Good River

 
I visited a friend on Good River earlier this week and painted most of this before it started raining, then finished it inside with a visit with tea and cookies.

 This one got started outside too, and finished the next day.

Excursion Ridge

This one got lost and found.  I painted from the beach a couple of weeks ago while parked looking across to Excursion Ridge and the mountains across the inlet.  I left out the tank farm fence in the foreground.

Bear in a Tree

A sow and cub and several other black bears have been visiting regularly much of the summer.  On Wednesday, the cub climbed one of the mountain ash trees while the sow reached for limbs.  The sow has a pretty bad limp and we are pretty sure this is the same on that had two cubs earlier.  There seem to be a lot more bears this year, both black and brown.  I've been reluctant to paint outside much and carry my bear spray when I do.

It was hard to see the cub in the tree. 

The Kitten

This old troller is up the slough at the boat harbor.  Clear weather continues and the cottonwood are turning yellow. 

Hard Freeze

 We woke up yesterday morning to see the sunflowers drooping from the first heavy frost this fall.  We had watched it grow all summer as it had reached the top of the over 10' stake and develop and begin to lose petals.  It is drooping even more today.  I'm glad I painted it yesterday.

And this I painted from a photo I took of it soon after it opened.

Flight Seeing

Last Sunday,  September 9,  I had a spur of the minute invitation to go flight seeing over Glacier Bay.  It was amazingly beautiful.  We left at about 5, flew out to Icy Strait then up the bay to the Brady ice field and along the Fairweather Range and over the west arm and back to Gustavus., an hour in all.

The above are from photos I took as we flew along Mount Bertha and  Crillion, part of the Fairweather Range. We were   amazed by how little snow pack there was compared to previous years.

 

Flowers in the Sunroom

 

 This was one of the last begonia blooms in the sun room.

The petunias are still going strong.

This I painted quickly along the road to Chris and Dave's house,

 and this from a photo yesterday.   I like the trees in the first one but the forground in the second one best.

Playing with Salt

 This was cropped from a larger piece.  I love what the salt did.  I'm out of my  comfort zone working wet on wet, but like the way this one turned out. 

This one, not so much.  I was going to be about the sky, then I started on the trees...

Most of the fireweed are turning brownish, but this one alone the shaded road to our house really caught my eye.

More from the Beach

 This is a group of trees towards the river from the road from a photo when the fireweed were still pink.

I only had a red pen  to draw with when I painted this from my car, looking towards Pleasant Island.