Is this cheating?

The road to Old Faithful just opened this weekend, so I took my paints (and my son) and headed in.

We caught Old Faithful erupting...

 

We had the place pretty much to ourselves, except for this fellow spectator...

 

 

The light wasn't great in the Upper Geyser Basin, so we decided to head back and find a good painting spot along the way.

We saw a lot of wildlife - including a brand new bison calf!...

A sandhill crane pair...

Pronghorn herd....

 

A swan on the Firehole River...

 

And many ravens along the way....

 

 

When we got to Willow Flats the colors caught my eye, but now it was snowing sideways. The snow doesn't bother me, but the wind can make it just about impossible to paint in.

Sooooo...   I painted from the shelter of my car. That's my pochade box against the steering wheel. I stayed toasty warm and the wind didn't bother me a bit!

 

My finished study of Willow Flats - against the steering wheel!...

 

Our Yellowstone Zoo

- photos from our property -

 

 

Before we left for Old Faithful we had an otter here on the river shore. Always fun to watch.