Platoro is a reservoir in the San Juan mountains; an extremely remote reservoir. I usually go to up the Alamosa River Canyon to paint, but last Sunday I decided to drive to Antonito, drive up Hwy 17 towards Cumbres Pass, and then turn off toward Platoro.
It was breathtakingly beautiful as I drove up the mountain, but also overwhelmingly green. Greeen!! I stopped at a small place with a wetlands area - absolutely sublime. The reflections of the evergreens, the smell of wild roses wafting in the air and the perfect weather was overwhelmingly beautiful. The only problem was the fact that I couldn't paint it- it was too close to the road and there was a major dropoff to actually see the reflections, etc.. A place that just didn't work for an artist with any type of easel to set up. So I took a picture and went on. I finally arrived to Platoro resevoir and set up- I finished up at about 5 and was ready to drive the long drive home. This is a 14x18.
The picture that I took of the wetlands didn't turn out well at all. I was disappointed.
