Afternoon Outing

Went out on a little hike for most of the afternoon on the north end of the island out towards Settlers Cove along the road system. As I was headed north a huge storm cell was hanging over the Town of Ketchikan it looked like some serious rain was going to fall. The storm cell followed me all the way north so decided to stop by Salmon Falls Resort which is no longer in business to hold up until the storm passed over. It started to sleet and snow a little bit as I sheltered under the lodges roof over hang.

Was able to get some really great shots of the storm passing over the inlet and the lodge. The waterfall was raging at full speed and so was the rain at about that time. I hung out for another 10 minutes then headed by south towards town except that I stopped by South Point Higgins Beach. By this time the sun was setting and I was burning up the memory card in the camera with some good shots.

Called my wife to brag to her about how beautiful the beach and sunset was at that moment. Then I jumped into the car headed towards home. As I rounded Ward Cove the sunset was just spectacular so I pulled of to the side of the road to capture the last of the light. All in all it was a really great time searching for pastel drawing reference subjects.

Sunset at Ward Cove

Sunset taken towards Danger Islands

Scenic outlook towards Guard Island Lighthouse

Gem Cove

'Gem Cove'
Pastel, 18" x 24"

This drawing was based on a photo I took last summer while doing an all day hike up to Lake Silvis which is located south of town. It was a very hot day with the sun directly over head. The view in this pastel is looking out across George Inlet and Carrol Inlet, the sandy beach head is at the entrance of Gem Cove. It is a very nice place to hold up when the weather can get sloppy in the inlet.

Part 5: Work In Progress

WIP 9 - finishing up the foreground trees on left & right.

Part 4: Work In Progress

WIP 8a - close up detail of the center of the drawing

WIP 8 - filling out the trees on the left and right...slow going.

Part 3: Work In Progress

WIP 7 - starting to work on the tree in the upper left hand corner

WIP 6 - filling in the rest of the foreground

Part 2: Work In Progress

WIP 5 - working the sky a bit more with clouds
and trees in foreground. blended out the snow cap
mountains along the sky; and trying to add more
shape to the islands in middle ground

WIP 4 - blending the sky and adding distant snow
cap mountains; added some definition to trees in foreground

WIP 3 - adding color to sky; more color to the islands

Part 1: Work In Progress

WIP 1 - drew in landscape with a Conte pencil
followed by blocking in first hue of color

WIP 2 - starting to block in the foreground

Sunset Commute

"Sunset Commute" - October 2010
Pastel, 8" x 14"

Weather Alert

We had plans work on a few projects around the house and get some drawing done for the four day weekend. But life being what it is we ended up hiding out in house from some serious weather along with the rest of the town. There was a really bad storm Friday night which knocked down a few limbs on the deck along with some leaves. When we woke on Saturday it was nice enough for us to clean up debris and get on with our weekend.

Gale Force Wind and Storm Surge

We thought for sure the worst of it was over, but Saturday night proved us wrong as it really started to blow hard. The house would shake from the gale force gusts come off the water up the hill. Every now and then I would venture out on the deck to check on the trees surrounding the house. It was quite the surprise to see these giant trees twisting in the wind as sheets of rain would slam into them and the house. Patricia went to bed early I on the other hand decided to stay up to keep an eye on the storm as it wasn't letting up. At about 2 am the power went out, Patricia woke up at this point we proceeded to turn off all electronic equipment. When this was done we both went to bed fully expecting that power would come back on in the morning after repairs. Little did we realize that our whole weekend would be with out power.

Here we are camping out in the living room with oil lamps.

Mardi camping out on the sofa with us.

After the storm past thorough the Ketchikan area sometime on Tuesday it was apparent that this storm was much different than previous storms. I ventured out to survey the storm damage which was quite extensive in certain areas. The center of town had power while the outlying subdivision were doing with out. I spent most of Sunday and Monday tracking down ice so that we wouldn't lose the food in our freezer. Monday late afternoon power was restored to side of town. Then sometime on Tuesday we lost power once again to some more trees falling on power lines in our driveway feeding the house. Utility crew cleared away the trees and few hours later we had power once again.

Line men working in our driveway cutting trees laying on our power line.

Some minor damage adding to my honey do list.

A group of trees leaning on the power lines just down from the house.

KPU crew working hard to fix down power line along
South Tongass Highway on my way back from town.

Good sign after this series of storms moved thorough the area.
Amazes me how danger and beauty can co-exist in this world.

Winter's Roost

'Winter's Roost', October 2010
Pastel, 5" x 8"