I tend to do a lot of this type of close observation of natural phenomenon, and the differences between things that look similar but aren’t at all. Most of my sketchbooks are filled with this sort of detail of the natural world, with my comments. It’s like a picture diary, except it’s a nature journal.
Mountain vista from the Pacific Crest Trail.
Mount Hough from the base in Indian Valley. One of my favorite places to paint.
This is an abandoned charcoal oven. These overs are all over the west wherever gold was found and the people who made the charcoal were called “carbonari”. The ovens were made of various materials, including volcanic rocks. This one is made of metal. It was a cottage industry that families could earn a living with for a while because charcoal burns hotter than wood and was used to process ore that came out of the mines. The industry was eventually phased out by the discovery of coal, the shortage of timber and the cost of transportation of timber as the forests near the ovens were used up. After they were abandoned they were often used by stockmen, prospectors and even bank and stage robbers as shelter. Today they are still used by some campers who find shelter in them during an unpredictable storm in the Sierras.
There is just not enough time to get sucked into telivision.
I started a new moly today and here is the first painting in it. I hope this qualifies for “Sanctuary” because it really is. The man who designed this garden has been doing so for over 30 years, and it is open to the public four days a week. He is now in his 80s and is still hosting the restaurant that is there. You can get an idea of the place if you google “Big Springs Garden, Sierra City, CA”. Last year I spent a lot of time there as a weed puller and planter with a volunteer group, but I admit, I spent more time looking at the scenery that I spent working. It was modeled after Monet’s Garden with his own touches in a different setting. I tried to find a happy medium here between some lines and just watercolor, but am not too thrilled with the heavy line under the bridge reflection. Oh well! Try again! 
By the way, this Moly does not have the perforations as my last ones did, and I miss them. I guess if there’s anything I want to frame I will have to use a box cutter.
We need some other colors besides spring blues and greens, I think; so here is a barn in autumn which I did last autumn. What interested me most about this one was the tawny grass, the oak tree and the cloud shadows in the mountains. It was another perfect painting day (no bugs in autumn) and the colors were intense.
Table mountain near Oroville, in No. California. This is a huge volcanic mesa which is a carpet of wildflowers in March and April. Even though it looks flat from the bottom up, it really isn’t, and there are all sorts of creeks and waterfalls on it, as well as vernal pools. That’s a pool where, because of the solid volcanic ground, the water does not sink into the ground but dries from the outside in, and as it dries various flower species appear in the shape of the drying water. By the end of June they are usually completely dry and all is brown and dead again until next spring. I don’t think I’ve missed a single spring there so far because it’s so gorgeous.
This one was a mistake because I should have left the background mountains alone instead of outlining them. But I guess that’s what sketchbooks are for—to make lots of mistakes. One of these days I will re-do this and see what happens without the background outlines. I think I’ll like it much better.
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