Plein Air Adventures Day 3, Snow Mountain Ranch Yakima

We travelled to Snow Mountain Ranch today.  We started out on a hillside winery and felt it was too overcast.  Later we realized that we were looking at the place during the partial solar eclipse!  Made us drive around to the Cowoche Canyon Conservancy.  It was a bit of a drive but when we arrived at the parking area, the choices were almost overwhelming. I started doing a small study of a very gnarled tree that was right next to the path.  After about 1/2 hour of sketching, I had a plan for doing a long term painting of the tree.  It wasn't very sunny still; slightly overcast, and the painting came out with a wonderful mood.  People walked by us as we were painting and a few of them commented on it.  I started on a third painting and decided to take a quick break to check on the third member of our party who was painting a bit farther down the trail.

She had decided to call it a day and so we started back to our third.  On the way, the third member called my cell, there was a lady here who wanted to talk to me.  We were just coming up on them and I realized that it was one of the hikers that had gone past us earlier.  She wanted to know if I would sell her my moody tree painting!  Of course! I told her and we quickly came upon a mutually beneficial price.  I signed it, inventoried it, sold it and wrapped it for her ease of transportation.  Thank you Sally for your new Aquisition.    Made for a very nice day.

Working on a plein air packing list and looking at possible backpacks to make all of this easier.  I had started using my original pastel box but it is a pain in the but to carry and found my cart was pretty awful over uneven ground.  Also, we have found while the first VRBO was very nice, this one is missing some friendly amenities.  We are considering leaving the owner a helpful list for future guests!

 I want to thank The Washington State Arts Commision  and the National Endowments for the Arts for this opportunity, I am learning so much and it wouldn't have been as exciting without their support.