Dec 5, 2015 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Poetry Alaskan, To See or Not to See |
From the back yard Looking North to the San Juan Mountains first hard frost, Pagosa Springs, Colorado – October 2015
Every day (that I am not in Alaska), the past 22 years I look to these Mountains out back.
I look at them as if they will move.
In a way they do move.
They move me.
First snow of the year, the view out back looking North to the San Juan Mountains, Pagosa Springs, Colorado – moving into December 2015
Hard to imagine living anywhere without the mountains. I am about to do that for at least a year in Oklahoma. How will I manage without these pillars of grounded strength? We’ll see….
Mar 18, 2014 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Tools-of-the-Trade |
The basic sketch using oil pastels – Clarissa Rizal
I first heard about the beautiful Blanco River Basin from my friend, Nancy Vidal who has lived in Juneau, Alaska for nearly 40 years. When I moved to Pagosa Springs, Colorado 21 years ago, she said her family had a home in the Upper Blanco Basin. In fact, we met a a few folks who still live in the basin who grew up with Nancy and her family. A couple of days ago, I spent an afternoon with Dan in the Basin during a sunny, early Springtime day. Dan enjoyed his time photographing this awesome landscape while I did my very first landscape drawing. Such a fine day!
According to one of the few resident’s perspective of Square Top Mountain in the Blanco Basin, “…this is the front side of the mountain…”
I felt right at home here in the Basin with big mountains, some scarred with barren slopes of glacial markings and others covered with evergreens; the Blanco River ran clear and steady sparkling in the sun like Alaska on a rare sunny day.
The Upper Blanco River; Pagosa Springs, Colorado – when we compare the size of our rivers in Alaska to the size of the rivers here in the Southwest, we are reminded about how big everything is in Alaska.
In 99% of my photographs in my blog entries I do not use Photoshop to enhance colors or change my photographs. I am making note of this herein because the intensity of the blue skies in these photos indeed capture the nature intensity in these photos.
The Hare Ranch, Upper Blanco Basin, Pagosa Springs, Colorado – and yes, folks (especially those of us in the North Country), the sky is really that blue here in the Southwest…!
Supplies for on-site drawing: Nice folding wooden chair, drawing pad, oil pastels, water bottle and chips with a hand-woven basket to stash it all.
I totally forgot I have a portable easel that I could have used; oh well, there will be a next time because I have every intention of doing more “plen-air” landscapes this year! I love being outdoors in beautiful country in great weather, either gathering foods for winter, gathering supplies for weaving and now the bug of creating art images outdoors has gotten under my skin!
Jun 11, 2013 | Acting Out and Musical Chairs, Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Honoring Others, Showing Off |
Though they’ve have known one another for over 35 years, Clarissa and Lis have never played music together until this evening at the “Open Mike” sponsored by Pagosa Brewing Company owned by friend Tony Simmons – David Chambers is on the congas – photos by Dan Shanks
Our sons have been friends since they were two years old; mothers and sons met at the co-op preschool in Juneau, Alaska. Lis has been a celtic musician her entire adult life and has produced many concerts bringing Irish music to Juneau. I used to play music in my early adult life until I began having children; the house was too small to practice and play because it would wake up the kids; it wasn’t until after my kids grew up and I divorced that I finally had the time to play again; I took up the ukelele!
Lis on guitar, accompanied Clarissa on ukelele, played 3 songs: a traditional Tlingit song, a Northern rendition of “Jeremy Row the Boat Ashore” and Clarissa’s first song she wrote over a year ago “Shifting Shanks”
Lis came down from Alaska and spent three weeks helping me get certain deadlines done before I returned to Alaska for the Summer. The two of us worked, worked, worked the entire three weeks – While I was finishing a Chilkat robe with the same deadline as all of the work, Lis helped me dye weft yarns, cook bark, split bark, wash warp to make my weaving kits for a class; she helped lay buttons and sew them down on two button robes; she helped weed and water the garden. It was wonderful to have full-time help with the things I would normally do if I didn’t have the time crunch of “getting outa Dodge” on time!—I’ve always said that women need a wife; a woman like myself definitely needs one full time all the time. When I make enough steady money (hahaha!), I will have a steady wife! — Playing this open mike together was about the only “free time” thing that Lis and I had time for! Lucky us!
Two friends of mine who had never met until this evening: Lis Saya and John Tarbet enjoy the last act of the evening.
Celtic guitarist Lis Saya, accordian and saxaphone player John Tarbet, ukelele-ist Clarissa Rizal and guitarist Dan Shanks watched all the acts to the very end at the Open Mike; that’s why they are acting like this…!