Boise By Nature

Using watercolor during one of the last classes This autumn, I took a Fall Botanical drawing class through the City of Boise Parks & Recreation Department. The class was held once a week during September and October, and I think it slipped in during the perfect time period because now we're more hunkered down for the winter and a rise in COVID-19 infections.  We started off drawing just in pencil without any color. The instructor went over shading techniques, the steps to drawing (starting from a general shape and adding detail), and how to show light that is hitting your subject.  Over the weeks, we used colored pencil to bring vibrancy to our drawings, and then experimented with watercolor. I enjoyed the "burnishing" technique of colored pencils, which is going over a completed drawing with a white colored pencil to add shine and light. Watercolor was less precise, and I liked blending the paints into each other in a medium that seemed more forgiving.  Overall, the

Sign on the way into Perjue Canyon   The Owyhee Canyonlands are such a sight to behold, and always a treat! This past weekend, snow and rain was in the forecast in the Treasure Valley, so we decided to venture out to the Owyhees. I was originally attempting to hike the Shoofly Creek Quick Loop as described on Stueby's Outdoor Journal , but somehow missed the last turn-off to the two-track. Just as we were about to turn around to find the two track, we came upon a small parking lot and a sign for the Perjue Canyon trail, so we decided to explore. We hiked about 5 miles of the 8.4 mile out-and-back trail , and were treated to the Frank Perjue cabin and a great trail in a slot canyon, a feature typical of the Owyhees.  The gray sky indicated winter was on the horizon (the next morning it snowed!), and there were only a few other people out. The trees along the creek in the canyon had mostly dropped their leaves, and it was a neat perspective to have rocky canyon walls towering above u