Alpine Painting for the Schulman Grove | Larry Eifert

Â* (both these imagesÂ*should enlarge if you click them) This week I finished the first of three paintings for the new Schulman Grove Visitor Center near Bishop California.Â*BelowÂ*are the sketches, pinyon forest on the left, bristleconeÂ*forest in the middle and the alpine goes on the right. Together they take up an entire wall of the new building and both doors are lined up to showcase the paintings when you walk in the place, a beautiful new off-grid summer visitor center located in the Schulman Grove at about 10,000′ elevation. The alpine painting shows 14,252′ White Mountain in the background,Â*only about 250 feet shy of Mt Rainier and Mt Whitney. <a href="http://www.bestsunglassesoutlet.com/"><strong>Prada Sunglasses</strong></a> The painting’sÂ*locationÂ*is placed several thousand feet lower in a land of belly-plants, marmots and bighorn sheep, but still a landscape of stark light. It was not easy to pull this off, as there are very few resources telling me what grows at this high, dryÂ*and inhospitableÂ*place. With this one behind me, I look forward to the other two coming next along with a series of ink and watercolor images for the other exhibits. As you all know by now, I tend to paint trees. I’m very pleased the Forest Service chose me for this project as Great Basin bristlecone pines are the oldest trees on our planet. I also love these high mountainÂ*tree forests, especially this famous grove. To walk among these ancient and gnarled artisticÂ*sculptures we call trees is to walk with nature far beyond what I can understand. There’s a stark quiet here that sustains my thoughts of these living wonders far beyondÂ*the initial visit. One of them here at <a href="http://www.asunglassesoutlet.com/prada-sunglasses-c-273.html"><strong>Prada Sunglasses</strong></a> SchulmanÂ*has beenÂ*cored to 4750 years of age, a thousand years older than any other known tree species. Other downed bits ofÂ*wood, branches and trunks long dead, have extended these dates back over twice that far and have actually helped rewrite climate history knowledge. But those are just numbers. How do you truly understand any of this when I will be lucky to live less than 1/50th of that? Â*And here I am at this brief momentÂ*of my lifeÂ*trying to create something that will educate some of us aboutÂ*all this. Daunting. Thanks for reading this week. Larry Eifert Click here to go to the online blog this was to. Click here to go to our main website – packed with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff. Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography. <a href="http://www.belt-outlet.com/gucci-belt"><strong>Gucci Belt</strong></a>