2007

22 x 40"

The Sierra Nevada crest in the Mt. Whitney region, seen from the Alabama Hills on January 1, 1991.

My best friend and I were coming home from a road trip to Zion. We stopped in the south end of the Owens Valley, which defines the eastern limit of the Sierra Nevada. The Alabama Hills lie between Lone Pine and the Sierra; organic heaps of heavily weathered rust-colored rock. I put my camera on a tripod, lined it up on Mt Whitney (about fifteen miles away) and made a 15 minute time exposure. The moon had risen a while earlier, and the east face of the Sierra was glowing, but our camp and the Alabama Hills were still in the shadow of the White Mountains, which form the far, east side of the Owens Valley.

It's a bit of a paradox - the painting is of a photographic time exposure in which the sky is blue and the scene fully illuminated, but there are star trails and areas of inky blackness. The existence of the star trails requires a fixed, open aperture, plein air painting without blinking for 15 minutes. It's a photographic effect that I've always enjoyed and I've done dozens of times.

The constellation Delphinus is just coming into view in the upper right, and Altair, the brightest star in Aquila, is setting on the lower right.

"Mount Whitney at Sunset", another painting, is from an earlier, solo trip, but is from the exact same viewpoint.

Original available.

Giclee prints available: image sizes are: 16 1/2 x 30" (75%) and 11 x 20"(50%)