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.
Well, Coni and I took off to the Snowy Range and stayed the night in the cute little town of Centennial. This is a picture of Coni and I cleaning up to head out as the sun was lowering in the sky.
The Friendly Store is a cute little gas station and convenience store right next to our hotel in Centennial.
This is where we stayed in Centennial- The Old Corral- we really enjoyed this place - the rooms were perfect.
A Picture of Patrice Walker and I after a hard day's work. Patrice found us painting by Mirror Lake and we went painting up Brooklyn Lake road after that.
This is the painting completed up the Brooklyn Lake Road. The views were astounding- makes you want to start singing the theme to "The Sound of Music." Don't worry - I didn't.
