Thoughts about…

Photo Update and New Artwork

Since it’s a long holiday weekend and reading an essay is probably the last thing on anyone’s mind right now, I decided to take a break from writing one this month 🙂

Instead, I offer some landscape photos of the Lake Tahoe region and its wonderful birds, as well as a look at my new series of artwork that I’ve been creating.

June was a relatively quiet birding month for the Tahoe Big Year. This is due to most birds sticking close to home (near nesting site) to incubate and feed their young. So I only logged 5-6 new species last month. But that seemed to be par for the course for everyone else participating in the big year. That said, there was some minor shuffling of the Top 18 birders – what I could fit in a screenshot 🙂

Visit the official TBY website to see the current top 5 contenders.

Earlier this spring, the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science (TINS) put out a press release regarding the recent comeback of Sandhill Cranes in the Tahoe region. The notice was part informational and part word of caution. Essentially, Sandhill Cranes were hunted out of the area decades ago (apparently they’re good eating – yikes), but there have been a handful of nesting pairs that have begun to make Lake Tahoe their homes over the past decade. And since they’re making a comeback here in Tahoe, TINS wanted to encourage people to learn about them but to recreate responsibly in the areas in which they’re nesting (i.e. keep dogs on leash, avoid disturbing the Cranes if you see them…).

Lots of regional news agencies picked up the story because it is a “feel good” type of story. So, posted below is one of those articles about Sandhill Cranes returning to Lake Tahoe. However, with this particular one, I provided photos and was interviewed (along with other people) 🙂

One of the side projects that I’ve been working on this season is a series of mini-paintings to sell in the gift shop at my summer job. Essentially, I need to make some extra money to cover the cost of that camera lens I bought earlier this season – haha!  Well, that’s part of the reason. Honestly, I’ve wanted to create art to sell in the shop for years but I’ve just never got around to it so that lens was reason enough to start!

These paintings are watercolor with pen & ink detailing. They’re really small at roughly 2×3 inches, and they come with a simple frame. The frames are actually designed for a contemporary type of Polaroid photo, but they work perfectly in this application. I just hope that the company that makes the frames never goes out of business because they appear to be the only company that does make them 🙂

If you’ve been following me over the years you’d know that historically I’ve produced some relatively larger paintings. For example, I used to create art that was upwards of 4×8 foot in size. But who has the wall space for something that huge? And the money to buy it? And if I don’t sell it, where do I put it? So I’ve progressively created smaller and smaller artwork in recent years to make things simpler and more affordable for everyone, including myself.

Most of these first 30 paintings (below) have already sold, and I don’t yet have a vehicle to sell them outside of the gift shop. But I’ll work on that and, hopefully, by next month I’ll have an answer for those of you who might be interested in buying one (or more) of them.

Lastly, I didn’t put much effort into documenting these which is why the photos don’t look pristine. This is intentional, however, as I don’t want to make “prints” of them nor do I want anyone else. Not that I believe anyone would actually steal my art, but in this day and age where businesses harvest online imagery for use in their AI engines, you never know…

I made the effort to publish an outdoor vlog last month. This one is unique in that I spent the day participating in three different sports that, up until now, would be considered atypical for me. They included kayaking, roller skiing, and mountain biking.

As you’ve probably figured out by now, I mostly just hike or cross-country ski. But in this case I wanted to do three different activities that required some specific “vehicles” other than just my feet. I realize that roller skiing is the summer equivalent of xc skiing, but it’s definitely different 🙂

Thanks for being a part of my life. Until next time…

-Jared Manninen

Tahoe Trail Guide is an online resource for hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing in the Lake Tahoe region. In addition to trail data, I offer backcountry “how-to” articles and information about the local and natural history of Tahoe. Tahoe Swag is a collection of art and design products I create based on my love of the outdoors and appreciation for Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra Nevada Mountains.

If you like any of the images I post in these newsletters, please contact me. I’d be more than happy to upload them to my RedBubble account so that you can order prints and other merchandise featuring the images.

A Note about Patreon and PayPal…

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