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Ben and I took a scenic drive up to 10,000 ft. above sea level today, where I rather expertly got the car perched upon a patch of snow. Both drive wheels ever so slightly off the ground. It was masterful if I do say so myself.

It is now 10:52pm, we are in the White River National Forest, it is remote, about eleven miles above the valley floor (by dirt road). I saw two vehicles on the road as we drove today. Hopefully, S•O•M•E•body will come along in the morning and push us off this twelve foot long patch of snow.

Have I learned a V•A•L•U•E•A•B•L•E lesson? Yes, I think so. When one is stuck…anywhere…it is a wonderful time to clip an alpine pine cone from a tree and sketch it.

The tank is full of gas, temp. Is 46°F. Sweet Dreams…

It’s quiet up here. Really, really, Q•U•I•E•T.

My ears ring. I never knew that…

UPDATE: Sure enough, a single soul in a pickup truck came by the following morning about 9:30am and in a few short minutes I was free to hightail it home. Ben slept like a log in the car during this ordeal, as all dogs do. I hardly slept. Around 8:00am next morning I had given up hope and called a wrecker…for $500! Then this guy came along about an hour later. So I was able to cancel the wrecker and only pay for the time and travel up to that point…$125. All this by trusty cell phone of course…albeit with one bar for the signal!

By all accounts, I got off cheap and lucky. This time of year, few people travel into the highlands. I could have waited ten hours or even stayed another night…not something I was willing to risk. A Ford Focus is a nice car, but not a vehicle for sleeping in

All in all, I wasn’t very wise on this little adventure to gather material for sketching, painting, and the like. So lessons were learned indeed.

No more challenging those remote, rascally, innocent looking, highlands snow patches for me…at least not in a regular sedan

I-70 Abandoned Silo

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Rural America is fascinating. You come across scenes and objects that can only be described as “unusual”. In a city, structures that are no longer of use are either torn down and replaced, or repurposed for a new use. But in rural America, things are just abandoned. Usually, Mother Nature finds a way to “use” them.

I can only surmise that this grain silo was abandoned while 3/4 full of grain…or some other organic material suitable for growing cottonwood trees. It’s masonry, so in another hundred years, it may collapse and the trees will again call Terra Firma home.

For now though, it is a testament to the ever changing lives of humans and the need for structures to suit the need of the moment. Big ideas gone some other direction.

I wonder if the builder is aware it is now a very large vase?

Chattahoochee River Birches Study

I found this while looking through a box of old sketches. I remember the day I did this. I was slowly floating down the Chattahoochee, north of Atlanta, in a little fishing kayak. I didn’t catch anything but I did get a couple of sketches done. Of those, this one was my favorite. It captures a slow rolling Southern river bank pretty much anywhere in the Southland.

Express Yourself

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Remember, if you will, the sound of a fire engine siren. oooooOOOOOOOOoooooo…starts low, increases, then tails off. Remember? And also recall that ambulance and police sirens are not like that. Now that you have that in mind, get this:

The only thing that makes Ben howl is a fire engine siren. I dunno why, but if a fire engine goes by with siren blaring, he will drop what he’s doing, or wake from a dead sleep, go into another place in his mind, and howl like there’s no tomorrow.

And on pitch no less!

Alway Have a Couple of Toys

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Mr. Squeaky. It is amazing to me how quickly Ben can go from sound asleep to chasing my hand around the perimeter of his head, simply because I squeaked his squeaky toy.

Instantaneous is the word.

From snore to woof in two heartbeats.

It takes me two hours…

Arches National Park Panorama

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Catching up on travel paintings from back in February. I’ll sprinkle them in among the usual stuff.

Arches National Park Watercolor Painting

I thought y’all might like to see yesterday’s sketch reborn as a 5×7 watercolor painting.

If anyone is interested in purchasing it, send me an email using the “email me” link in the menu bar at top. I always paint with professional materials so it’s archival quality…140lb. watercolor paper; artist grade paints. Make me an offer…don’t be bashful…I’m easy   High prices are for galleries and auction houses. I’d rather know it goes to someone who simply likes it and will enjoy having it

I’ll even ship it for free, how’s that for a fair deal eh?

Arches National Park

Huge stones perched high on delicate pedestals. Enormous walls of layer upon layer of sediment packed and hardened under the weight of each successive layer…then revealed by erosion…the weaker layers succumbing more rapidly.

All over millions of years. One realizes how fast and tiny our own existence is in comparison to these symbols of patience. I think about what it means to truly wait on something to happen…

Bluffs On The Roaring Fork

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I’ve been looking at these vertical bluffs that line both sides of the valley where I live. The sun hits these particular ones just right in the evening and lights up one side with a warm glow.

Today I thought I would make a first pass at studying them with watercolor. I’ll probably do this a few times so I can get really familiar with the scene and whatever it is in it that seems to draw my attention.

I think it’s the randomness of it all…