Looking for Snow

Last week Sue, Dave and myself went looking for snow and found it up the Pinus Creek Road in the San Juans, above Del Norte, Colorado.
As Spring comes on, the winds kick up in Colorado but we managed to catch a morning that was very mild and almost calm. There was a lot of "atmosphere" though, because of fires that burned in other parts of the state; downright smokey day actually. Some painters go for that atmospheric/air look -
being originally from California, I'm not so keen on it.

Spring in the Mountains

I painted with Sue McCullough at Rock Creek, in the San Juan Mountains this last week. It is amazing, to me how seemingly colorless the landscape can appear at this time of year.

Spring ? ? ? Where's the GREEN?

Spring is finally coming to our part of the country. You would never know by the views or snow covered mountains but temps are rising and that is always a good sign.
Last week, David Montgomery and I went east towards LaVeta Pass- looking, for something -not sure what, but we finally pulled over on the road and just started walking around. I am not very patient, or willing to spend a lot of time looking for a certain thing, but am more inclined to find a view with what is available. In this case, the bushes and fence served but I came home rather cranky about all the BROWN landscape.
I guess I haven't been getting out enough.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.

This IS the Wild West. . . .

On the way home we pulled off and took photos in Ft. Garland, home of the Fort/outpost manned by Kit Carson. - Dave surveys the landscape wherein just about every "old West" cliche imaginable has been squeezed into an area of a couple of blocks. From left to right, in this view alone is the steeple of the old church, a corral with a real Bison, horses, a tee pee, a hogan, and old west store front. The sign announcing "gunfights every day" didn't make it into the shot. Fortunately, the fort isn't more than a block away, in case things get out of hand. . . .
There is no discounting the beauty of Mt. Blanca though. These peaks dominate the view for miles around and stood as a silent guard eons before the first Americans came through this valley;
they are the Wild West.