Bumpus Butte, Yellowstone National Park

Bumpus Butte, Yellowstone National Park
16" X 8", oil on canvas on panel
Copyright: Laura Marie Anderson 2009

First painted in August and then revisited on September 2nd, I spent the night in Yellowstone waiting for the sun to rise. In the morning, I made the climb up the hill. The trail is very steep to begin with, but levels out and the view from the top is spectacular. About a mile on the trail and I was almost stopped by the blue mountains to the North. One ridge after another, fading off into the distance. I will paint here again one day. I found my perch, high above the river on an outcropping. This kind of painting reminds me of Thomas Moran, in the day before there were so many signs and fences. "Don't walk here. Don't step there." Barriers, barriers and more barriers. Off the beaten path in Yellowstone is the way to go.

Painting across and passed Calcite Springs, looking back down the canyon, the morning sun steadily climbs its way up the canyon wall. About mid-morning a hiker came and stood on the grassy null above the basalt columns on the right side of my painting. I couldn't resist putting him in. The scale he adds to this Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is wonderful.

Linda in the Boat, East Rosebud Lake

"Linda in the Boat, East Rosebud Lake

8"x10", Oil on Panel,

© Laura Marie Anderson

$100.

I am sending out a post today. It has been such a long time. I want to start with a painting I did last fall, shortly after my last post. I have been trying to find a way to save my blog entries on my own computer, not just on cyberspace. I have decided to do it through The Journal, a software that I have used since 1998. My length of use of this software should say enough about its reliability. Some years back, the man that developed and has since updated this software regularly, added this blogging feature. Back then I wasn't interested in blogging, so I ignored this function.

This is a painting entitled "Linda in the Boat." The day of this fun snow was October 12, 2008. We got about 40" of snow. Some of it drifted much higher. I called Linda Reynolds that day to see how she was doing and mentioned that she might try to get into this one cabin which was near hers and retrieve a glass jar and some cans of food that I thought would freeze and make a mess. Instead she dug her boat out of the snow and then pushed it down the bank and into the lake. She rowed over to get me. My mission, to retrieve a glass jar of Spaghetti sauce. I had been at this cabin while the snow was coming down, but at that time we only had about 18". I was turning off and draining the water from this cabin. I did see the jar, but didn't give it much thought until later. Anyway, it was a great excuse to get out of the house and play in the snow.

Now I am a tall girl, about 5'10" and when I pushed my way through the snow it was nearly chest high, but still fluffy enough to be able to move it with great effort. I made my way down to the boat dock in front of the lodge and waited for Linda to become visible. I was hoping that nothing happened on her way over and I would be forced to kick my way back through the snow and without the jar. Soon, I saw her come around the shoreline and into view. I started taking pictures of her as she paddled her way over to pick me up. The lake was quite still and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. There as a wonderful quietness that enveloped the shore in its new white blanket.

Our trip was successful and we got to enjoy the beauty of East Rosebud Lake from a wonderful vantage point. Thank you Linda.

The Artist's Mother

The Holy City

"The Holy City"
8"x16" oil on canvas mounted on panel
#080328
© Laura Marie Anderson

I went to Cody, WY today to drop off some photographs for a photography show. That done I drove out the the Cody Armory to see the other Bears for the Cody library fund raiser. I have been honored to paint/decorate one of those bears. See their progress as http://www.grizgathering.com/. The bears are coming along, and some of them are finished already. Mine is going to be a Circus bear and since the circus is coming to town this week, I'm waiting to see it before beginning the character paintings. Right now it is great big yellow bear. I will make a separate post for the bear.

After visiting with the other artists and stopping into the museum, I drove out towards Yellowstone to what I call the Red Rocks. The tourist sign calls then "The Holy City". On my way out there I saw and photographed two herds of Mountain Sheep, females and young males. The day was partly cloudy and the sun shone sporadically throughout the painting process. This was a beautiful spot. As soon as the sunset a chill filled the air that forced me to clean up quickly. Suddenly, the warmth and friendliness turned to chilling cold and memories of the town folks saying "be careful the grizzly are out already". Having my faithful dog, Sam with me there was little fear, until I noticed him tucked down in the snow napping. We got out of there quickly as he let out his tell tale growl looking just down the canyon. See a grizzly from the car with my camera in hand had been a thought earlier in the day, but seeing one with my equipment spread out on the snow was not my idea of a great moment. the drive back was a fun one, seeing many deer along the road (not hitting any and having the heater turned up full blast, to thaw out those parts of me that I didn't even notice where cold while I was possessed by the painting magic.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting please email me at ArtistLauraMarieAnderson@gmail.com

Bird's Eye Inlet

“Bird’s Eye Inlet”
8”x10” Unframed – Oil on Hardboard

Laura Marie Anderson © May 10, 2007

I crawled back up on the rocks yesterday and again today by the inlet. Both days I saw the scrawny moose with the hurt leg and a goat that had tucked himself up behind the rock and out of sight of the trail traffic. Today when I was finished painting I was walking down the trail feeling quite free as I could see from my perch that there were no wild animals around. About half way back down the trail I notice something dark off to my right. I looked up and less than ten feet from the trail and myself was the moose. This is two days is a row that this moose and I have surprised each other. Yesterday, she stood up when I was passing and scared the wits right out of me and I let out a scream. She freaked out Sam also, who came a running at me. Today, Sam wasn’t even bothered by her. He just kept walking. I on the other hand, I backed up decided to take some photos and then not wanting to take the long way around again, walked slowly past her, trying not to make eye contact. On the other side of her I stopped to take another photo. She was close enough you cab see her eyelashes in the photo.

Hell Roaring Falls #4

“Hell Roaring Falls #4”
22”x28” Unframed – Oil on Canvas

Laura Marie Anderson © May 6, 2007

I started this painting on April 14. I loved the icicles that hung from all the different places and decided to make this painting about the vast size of the canyon dwarfing the falls. Visually they are about 20’ tall, but in the canyon which is much taller they can seem dwarfed. I went back to this spot three different days and then the snow was melted. Today I went back there to lighten up the rocks. In comparison to the bright snow, the rocks seemed very dark but in the house they seemed too dark. I can back this morning and turned my easel so that it was out of the direct sunlight. This made a huge difference. This painting seems to have sort of a surreal quality about it, but I like it.

Morning Glory

“Morning Glory”
15”x30” Unframed - Oil on Canvas on Hardboard

Laura Marie Anderson © April 30, 2007

I started this painting last summer, but the water rose up onto the sand bar before I could get it done, so it has been patiently waiting leaned up against the wall. I went down a couple mornings this week and finished the painting. And what a lovely one it is.