I attended a block printing class at the Seattle Artist and Craftsman store this morning. I’ve been experimenting with this art form on my own for the last year and thought it was time to get some professional education. My first block was an attempt to capture the spirit of our new endeavor. I’m sure this will be refined in the future, but thought I would share my initial effort.
Movin' on down the road.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner and visit with our Seattle family and friends yesterday. Several hours of chatting, sharing stories of the recent Seattle freeze, eating sumptuous foods, and sharing memories of loved ones lost this past year made us all thankful to have such a great family.
We went to Yellowstone prepared for snow . . . and found instead Fall Unexpected (see my Flickr photo). Beware of what you wish for . . . laughing. Here is what it looked like on our deck last night.
Here’s what we’re left with today.
In addition to preparing Picasso for our next adventure we are getting our house ready for strangers to occupy it. When you begin to think about what someone else needs to know about your house, what personal items you want to secure, and what the new person will bring, you really have to make some changes in your home.
In the midst of our preparations it has gotten so cold that it’s snowing! We must totally winterize Picasso, making traveling less convenient.
Too much to do and too little time.
As we work hard to prepare for our next trip I couldn’t help but work on my photos from our October trip. Here’s a picture of the grizzly that attacked the moose shown in our masthead. Moments after I snapped the moose the bear charged, sending all the moose running except a large bull. When the bull stomped his foot the bear stopped and stood up to see what creature was there. That’s when I got this shot.
Who's stamping his hoof?
Continued to sort items for our next big adventure. At the same time they are predicting below freezing temps this weekend and our trailer isn’t winterized. We didn’t want to fill Picasso with antifreeze just before we hit the road. That would mean traveling without water or toilet. The solution is to wrap an insulated cover around it, put an electric heater inside, and hope the cold snap doesn’t last too long. Between the shelter and the cover we think it will have enough ambient heat to keep the pipes running.
I uploaded a brief teaser video from our Yellowstone trip to my Flickr Photostream. The steam you see is from the hot springs around which these elk were bedding at sunset. Click on the link to my Flickr photostream on the right side of this page to see it.
This is the sort of day that reminds me why I want to head south in the winter. It’s in the 40’s, rainy, and windy. I long for sunshine and warmth…soon.
It is a good day for sorting, editing, and posting photos from our recent trip to Yellowstone. I’ve begun editing the video. When I downloaded the raw video I had over 60 separate scenes/sequences. That will require lots of work in the next few months before it is in a form I can share.
Also spent a little time working on a packing list for the next trip. Retirement is great!
I’m off to a photography class tonight. Not sure it will have anything I don’t already know, but it’s an opportunity to hear someone else’s ideas on how to take a good picture. One thing I love about retirement is getting to do this sort of thing on a week night.
I spent some time this afternoon learning to sketch. That’s what we artists call trying over and over to sketch something that we really want to capture. There is no substitute for repetition. I really want to paint an interpretation of the moose picture on our masthead. The landscape is within my grasp, but the moose…there’s the challenge. Therefore, I spent my time sketching moose. My sixth try actually looks like a moose. No, I won’t be sharing it on this site. More practice.
Travels With Picasso 