Even though our trip was stopped by Covid-19, I did get a number of photos along the way. Olancha, CA, is one of those little towns without a lot of amenities, but big in different ways. Here are some – and were some – nice little restaurants that provide comfort to the hungry and a much-needed break from the car. Little dirt roads catch the eye, and trees and houses break up the flat land leading to the grandeur of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas. So, even though my trip was canceled, I d intend to create sketches of what I saw along the way . . .
We had a 2 week vacation trip planned. And it ended on Day 3. I had thought my sinuses were acting up, but to be careful I decided to have a Covid-19 test. It was a 1-hour quickie. Negative. Okay! Let’s go!
Our first stop was in Independence, CA, along the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, traveling on Hwy. 395. My husband had a cold, mild, some sniffles and a cough. On Day 3, we left Independence, and continued north. Next stop was to be Virginia City, NV. Well, as we moved further north, the air became cloudy and sooty. The smoke from the fires in NoCal was moving east, and I could smell it. So could Tom and Judy, Josh’s parents. Josh couldn’t. We had mints. We could all taste them – except Josh.
And so the decision was made: return home and have tests. It was the ethical thing to do. Josh’s test came back positive; mine was “presumed positive”, and the antigen tests Tom and Judy had came back negative. Ethical decision made, people and places were called, and now we are self-isolating until our next test on 9/13. Test results will be around 9/15.
So, stopped by the plague . . . and ethics. Neither Josh nor I felt sick other than a tad under the weather. Josh has is sense of taste and smell back about 95%.
We have plenty to do, despite being stuck at home. I have a sketchbook, planned to document the vacation, and so the first drawing is the Winnedumah Hotel, built in 1927 for the film industry back in the days when westerns were shot in the Owens Valley.
I have been rather lazy today, too lazy to set up to paint. So, an old exercise came to mind: make a messy color mix on paper and draw over it with ink. I had Slater’s Bridge already chosen as the subject matter for this exercise (partly for Ms. Fragglerocking, partly because I think it’s such a lovely bit of stonework). As a result, I plopped on colors and then drew the bridge from different angles.
This was the first one. No idea how the cobalt violet would work, but used leftover watercolor paint from my dirty palette along with fresh colors. Then I drew. I admit, I came in and added some color after I added the drawing to get a bit more definition. It sort of felt like cheating!
So, with the thought of cheating in mind, I did this one. Yes, I deliberately put manganese blue at the top, and then just added the cadmium orange and greens. However, I didn’t add any colors after finishing the ink drawing.
Daily work – daily play – daily adventures in art!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 