Patterns on my Mind

Ooh, do I ever have patterns on my mind. Being out in nature, camping does that to me every time. I see patterns everywhere, and they get all my worn-out creative synapses snapping again And looky here it is the middle of August, and I haven't done anything for the Self Portrait Challenge which is all about patterns.

I took this photo of the rock dome at the Olmstead Point view turnout on the Tioga Road. The pattern on the rock just amazed me. I think I will make a screen or stamp out of it for printing purposes. Tioga Road or Highway 120 is closed during the winter months, it is at such a high altitude and gets so much snow they don't bother plowing it at all. So once you are finally up there driving around, you realize how crazy it was to even make the road in the first place! I'm glad it is there though, since I don't think I could make the backpacking trip that it would require to get from Yosemite Valley (4000ft elevation) up the Toulumne Meadow area (8400ft elevation!).

Then I combined it with a photo of me sitting on the shore of Lake Tenaya taken by my son, Zach. This is my absolute favorite lake in the whole world. The water is cold (of course, it is snow melt!), but so clear, and no yicky decomposing stuff on the bottom of the lake. I think not much lives in it compared to lower elevation lakes. The sandy beach is all granite sand which is different feeling than most beaches one goes to. Also there is a steady wind, coming up from Yosemite Valley, so there are continuous, small, very quick waves. Think of the ocean as a grown-ups' heartbeat compared to a babies' heartbeat.

I was really bummed that I forgot my swim suit, otherwise I would have gone in, cold or no cold.

I'm proud of myself that I figured out Photoshop Elements enough to do this! A little fiddling and concentration was all it took.