Catawaba Falls 3

One more photo of the incredible color- which Brooke took. This was 2/3 of the way up the climb at the Lower Falls. A pic of nancy and I at the base... a photo of Nancy and Brooke beside a cave that had a small waterfall in it- there are little falls everywhere you look at the top. And a pic of nancy and Brooke near the entrance. A great day.

More Catawaba Falls

You know four photos cannot do justic to this place. Actually I've got dozens but I'll stick to the main topics which was the two falls. First one is of Spot and Brooke at the top of the Lower Falls. Again the color is off the charts- but just imagine if the water was up. This is where I accidently dropped my camera in the water-but it still works- WHEW- it didn't go under. Next pic is from the top of the first set of falls just past where Brooke was setting. Next is a pic from the base of the Lower falls before we climbed up- just imagine if the water level was normal- 2x the amount of water you see here. Finally we ended at the Upper Falls which was spectacular. That was as far as we could go that day- but I will return- and the offer is open to anyone who wants to go with us...and Spot.

catawaba falls in Fall

What a great day hiking! The color and the weather was AWESOME!! We even had a guide dog named Spot. There is a house where we park at the end of the road and this dog lives there. So as we hiked up he went with us- which we thought was pretty cool. Spot ran circles around us. Eventually we read his collar which said he was a guide dog. Cool. He constantly went ahead, on and off the trail but he would always return back to us- always kept us on the correct trail. When we returned we spoke to the owner because we figured this dog had a lot of professional training and I thought the state paid this guy to kept the dog. NOT TRUE. Mr Thomas said Spot just "showed up" one day and "took it upon himself" to lead hikers up and down the Falls. Zero training. Said he gets letters daily from people Spot befriended and guided up to the falls. He was a cool dog- posed for photos and everything. Would not sign autographs or do any endorsements. I understand.

This place is gorgeous in the fall- and the photos simply DO NOT COME CLOSE to the real thing. Just a beautiful hike.

It was great to see Brooke climb the trail that takes you to the top. Nancy did awesome. Great exercise- but I figured Brooke wouldn't do the climb- it's quite dangerous in places- but she was a real trooper. I kept looking up at Nancy and she as so proud of her.

2nd Waterfall

Finished this last week and I feel it is my best effort yet. One thing I did this time around was to paint everything and not to overwork one area before I move to another area. That way (for example) I didn't get to the rocks and realize the colors were off with the background- and have to go back and rework the background to make it match the foreground. This time after I did a complete understudy (bottom pic) then I did a complete lay-in of basic colors over the entire painting (middle pic) to insure everything ties in together color wise. Then I finished the painting (top pic). I also painted looser to get a raw "organic" feel, and thicker with the lighter colors to get added dimension. I also took more license in colors and kept the background darker on the left and less intense and with the woods to the right I avoided putting in the highlights to focus attention to the front by creating more contrast and depth of field. In person, the colors look more intense and vibrant and dimensional.