Bounce, by Bill Cone, pastel


Far Shore, by Bill Cone, pastel

"I finished a pack trip a few weeks ago in the Ansel Adams wilderness with a great group of artist friends, including Paul Kratter, Terry Miura, Michele DeBraganca, Jim Wodark, Kim Lordier, Ernesto Nemesio, and Robert Steele. Each year brings a different set of experiences because of the weather, selected locations, and other circumstances, and this trip was no exception. We hiked in as clouds were building up and ended up in a thunderstorm for the last few hours of the hike. We finally arrived at the campsite in the late afternoon, put up our tents in a downpour, then all crawled inside and slept for a few hours, emerging later to eat dinner in the dark. We hit a pattern of afternoon rain and thunder for most of the week, so most of our productive hours took place from sunrise to mid-afternoon, before we had to beat a retreat to our tents.

Edge of the Pond, by Bill Cone, pastel

"All the plein air paintings resulting from this trip have been pinned up in my studio for a few weeks, so most have benefited from a fair amount of touchup/repair/cleanup. When I was up in the mountains, I felt pretty limited at times regarding my color choices when faced with certain lighting conditions. Backlit trees in warm morning light, and distant blue shadows in a certain value range were two recurring lighting setups. I was aware of it up there, and it was evident when I got my work home. I needed to knock down certain saturated hues, and also add more complexity and variety of color to some areas. Maybe if we had painted more at different times of day I wouldn't have felt constrained as much. I did a lot of morning paintings."

Garnet Shore, by Bill Cone, pastel

To read Cone's complete account and see more of his paintings, visit his blog at http://billcone.blogspot.com/2012/09/sierra-packtrip-2012.html.