Discovering Yosemite

Although Howard and I lived in San Francisco for three years when we were in our late 20's, we were way too poor to go to Yosemite then.  Needless to say, I've regretted that we didn't somehow make the journey. Finally this summer we had the opportunity to go with my cousin, a geologist for the National Geological Survey, as our guide.  As he studied this cliff, he noticed a tiny blue speck and concluded there were climbers waaaay up there, about half way to the top.  With my 60X zoom camera, I got this shot of one of the pair.  Just being on a tall ladder makes me nervous....

We stayed at Curry Village,  a grouping of about two hundred canvas tents on wooden bases, which gave us the true camping experience, complete with a bear box to keep anything a bear might like tucked away in a steel container by the door of the tent.  All the sounds of nature at night were magical.  I do want to paint a nocturne of the tents soon.

I have yet to paint the exciting scenes in Yosemite itself, but I did complete three paintings of the days before going to Yosemite.  One day we drove down the coast from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay, and I took a photo reference of the soft mist pouring in between the coastal ridges.  The next day we made our way toward Yosemite seeing gorgeous rock outcroppings. We were getting close!

"San Mateo Mountain Mist"  oil, 16" x 20"  $1450

"The Climb toward Yosemite", oil,  14" x 11",  $950

"Anticipating Yosemite"  oil,  16" x 12",  $1150

Before long, I'm to give the Goudy Lecture at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, and, upon returning, I'm looking forward to painting those amazing cliffs and waterfalls of Yosemite!  Stay tuned!

Thank you for coming along with me on this journey.  If you'd like to see more of my paintings, just go to my web site at KathrynClarkFineArt.com