Pastels and a Photo Tioga Trip

This post should have been before the last one as it's about the Friday before it. The day started of with the YWA (Yosemite Western Artists) painting session. I was experimenting with using rubbing alcohol with the pastels. It worked nicely to give the pastels a wash look to start on but it didn't work well with the lighter pastels.

I wound up scrapping this portrait and trying one from another location. There was only time enough for two twenty minute poses. But you're unhappy with a piece sometimes it's best to just start fresh. I hadn't planned the composition of the first sketch very well. I really liked her hand holding the can but trying to squish it in without allowing for it in the composition was a big mistake. I know I should plan more and do thumbnail comps but I rarely do when sketching.

Loved this angle but with too little time and too much talking I didn't get as far as I would have liked on it.  Never-the-less it was a fun morning of portrait sketching.

Sometimes I'll fine tune a pastel when I get home but the weather was looking too good to stay indoors. Big puffy clouds were showing up and I loves me some clouds.

So I talked my son into a drive along the Tioga pass up to Tuolumne Meadows  It was a spur of the moment late day afternoon trek. But with the flowers blooming in the high country and the promise of a nice sunset it seemed worth it. It was. Well sorta.

Got this great pic of the back side of Half Dome and a few others sunset pics from Toulumne Meadows.

Sometimes you arrive at a spot just a best time. That seemed how this evening was shaping up.
Unfortunately on the way back home my car blew out a spark plug.

We hobbled down the mountain and just barely made it to El Portel. Missed the last YART bus out so we slept in the car till morning.

Ma I hate sleeping in a car. Cramped cold and learned that my son snores quite a bit. Sadly we were stuck there because our other car was not working. Having no cars when you live in the mountains sucks.

Fortunately what I thought was going to be the death of my car turned out to be an fairly easy fix for our mechanic.