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Nature

Death Valley

We started the week with landscapes in the State of Washington. From there we went South to the Columbia River, then further East to Harney County. Now it’s straight South, all the way to a place where rain is rarely seen – what a concept. California is our destination, and leave it to the internet to cough up information on some obscure painters that were in love with Western National Parks, Death Valley – my choice today –  included. One was a Swede, the other of Swedish descent, both quite adept watercolorists, both drawn to the dry sunny places that mediate the intensity of depression. (Well, the latter is speculation, no clue if they were depressed, but I surely could use some sun to counteract the dark clouds.)

The links below refer to Gunnar Widforss (1879-1934) whose post-humous exhibits found high acclaim. A realist painter, he spent his life alone, in relative poverty, pursuing nature. I actually think he was a terrific painter and am surprised I had never heard of him before.

 

GUNNAR WIDFORSS—PAINTER OF THE NATIONAL PARKS

https://www.californiawatercolor.com/pages/gunnar-widforss-biography

The other painter is Fernand Lungren (1857-1932) an Eakins student and favorite of Theodore Roosevelt. His landscapes were more impressionistic, capturing much of the intense light of and colors of Death Valley and other natural wonders down South.

 http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa439.htm

Last but not least, in addition to some of the photographs above and below that depict what I saw some 100 years later compared to these guys, here is a partial list of movies that were filmed among the mountainous folds and the salty flatlands.

Starwars!!

https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/death-valley-in-movies-and-television.htm

Binge watching NOT recommended.

The colors in my photographs are true to what is, not over-exposed – the blues and reds, yellows and purples are just as intense as you see them.

Just as the hills of Eastern Oregon always remind me of sea lions, here I am transported to a more ancient time of mammoths or some such. Or the original elephants…..who also seemed to populate the hallways of the single motel within the park, insanely overpriced and under serviced, the one disappointment during an otherwise perfect excursion.

 

 

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Harney County, Eastern Oregon

Malheur lies in the furthest south/east corner of our state. Before this part of Oregon became infamous through the occupation of the right wing, nationalist militia crooks around Amon Bundy last year, it was a magnet for nature lovers, wildlife protectionists, birding enthusiasts and artists. It still is, I suppose, with many working hard to restore what has been defiled.

Childe Hassam 1908 Afternoon Sky, Harney Desert

Hassan Childe (1859-1935) was one of the early painters who lend his impressionist style to depicting the beauty of Harney County. In fact one of his paintings was the first acquisition of the Portland Art Museum, founded in 1905.He captured, in my opinion, an idealized version of what is really a harsh environment around the Steen Mountains. Part desert, part mountain wilderness, few interspersed water features that host 1000s of birds during migration, all combine to deliver astonishing beauty but also intense hardship for the few people who settle this landscape and try to make a living of it.

https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/hassam_childe_1859_1935_/#.WNHdfzvt–Q

 

I find Henk Pander’s work a more fitting testimony to the reality out there, both in his water colors and his oil paintings that often add a psychologically astute dimension to what is. He captures the intense light but also the foreboding of the Eastern landscape.

Here is a link to his website – check out the watercolors of the Blitzen river, the Malheur Field station and the landscape of the Steens.

http://henkpander.format.com/#1

 

I have only visited once, 2 years ago, for a precious few days on a road trip from LA to PDX. I have been wanting to go back there ever since, and hope this year will afford it.  Who knows.

In the meantime I frequently go back to the photographs I took and try to recreate the experience.

Part of what made it special are the many unfamiliar bird sounds that you hear there, including some birds that make music with its feathers – here is the sound of a common snipe https://www.youtubecom/watch?v=dam0sDp6Xig.

At night you hear owls,

during the day you walk among families of quails,

and you are surrounded by ubiquitous species of blackbirds, many of them unfamiliar to me.

It is a special place if you like birds and find solace in their freedom and their song.

 

 

 

 

 

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Painting the Columbia River

Sometimes the painters are more interesting than their paintings. Take George Gibbs, for example, who was an ethnographer, mapmaker, geologist, historian, attorney, and, for nearly twelve years, an explorer, artist, and administrator in the Pacific Northwest. 8 careers! And here I thought I was versatile. We certainly share an interest in Mr. Audubon, the naturalist and bird lover, who he got to meet in person as a youngster, an encounter that shaped his life’s trajectory.

See more at: https://www.williamreesecompany.com/pages/books/WRCAM37235/george-gibbs/pastel-painting-of-a-scene-in-the-pacific-northwest-probably-the-columbia-river-with-indians#sthash.kLSM9vyC.dpuf

Gibbs painted the Columbia river, my choice of subject for today’s photographs. So did John Fery, another European non-conformist who ended up in the Northwest. First he was a hunting guide for millionaires’ expeditions and hunting parties. Later he somehow became a steady deliverer of paintings commissioned by the Pacific Railroad company, I believe 350 or or so. You wonder what it does to your growth and development as an artist if you paint for the man, one pretty landscape after another….

Later in life he settled on Orcas Island where a fire destroyed his studio and most of his accumulated work – he died a few years later.

My photographs are from the Gorge, collected over the years, as well as further downstream where the river winds itself towards the ocean feeding a lot of industry.

It is a marvel at any season and any time of day.

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Landscapes

Last week I took a ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island with the plan to visit Bloedel Gardens.

When we arrived at the harbor I asked a fellow traveler for information about busses; she immediately offered me a ride since she had to go in that direction and I naively said yes. Her Volvo had seen better days, not a day under 40 years old, seatbelt not working, leather seats cracked, only one door opened. It felt too late to chicken out, and I was somehow drawn into tales of her mother traveling with 5 kids and a steamer trunk to Switzerland to do post-doctoral studies on Jung. That and the fact that my friendly chauffeuse had not slept in two nights. Hm.

I obviously lived to tell the story. The gardens, a huge expanse of wood- and meadow lands, water features, beautiful views of Puget Sound, were soothing. It rained softly, and I was most impressed by a moss landscape that seemed to have luminescence built in. More than 40 species of moss covering forest floors.

The whole place was empty except for a group of British landscape designers who got a tour by the head gardener, (one of 12 full-time employed gardeners year round.) Somehow these guys managed to pop up whenever I took the camera out of the shelter of my raincoat and make it into the picture. Well, often, not always.

Trees were planted in groves (the Himalayan Birches) carefully pruned in the Japanese garden (Pine tree) or left wild around ponds (the Alders.)

I took the bus on the way back, as sole passenger, and was told that another person needed to be picked up at her house with a little detour. Apparently you can order public busses, just like cabs, with a 2 hour advance notice. The woman inquired about my plans, did I already have lunch? When I replied that I was lusting for some fish and chips, she told the bus driver where to go and here I was dropped off at an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day. I leave the rest to your imagination.

By the time I reached my hotel, a 30 minute walk from the ferry terminal after crossing the Sound I was sopping wet and coming down with a migraine. Soon my brain contained as much drama as the Bierstadt painting of Puget Sound, below.

But the gardens were worth it.

For detailed (and astute) discussion of Northwest Landscape painting, go here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/03/battleground-of-the-eye/302146/

4 Comments

Mindfulness

· Für D.P. ·

Today I will not analyze, nor report, nor tell stories or joke around. I will simply think of nature, its beauty and determination, its invariable beginnings and ends. These images were photographed yesterday. Pause and reflect.

Wild Currant

Pussy Willow

Hellebore

Edgeworthia

Scilla

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Kitsch, Kunst und Natur – aka my afternoon walk

I have a pretty set route in the afternoons, an enjoyable hour and 15 minutes if the puppy behaves. IF.

It is a loop through our neighborhood which contains numerous landmarks defined by good taste, bad taste, mysterious taste and plain old wonderful nature.

Photos were taken with iPhone in pouring rain, just so you understand the hazy quality…..

What used to be a single rubber duck on a tree stump right down the street is now an ever growing bestiary.

Entering the park, you are immediately among old growth trees, many toppled by this winter’s deluge and wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The playground, a new addition to the park, has little tile figures through out and sports signs “Kids only.” Since my dog can’t yet read we are often in forbidden territory….

Dog Catcher

 

 

The stream waxes and wanes according to the weather, was raging today, beautiful and noisy, both.

Eventually you come by a tree house that seems to have permanent additions or renovations going on, have yet to see a kid in there.

Then you pass number of artful and art-filledmaster gardens, shining with snowdrop and croci this week, all defying the weather.

Some have things jumping out of bushes, though….

Last stop is a little old lady’s house who sells used books out of her garage and decorates her apple tree differently for each season – of which there are approximately 17 since she has so much stuff to put up. Right now it is obviously St. Patricks Day season.

Did I mention it rained?

4 Comments

Joy

I am one of these people who cry at airports. Not when someone is departing, mind you, but when they are arriving. Tears start to trickle before the plane even touches down.  I don’t exactly know why that is, and can only assume it has to do with having missed someone horribly and now, finally, being able to embrace them again. That was certainly true when one of my parents came in their rare visits to the US, or when my kids came home from college.

I hate to admit it, but I also had tears in my eyes when I reunited with our puppy after my recent trip. Really, I’m getting ditzy in my dotage. I’ve never quite connected (hah, I knew I could make the link to the theme)  to our various animals, regardless of my joy in photographing some of them out in nature, but this young fellow has won my heart.

“He is just happy all the time,” I hear someone muttering faintly from the study, and since we could all use some happiness here are pictures I took the day before yesterday while walking on Sauvie with floppy ears.

Pure J o y.

Can we take this stick home? 

Or this?

Or This? 

One last swim?

 

 

I caught a sponge!

Not depicted is my panic when he took off from the beach to the woods and startled a massive coyote. Luckily their speeds weren’t matched.  Geese were unperturbed.

We stayed until the light went low and our shared bag of Fritos was empty.  Days can still be good, if you manage to get away from the news…..

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Change and Continuity

I woke up around 3 am – (jet lag, I despise you) – having this urge to get out the power washer in the morning morning. It would feel good to attack the cement decks with that rumbling, sharp, energetic stream to clean away the grime and phantasize about it not being a cement deck but you know who. Realized later that all the garden hoses are stored, the water pipes wrapped, so it might have to wait until the next frost is gone. Nonetheless, it was nice to think that there is the adult equivalent of hitting a pillow….

I was a bit demoralized after yesterday’s walk; it is not just our political universe that is going to pieces; the weather has reeked havoc with nature as well. Two of my favorite walks have been impacted: Tryon Creek looks like several bombs went off, and many of the paths and one of the bridges are un-passable because there is not enough man power to remove the fallen trees, giants all. Oaks bottom has free paths, but the old growth trees tumbled left and right, making the familiar scene unfamiliar and telling tales of destruction. Of course the one tree that was not affected is the one at the outlook over the lake, which is growing fast and will be obstructing the view in no time. (All the photographs are taken with I Phone at different times of the yer at that outlook – I walk there once a week with my dog who makes it hard to keep my hand steady since he’s eager to pursue the water fowl, squirrels and other delectable creatures.)

This afternoon I am thinking how earth has weathered so much upheaval through the millennia, how change is actually healthy for forests, through flooding or fire, how extreme situations help us focus on what really matters. If I had to pick the one area that requires relentless, coordinated resistance it is the preservation of our planet for future generations. Unbridled capitalism, with its willing defiance of ways to halt or delay climate change, hurts the entire world, not just a nation that caved in to populist snake oil sales men. Change on a small geographic scale might be natural; change that comes with a destruction of the atmosphere will be catastrophic. (Can’t bring myself to use the word carnage since it’s been in the orange cheat’s mouth too often….)

 

 

 

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The REINS Act

Hm, for some reason this post disappeared. Even thought it went out on the automatic email and presumably into your inboxes.  Sorry if publishing it again doubles your daily load.

There is so much going on, obfuscated by the twitter dramas and the sham claqueurs.

One of the things is the passage REINS Act, pushed by the Koch Brothers and many other partisans of the billionaire classes. I thought it would be interesting to read what the National Resource Defense Council has to say about it. Written by a Republican, no less, who as a former congressional staffer knows the powers and limitations of Congress. It explains what the act is all about and what the possible implications will be, in clear language, easily understood.

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/david-goldston/reins-act-why-congress-should-hold-its-horses

It is hair raising, actually frightening what that act can and perhaps will do. It’s all about getting rid of regulatory protection, in all areas of life. It’ll potentially push us back into the ice ages…. so I thought some wintry landscapes are the appropriate accompaniment.

 

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