Saturday, July 19, 2008

Porker Ground Squirrels

This morning I drove back up Elk Mountain Road, this time looking down towards the valley. The foreground is the rolling hills of the edge of the prairie, the background is the Wallowa Mountain Range with the setting moon. It is difficult to relate the absoluteness of the quiet in a location like this, most people never get to hear this kind of noiselessness, no human noise, no wind noise, not even the sound of insects, the silence only broken by the occasional screech of a red-tailed hawk. The ground squirrels must be a tasty treat for these hawks because they are positively obese right now. They look so silly with their chubby bodies as they run across the road, tummies barely clearing the ground. I got my own treat this morning; my husband rode his dirt bike out with a thermos of hot home-roasted espresso for me. A dirt bike would be a very handy painting ride in these parts. I still need to fix where I have one shadow/light edge meeting up exactly with the other one. 

3 comments:

Bill Cone said...

Lot's of pleasure for the eye in this one. And a much stronger compositional theme than the 's' river study, even though they are similar in that regard.

The shadow cutting across the image, and the jump of color into the blue distance, are both great qualities of light to work with.

b.

Kara Del Valle said...

I know that you don't know me, but I have been looking for an image that I can quilt. This is SO beautiful. Thank you for shearing it.

Carol W. said...

Howdy, I am a native of California, but relocated to North Dakota in 1997. When I saw your painting I thought, 'gee, this looks like a California scene' and sure enough I was right!
I am interested in your paintings because I too am an artist, although my art is in the form of pen and ink and digital media. You seem to be prolific in your art and I see that you work on animation forms. I am glad to know you. Thanks.