Leslie Landers

I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to Yosemite on this painting trip. There were torrents of rain driving up to Mariposa and a big road closure between there and the El Portal entrance to the park. My painting buddie and I decided that we would watch the weather and if it was favorable we’d get an early start for the Yosemite entrance on the Fish Camp side. It added an hour to the trip since we were in Mariposa but we were rewarded with a magically sunny spring day that I will remember always.

The thing I most wanted to paint on this trip was branches of blooming dogwood in Yosemite and I got my wish. I found these dogwoods blooming next to Tenaya Creek on the lower creekside trail on the way to Mirror Lake. My painting spot was uncomfortably rocky and still I was in heaven.

I was a bit intimidated by the idea of painting a plein air nocturne on main street in Mariposa. While I was out of my comfort zone, it was fun painting this small slice of the town through the glowing window of the Gypsy Queens Hat Shop.

In this piece, I was drawn to the gentleness of this creek on a perfect spring morning.

One of my goals for this painting trip was to take in the fresh green essence of spring in California. In this piece, I was sitting under an oak tree enjoying the change grass colors. It was a pleasure to observe the variations related to sunlit area vs. the shaded foreground as well as the impact of distance.

I painted this on the bank of Mariposa Creek in spring. The area was thoughtfully sprinkled with lovely wildflowers all of which were California natives.

While I went to a small ranch with a painting group thinking I would be painting horses or goats, it was the blooming prickly pear cactus that captivated me. It was interesting to see the stages of these cactus blooms … bright tangerine orange new blooms fading to light pinks as they ebbed and ending in the development of dark magenta-brown fruit.