Art by Scott Vanderlip from Tree House Studio
Pescadero is a cute little town a few miles inland from the coast and offer 100+ year old barns and houses. The town is still very small and local and hasn’t changed or grown much in a very long time. I grabbed a shot of this older barn that was painted blue.
As I drive over the coast on Hwy 92, you pass over a small section of land that is between two large lakes that are serviced by Hetch Hecthy and SF water District. The water district has this huge swath of land and includes several lakes originally created to store water for SF water needs but now these lakes are typically not used for water supplies.
From the tree house studio, I have access to some town open space close by. This open space and horse pasture call Byrne Preserve changes rapidly from a golden brown in the fall to a green grass once the fall rains start to fall.
For the painting below, I was painting from a photo of the lush green grass the show of poppies that occur in April every year.
On the eastern side of Sonora pass down around 7,000 feet is Leavittt Meadows. The eastern Sierra colors of sage, lava, fall colors, and muted colors make for a wonderful palette to paint. Today I did painted the meadow with the horse stable area for starters.
In summer of 2021, I took a short roadtrip to Oregon and visited Portland and parts of Eastern Oregon. Some days included visiting areas around Bend Oregon and Paulina Lake.
In summer of 2021, I took a short road trip to rediscover a section of the bikecentennial tour I did 40 years prior when I biked across America over two summers. One of the towns we stopped in 40 years ago and this summer was the tiny town of Mitchell Oregon. I documented this original bike ride and the new 2021 partial tour on this US Bike Tour 40 Years Ago website.
There are many Forest Service roads off of Sonora pass (hwy 108) that lead you to new vistas of the Dardanells and other scenic landscapes. It had snowed the day before and the wind and temperatures made it difficult to paint. At one point my entire painting box and trip blew over in the wind with canvas and the paints! The fall colors were coming out in some aspen groves.
The Sonora pass scenery changes as you climb from 5000 to 6,000 to over 9,600 feet at the summit. Just before the 9000 foot marker, you cross through a steep and granite canyon.
This little coastal stop on Hwy 84 and nearby roads is the classic northern California ranch, farming and rural imagery we all love.
This little coastal stop on Hwy 84 and nearby roads is the classic northern California ranch, farming and rural imagery we all love.
Tree House Studio