Weekend in Yosemite: Part 2

More from Yosemite National Park. This is a less-known view of Mirror Lake. Its probably only weeks now before it dries into a meadow. The more famous Mirror Lake vista reflects Half Dome in the still waters, but I sketched this with Half Dome behind me. You can see I did a little bit of line first, mostly to place everything to scale in the scene.

We stayed in Half Dome Village (formerly called Curry Village) and those tents are pretty iconic. This piece is watercolor-first and some line in Derwent Inktense pencils.

And then there’s the more mundane sketches, waiting for lunch at the Pizza Deck. squirrels underfoot everywhere. We didn’t feed the squirrels: signs everywhere explain that pizza is really unhealthy squirrel food, and how it makes the squirrels obese and then the mountian lions come down into camp to hunt this easy prey. Not good for anyone!

I won’t usually touch a piece once I’m off location: even unfinished ones stay that way. I feel I have a hard time keeping the freshness of on-location work when I’m working on somethig later. This is a rare one I added darks to when I got home and I’m not sure I like it any better than the original.

The dogwoods are in bloom right now. I love that flower: like the California poppy (another flower I love) it won’t last if it’s cut and brought inside, so you have to enjoy it in it’s natural setting.

That’s it from my weekend in Yosemite!

Here’s Part 1 of my trip, if you missed it.