Loch Vale

Loch Vale

Well I finally was fortunate enough to make the trip up to the Loch. This is something I have been wanting to do for years.  The hike is rather easy but is 3.1 miles up and if you are carrying a soltek easel in your pack among other things, you better be in decent shape to make the trip up and back.  Oh and the hike is beautiful!  Alberta Falls was on the way and was simply amazing.  We reached the Loch at about 10 am and set up the easels and I started to paint right away.  Dave played his flute for awhile- nice! and the small fattest in the world chipmunks tried to raid the backpacks.

Me, Dawn Normali, David Montgomery, and Coni Grant

Yours truly and Coni Grant

Coni and Dawn left for awhile and one chipmunk was trying to raid a baggie of nuts so I hid them inside of Dawn's backpack. He just climbed right in and started cleaning house.  I ran over and he wouldn't leave so I smacked him on his hindquarters with the back of my paintbrush and he finally resigned himself to defeat. When we ate lunch, he was back in full force- I gave him a cracker- I guess I was feeling a little guilty for popping him with my brush.  I have never seen such aggressive chipmunks EVER!

This is a small study that I made of the Loch- didn't spend much time on it - just enough to get color notes to use for future larger paintings. The hike was just as beautful going down and the whole time I felt like a turtle that was about to tip over.

My web page is www.susanmccullough.com - I have many paintings on this site- check it out!