Thursday, May 10, 2012

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Mount Chocorua

New Hampshire Scenes: Chocorua, from multiple angles!

Mount Washington may be the highest peak in the Presidentials, and in the Northeast where it has earned its reputation for the worst weather in the world.
BUT!   Mount Chocorua is the iconic peak, complete with a lake to provide artists with the perfect scenes, changing with the season and the mood of the day... 
The White Mountain Painters did indeed spend hours on the shores of Chocorua Lake. 

Silver Mist  9X12 oil
At least one WM Painter, William Champney, evidently spent time on the mountain itself, since he has a trail named after him, the Champney Falls Trail, and it is with him, and any other hiking/climbing adventurers that I take my cue.

I love the variety on mountain trails, so changeable from bottom to top, and even more so if it is possible to follow a different trail top to bottom. And so with Chocorua. 
Autumn Glow 9x12 oil


Chocorua Peak from Liberty Trail   9X12 oil
The rocky peak, visible from distances, was no disappointment. Slabs of rock with greater and lesser cracks and crevasses, supported trees, creating the bands of greens seen from a distance. Switchbacking up the mountain and traversing the top(we went up Brook Trail and down Liberty), we found, as is often the case, more than that classic "peak." We found two humps, actually, with a bit of a saddle between the peak and its subsidiary. 
Brook Trail to Chocorua Summit   8x10 oil

The enduring highlight for me was the slabs themselves. The greenish pinkish cast sometimes seen from a distance is the classic decorative lichen. And climbing, sometimes hand over hand, seeing lichen up close and personal, it is even more exquisite, more varied, and for the artist in me, more challenging to paint then one can imagine. 
Lichen, like lace on the slabs





Definitely worth the climb.


Visit my website for these and other paintings with a New Hampshire theme: barbaramcevoyartist.com