From our trip to Capitol Reef last June (the same show as this piece)! All of them were on location sketches i.e. done in a half hour or less, because after a half hour, your butt is too sore from sitting on a rock to draw anymore without changing location.
These sketches and paintings just came back to me from the Show-master.
The theme for the trip was, "A Private Experience in a Public Space". Most of the artists would fan out whenever we stopped and set up a temporary art camp. I loved sneaking up on them while they were drawing/painting. Seeing them in the wild like that seemed to epitomize the theme for me.
Why do people like things that make them feel small?
One of my fellow animators asked that while driving in. It colored my thoughts for the whole trip.
Desert clouds are gorgeous! I wish the texture showed up more in the scan. The clouds on this day were fluffy and rolling but all very low (except for the rebel up above). It gave us the best of both worlds: clear, blue sky, and occasional shade from the sun.
^ The colors in this were too light to for my scanner so they look a bit grainy her. But the original is watercolor and gouache.
We drove and hiked all over that park on the second day. Thus, I developed a somewhat...bumpy approach.
Sometimes we stopped driving long enough for me to paint a smooth line.
The sharp shadows on the rocks are some of the most beautiful things on Earth. This peak was near Devil's Tower, I think. We spent to morning scrambling all over the rocks and hills in this area.
A sunrise.
On the last day, we walked through a dried up river bed. The pebbles and sand on the riverbed made it difficult to walk but we saw some great shapes as hewn by the water and the wind.
The road home.
2 comments:
We live in such an oddly beautiful place. And down there - even more so. What a gift to be able to capture that shape and line - I try with my camera, but it's better to do it with your hand, I think. Then the thing is spiritually rendered - and the result is like a salty taste on the tongue. Color also. We work so hard to capture things - to trap our memories on paper in words, in line - to trap our memories of melody and harmony on tape and in digital codes. You can't trap the warmth of the sun, or that stroke of air moving against your cheek. But you can make me remember the size of the place and my own experience with it.
I wouldn't say it's better. What you do with photos is extremely soul-baring as well. And better at transporting the viewer back to the actual event! I think they're all just forms of journal-writing.
Post a Comment