Lake Shasta in Early September

Every couple of years, we head to Lake Shasta for a weekend of house boating with a bunch of friends. With 10 adults and 10 kids involved, it’s a bit like being at a crazy house party all weekend long. Still, once you’re out on the lake, if you’re not the one steering the boat, there’s not much to do. So it’s painting time!

We arrive at late night and one of my favorite things to do is wake up early the next morning before the sun comes over the mountains and sketch the sunrise from the top deck of the houseboat.
This need to be quickly executed because there are only minutes between when it looks magical and when the sun breaks past that silhouette of the mountain.

I worked pretty quick on #1.

So there was time for a #2.

Both these pieces are in a Hahnemuhle Watercolor Book that I received at the Usk Porto Symposium. The paper is lovely and while it’s thinner than I’m used to, it holds up to my super-wet washes really well.

On the left is Randy, and even though we’ve done this year after year, his job every time we do this, is to give instructions on how to maneuver the boat. This sketch is in the softcover Alpha 8×10 sketchbook from Stillman and Birn, a book I am using more and more: it’s my smaller book, perfect for a quick sketch and some notes.

Random bits and pieces…

This sketch is done from the back deck of the boat while we were at the dock filling up on gas.

The devastating Carr fire was contained but still burning in the area when we were in Shasta and the air was full of ash.

The landscape looked surreal.

And the sky was often an unreal color.

The sun sometimes looked like a bright red ball pasted in the sky.

I did these four pieces all one evening as the sun set. When you’re on a roll, it’s easy to just keep going on until the light fades.

And then, it’s happy hour.