Tuesday, August 2, 2011

More Colorado to Montana....


On the second day of our travels, we went in and out of Montana and Idaho, crossing state borders, the continental divide, and the latitude line (45th?) that is halfway between the North Pole and the equator.

What I took the most photos of on this day were textures. The hills had hard and soft edges, and were filled with color. Some were red and bare, reminding me of the hills we live with. They always make me think of Georgia O'Keefe landscapes. Here is a small one from my sketchbook - as I tried to remember how to use colored pencils (which I had fortunately thrown in at the last minute.)



Several of the textured landscape photos I am saving to paint, or even weave from, so I will share them later. Here is one that has a lot of texture and color, though.


I loved this sign: an understatement, if ever there was one!


When we got to our second campsite, we found it to be beautiful, shady, and each site very secluded and quiet. It was lovely! It is one of the Lolo Pass sites, along the Lochsa River.


The textures kept alluring me, even at the campground. The river with it's reflections and shadows was mysterious. The above photo is completely unaltered.


And this photo of a young robin looks as if it was taken through a wall of water, or as a reflection. It must have been the humidity that causes this effect.

I have selected the yarns for the Nativity commission tapestries, and will try to get the loom warped and a hem woven before they arrive.

5 comments:

Theresa said...

Looks like it was a beautiful and creatively fruitful trip!
Great pictures and I'll bet those yarns that you picked are just lovely.
I'm very late with a comment, but I love your May tapestry. One of my favorite paintings at home is of two vermont Black and white dairy cows.....

K Spoering said...

Thanks, Teresa. Are the cows in your painting those Dutch ones that look like Oreo cookies? Black on both ends with a white middle? I had never seen that breed until I went to New England a few years ago, and they were everywhere. I figured if I painted them they wouldn't look real to the cow lovers here in the west.

Tommye McClure Scanlin said...

Love the photos and journal sketch pages... and I very much enjoyed seeing Bear Lake again! I visited it in the late 1980s when I was at an academic symposium in Logan... and had a day to myself. The landscape was spectacular! Quite different than anything I'd ever seen to that point in my life. Thanks for sharing!!

Theresa said...

No, just plain old black and white VT dairy cows( Holsteins?). I think the others are know as Dutch barrels....I've seen a fair amount of them in New England too. They became popular in the mid-80's but I have to admit, I don't know if they are dairy or beef. I suspect beef although I have never seen any out here in the west, or Jersey cows either for that matter. They use to be a very popular dairy cow and quite pretty, all brown with the most amazing soft eyes.... Okay there we have it TMI!

Theresa said...

could be Guernsey cows that are brown...I need to go look up my cow breeds!

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