Girls Day In The Woods

Posted on February 19, 2013 by foresterartist

After a break from going for a ride along to the woods, the girls got to go yesterday. Up in the mountains of Western Shasta County, Blitz and Teka were in dog heaven.

golden retriever, pickup, ride, dogs photography

Blitz would prefer to ride up front.

Western Shasta area.

golden retriever, snow, dog, photography

Blitz loves the snow.

Blitz enjoys a fine piece of wood.

Blitz

Teka Playing in the snow

Blitz and Teka having a romp in the snow.

It’s a race.

The girls are loaded up and ready to roll.

View to the West of the Trinity Alps.

The perfect end to a perfect day. A fiery Shasta sunset.

The Birds of Spring

Posted on February 15, 2013 by foresterartist

Our weather has been reaching the 70’s during the last week. The grass is growing and buds are beginning to swell. Around the Mill Site there is another sign of Spring. Pairing off and searching for nest sites, the birds are all around.

A killdeer scouting for a gravelly nesting site.

wildlife, photography, goldeneye, waterfowl, ducks

Goldeneye couple on the river.

wildlife, photography, cormorants, divers, waterfowl

The cororants relaxing.

wildlife, photography, mallards, ducks, drake, hen, waterfowl

A pair of mallard soon to be nesting.

wildlife, photography, goose, geese, Canada Geese, honkers, waterfowl

A beautiful pair of Canada geese.

Teka stares forlornly at a beautiful pair of Canada geese.

The empty osprey nest waits for it’s builders to return. They should be here in the next couple of weeks. Truly a sign of Spring’s impending return.

The Misery Whip – The Final

Posted on February 10, 2013 by foresterartist

Watercolor, watercolour, logging, historic, crosscut saw, misery whip, auction, art

The Misery Whip.

Here it is, the final painting. I hope you like it.

Now that I finally have time to catch my breath, here is what happened since my last post. I left work and rushed home. I had about 20 or 30 minutes of painting left to do. When I finished the painting, we had about an hour and 5 minutes before we had to be at the dinner auction. I cut the mat and framed it. With that complete, we got ourselves ready and ran out the door. We arrived at the dinner, and presented the painting to the master of ceremonies so he could put it on display. After an excellent prime rib dinner the auction began.

This auction is a fund-raiser for the Education Fund of the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference. The money goes for forestry education for local students. The money supports Education Day for local 4th graders to tour the conference, that is where Mary gave her presentation, https://theforesterartist.com/2013/02/08/the-misery-whip-home-stretch/ . They also support the local college logging sports team, scholarships and a Spring woods tour, among other things.

Now back to the auction. The painting was item 30 out of 50. Not a bad place to be. If it is too early, some folks are holding back, keeping their powder dry, so to speak. Too late in the evening and many bidders start to leave. The bidding seemed to be going pretty high during the early portion of the auction. I was encouraged. Finally, The Misery Whip was up. Bidding started at $200. The bidding was short and frantic. Then, “SOLD” to the high bidder for $900. I was very happy to see my effort contribute to bringing in so much to the charity fund. I could not see who the bidder was.

Mary runs our booth at the conference, so on top of everything else we had been preparing for the conference and getting product ready. As a result Mary and I were exhausted and were planning to go home after the painting was auctioned, but I had a ticket for a drawing at the end. Since, we did not want to stay that late, I took the ticket to a friend from work who would be there for the drawing. He was sitting in the area of the high bidder, so I asked him who it was. He said “it was me”! He told me when he saw it on display he was determined to buy it and it was his way of owning a piece of me. I was flattered and humbled. Thank you Ted. I’m really glad he got it.

After weeks of getting to bed after mid-night, last night Mary and I were in bed by 7pm and slept for 12 hours. The truck is unloaded. Now it is time to fall back and regroup. All in all, I would say it was a very successful conference.

The Misery Whip – Home Stretch

Posted on February 8, 2013 by foresterartist

Here I am, T-minus 4 hours and not done. No pressure here….ok maybe a bit. It’s a good thing I love pressure. Eat it for breakfast. Need sleep. However after a late lunch painting break, back to work (other work not painting) for a while. I’m close. Here is where I am.

The Misery Whip

Just for fun I threw in this picture of Mary, The Backdoor Artist, giving a forestry presentation to 4th graders at the conference. I love this picture, although it does scare me a bit. Don’t tell her I posted it.

Mary with a torch. Are you scared yet?

The Misery Whip – Progress Report

Posted on February 8, 2013 by foresterartist

I’ve decide the name the painting “The Misery Whip.” I’m not done yet, but closing in. It is almost midnight so I’m packing it in for tonight. Here it is so far.

“The Misery Whip” a work in progress.

Bucking Logs – The Donation A WIP

Posted on February 7, 2013 by foresterartist

I have an impending deadline. I am creating this watercolor painting as a donation to the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference, Education Day live auction. It is a 1930’s era logger bucking logs with a crosscut saw, also known as a “misery whip”. I sketched it the night before last. I stretched my paper yesterday morning. Last night I started putting paint to paper. Tonight I have to finish it. Tomorrow I will need to cut the mat and frame it so that tomorrow night it goes to auction. whewww! I’m ready for a nap, unfortunately that will have to wait until Sunday.

This part is for any Conference attendees. I’m posting this to the Conference facebook page in case there are any attendees going to the Education Day Dinner and happen to look online. We want you to show up with your check books because it’s fundraising time. You can bid on this if you like it, or bid on something else if you don’t, but bid!

It is a WIP. This is where I stopped last night, but now I’m back at it. Updates will be forthcoming.

watercolor, watercolour, logging, bucking, logs, painting, saw, crosscut saw, misery whip, line art, sketch

In the beginning, the line art.

watercolor, watercolour, logging, bucking, logs, painting, saw, crosscut saw, misery whip

The background washes and starting to find some detail.

Completed intial washes and adding some background detail.

You may be asking, why did he wait so long to start this? An excellent question and one to which I have a good answer. However, I can’t go into that now, because I just don’t have time. That will be another blog. Stay tuned.

Spooky Woods

Posted on January 31, 2013 by foresterartist

Don’t go walking in those spooky old woods alone.

Coyotes Attack! Oh, nevermind.

Posted on January 26, 2013 by foresterartist

The deer herd feeding in the hay field.

Something caught my attention, while cruising around the North end of the log decks. Lots of animals were running in the hay field. The mill property has a couple hundred acres of hay fields and ponds on the North end of the log yard. Each afternoon a large herd of deer comes into the fields to graze. This morning, they were already in the field and running all over the place. This is odd behavior for the deer because they weren’t leaving. They usually wander randomly around the field feeding. If anyone gets too close they just leave the field for the cover of the nearby Valley Oaks. This time they were running helter skelter around the field, but not leaving. I was about a quarter mile away and could not discern what was going on. I pulled out my camera and zoomed in on the action. Then I saw the three coyotes. This is what happened next.

Enjoying the sunny morning, the deer placidly graze. They seem unconcerned about anything going on around them.

Moving in on the deer herd, this coyote was intent on having venison for breafast.

The coyotes non-chalantly move closer and closer to the herd.

The big buck spots the sneaky coyotes.

buck, doe, deer, black-tail deer, prey, predator

Two does and the big buck aren’t going to tolerate the coyotes stalking the herd.

Coyote, doe, deer, buck, stalking, hunting, feeding

This brave doe takes the lead in dealing with the interlopers.

The two does surround the lead coyote. The coyote was not expecting this.

coyote, deer, doe, predator, prey, fight back, retreat

The second coyote decides not to stick around. No loyalty amoung coyotes.

The coyote is having second thoughts and a venison meal.

Deciding it isn’t worth it the coyotes back off.

No venison today for this coyote.

Perhaps a nice field mouse would be good instead.

With the threat dealt with, the herd goes back to a leisurely breakfast.

Otter At The Mill

Posted on January 22, 2013 by foresterartist

Otter, photography, wildlife, sawmill, swimming

This handsome otter was swimming around our log pond at the mill in search of an afternoon snack.

This otter and the rest of his clan are regulars around the mill site. The pond where I took these pictures is smack in the middle of the entire complex. They visit the log ponds, canals, and the river depending on what is on the menu. We have a floating platform that suspends a water intake into the pond, but the otters seem to think it was put there for their personal sun basking pleasures. One of my crew members insists that it is their private restroom, while he complains about all the “otter poop!” Those are my words, not his.