moon at night so I wanted to sketch the shadow pattens thrown by the trees

The temps were in the low 30s at night so we had the fire place going and it gave me a chance to sketch it.

I started a painting of the cabin we stay in, I'm going to put it aside for a bit and look at it with fresh eyes before finishing it.

And last,a video of a friend we see each year, Whitey the skunk. This guy is so friendly, we have seen him the last four years and always wonder if he made it thru another winter up there.

Paintings from the flyfishing trip

This leaf came from the maple tree outside the cabin. This year only a few leaves turned while we were there, the tree was still mostly green. Half the leaf was bright red the other half was starting to turn brown.

This is the maple tree this year.

I did this painting at night back at the cabin from the study I did at the stream.

This is the study done streamside, I wanted to capture the shaft of sunlight on the tree and its reflection in the stream. While I was doing this Tom caught three brook trout further upstream.

This shows me with my paintbox on a blowdown and the scene I painted.

I painted this at the cabin at night from the pencil sketch  I did that day. It helps doing these color studies as soon as possible while the scene is still fresh in your mind.

This is the pencil sketch I did standing in the stream watching Tom.

This is the view standing on the porch looking out thru the stand of pines to the mountains in the back. Every morning the fog is here at dawn, along with the 39 degree temps too.

This was painted at dawn another day with a heavier fog trying to hide the mountains in the back.

These sketches done on location will help me when its time to do studio paintings, I will have all the information needed concerning color, values,and mood. And you end up learning a little more every time you go out.

As a side note- eariler in the year my camera fell out of my vest and into the stream rendering it useless. The second camera I brought developed problems a week before the trip, it keeps shorting out the new batteries after taking 2 pictures, so I was cameraless this trip. When I got home there was a package there for me.
How suprised I was to find a camera just like my original one that took a swim in the stream. My wife had ordered one the day I left on our trip. She's the greatest.