DAY 22

 

"Run for Cover" 

 11x14" Oil on Canvas

Today is the halfway mark of our sabbatical. We have officially been living on the road in this little pop-up for three weeks today. The time is going by so quickly but we still have lots more to see, paint and write about. Today's painting above is a scene right outside my window as I sit here. It rained a lot yesterday, last night and again this morning, the sky dark and threatening most all the time. This painting reflects the changes in color and mood. The farthest mountains have been barely visible, and the entire valley is covered in a ghostly fog, hovering overhead like a filmy white muslin sheet. It has been a perfect time to paint but a bit difficult from inside the camper. To give you an idea of how small the space is here is a photo of what it looks like on the inside. I took this photo from on top of the bed at the farthest end, looking across to the other side. The entire length is about 15' by 7' wide when fully open. I have to sit my easel case on top of the table in the center where our computers usually sit, and paint sitting down. It sure makes a tight squeeze for Dave to move about.

 

The best part of being on a vacation is the ability to stay in and connected to the moment most all the time. The future only seems to pop-up when my stomach starts to growl and I realize that I have to think about finding something to eat, or all the clothes are dirty and I need to find quarters for the washer and dryer. The past only surfaces when I think of all my loved ones whom I miss so dearly, and my daily Mass. However, this lifestyle is so simple and uncomplicated, such a wonderful break from the fast-paced multitasking world I normally live in...or is that really living? It seems so very unreal right now in comparison to how alive I feel....food for thought?...Gotta run make the oatmeal.

DAY 21

"We're Surrounded"

6x6" Oil on Canvas

We're holding up here in Montrose for another day. This is such a beautiful town surrounded by mountains and an ideal spot to paint. We are going to try and find a fishing stream today so Dave can use that fly rod that has been burning a hole in the back of the Xterra. I am excited to paint a mountain stream...that is if it doesn't rain. We had a violent storm last night right in the middle of our game of Scrabble. The pop-up rocked back and forth like we were on the ocean but survived the huge blasts of wind and rain firing down on us from the mountain. We had a few tense moments...at one point I thought we might just end up in Kansas with Dorothy before it was all over.

I struggled with this little painting trying to get the nectarine to actually look like one. It still needs a little work but I am happy with the way the cherries came out. To those of you that follow Carol Marine's daily paintings, she can paint cherries like no body's business. These were on the verge of going bad so thought I'd give it a try before they got pitched. Sorry all the photos of my work are at weird angles. The only way I can get them to come out decent is to hold them upright with one hand under the shade of a tree, and snap the photo with the camera in other hand...not an easy task, especially on slopes.

Here's a couple of photos from the RV Park that I snapped at my "magic time of day" yesterday. Magic time (for me) is that early evening time, right before the sun starts pulling down the shades, when everything in the landscape is seen in high contrast, flooded in a warm golden light that casts these elongated pools of cool shadows all around. It is magnificent!!! I think I love this time of day even more than sunrise. The gift of sight has to be the best gift of them all!!!

DAY 20

"Silverton Hillside" 

11x14" Oil on Canvas

The hills are alive with the sounds of rustling aspen leaves, icy streams rushing by in the last run off of winter snows, cries of a raven soaring overhead, and the mighty thunder of the forests. We drove some very narrow and scary mountain roads with sheer drop offs in second gear all the way, snaking up, down and around these twisting treacherous two lane highways from Durango into the old mining town of Silverton with its infamous train ride. After lunch we continued the roller coaster ride into Ouray (prounced oo-ray). The roadside sign might give you some indication of  bone chilling leg of this journey. Silverton must have gotten its name from others arriving from over the mountain range, who probably also yelled out in jubilation, "hooray we made it!" I have never felt so glad to arrive anywhere. I even had to close my eyes around all the hairpin turns, sure must have worn my guardian angel out with all my petitions for protection.

We are now in a luxury 8 Star RV Park in Montrose, CO that has all the hookups for water, electricity, and sewer ...Whew, we are living high on the hog now!!!  There is an amazing Aspen right outside my side of the bed/4" thick mattress who sang to me all night with the voice of what sounded like, an Indian rainstick as light rain softly danced on the canvas overhead. We'll stay here again tonight before continuing on toward Grand Junction and Jackson Hole, WY.

I wouldn't have been able to blog on this trip without the help of my very cool energy charger which I found at Radio Shack before we left Conroe. I can charge my camera, computer, and cell phone all at the same time in the extra cigarette lighter not being used by the GPS!!! I wonder why cars have cigarette lighters anymore? They need to be re-marketed as techy- booster bars. Another great device has been a $12 compact flash read/write drive. I can download all my photos onto my computer in an instant while riding down the highway, and have them all Photoshoped, named and filed by the time we arrive at our next destination. Its so very time efficient, leaving me time to paint once we get the pop-up cranked up and the sleeping bags rolled out. It's the not-so-simply things in life that allow us to enjoy the simple things? ... sounds like an oxymoron to me?

DAY 17 & 18

Heading north on Hwy. 84, we left Santa Fe setting our sites on Pagosa Springs, Durango and Mesa Verde, Colorado. The highway is a beautiful drive right through Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch tucked away in Georgia's beloved terracotta mountains, all peppered with desert scrub, reminding me of three-day stubble on the slopes of ruddy cheeks and chin. I remember as a child drawing that same kind of beard on my Etch-A-Sketch. It's no wonder Georgia was willing to endure so many hardships in the early 1900s living alone in those high canyon walls. A short drive further, on through high cliffs that look as if they were sculpted with a chisel and buffed smooth with fine pumice to display distinctive colored layers of strata like towering confections at the stiff-peak stage of seven minute icing.

Over the last tall ridges of New Mexico, as if by magic, we coast into new landscapes. The scrub brush is now replaced by viridian walls of towering pines above valleys of lush lime-green farmland, and pastures dotted with livestock. Black Eyed Susans line the edges of the highway brightening our path. The mountains on all sides have turned from warm earthy tones of burnt sienna and ochre into cool misty blues that soften into periwinkle purples in the distance. We are now in the southwest corner of Colorado... back to the Rockies I knew from my college days.

My photos were all taken out the window going 60 mph, so bear with me here but I think your will get a glimpse of what I am trying to describe. Dave hates to stop while towing the trailer so I have to make do with the blur. I didn't get to paint yesterday since we were on the road most of the day, and then I was unable to post (until today the 18th) since there was no Wifi, water or electric hookups in our primitive campground high up in the canyons of Mesa Verde.

It was great sleeping last night, 60 degrees under a half moon and millions of galaxies of stars and planets. All night long I could hear the quiet hooves of elk nibbling on the tall grasses and wildflowers around our camper.

This morning we will be hiking and touring some of the numerous ancient cliff dwellings of the Puebloan people who first settled here 2,200 years ago. I hope to paint later this afternoon but have been painting miles of canvas on my mind. I believe when artists are creating, no matter what the genre, God is using us as His instruments to play and have fun in our world...I sure love being one of His brushes.