More Work in Progress

Above is a quick snapshot of my studio desk.  I wanted to let you know that more large works, based off my sketches and photos of my cross country is on the way.  Above, you can see a shore scene developing - this is based off my exploration of the village of Westport, in northern California.  The visit in Westport was with Dad during the first week in August.

My biggest challenge so far with this painting is being reasonably accurate with the rocks.  The sunlight casting shadows on the landscape form right to left make the rocks feel dark, but I fear I've made them too dark for the project.  Anyway, I will continue to experiment and add layers of paint.  The painting is currently in oil so it take a while to dry between sittings.

That's all for now!

New Work!

Bryce Canyon Storm, oil on canvas, 24" x 36"

It's been a long time coming, but I finally completed a oil painting from my visit to Bryce Canyon National Park.  The painting illustrates the summer thunderstorms that develop during the heating of the day over the interior mountains of the southwest.  On the first day I visited, I got into the park and only had about an hour of sunlight before the storms took over for most of the day.  Everyone had to stick it out sitting in their cars for several hours before the weather cleared later in the afternoon.  This experience made me want to illustrate the few fleeting moments of sunlight beaming down on the canyon "hoodoos" formations before the storm clouds rolled in.

A Few Extra Views From The Road

 Bryce Canyon, UT

 Badlands National Park, SD

 Westport, CA

 The Washington Coast

Mt. Rainier

I still have to go dig out all the cool license plates for my next post!

9717 Miles Later...

A quick note that I safetly arrived home Sunday evening the 19th.  Please continue to check back to the blog over the next few weeks as I will be sorting through all the material I collected and passing along some more unique knowledge and images from my adventure!

Journey Back East

After doing a "fast and furious" tour through the southwest, it was time to make steady progress home to the East Coast.  The first stop was back in the Rockies in Aspen, CO.  I stayed with family friends Jane & Tony - thanks you!  They showed me around town and made sure I saw Maroon Bells, one of the most photographed group of mountains in the Rockies - mainly because there is a perfectly sited lake ideal for giving great reflections of the landscape when the air is still.  It was a little cloudy and misty the morning I was there, but it was only 50 Degrees, chilly compared to the 90s and 100s I'd been in during the prior days.

I had to drive up through the Rockies over the Continental Divide after staying in Aspen.  On my way up, the road paralleled a stream, thus allowing a convenient valley for the road to be built, and some great photo opportunities for me.  A constant struggle I've had throughout this trip is the desire to get out of the car every ten minutes and take a photo - it's amazing I covered any ground at all!  There were a few switchbacks heading up the mountains, but I was fortunate enough to run into any Winnebego RVs coming in the opposite direction.

Kansas City

Kansas City has a lot more to it then just it's name.  First, all those Hallmark Card you buy at the supermarket originate from the Hallmark Company headquartered in Kansas City.  Second, and I learned this myself over the past year, there are some truly gracious and unique neighborhoods in Kansas City, especially around  America's first suburban shopping district, Country Club Plaza.

That's right, this photo you see above is looking out across the Spanish influenced Country Club Plaza and the J C Nichols Memorial Fountain.  It was the founding vision of J C Nichols, the developer of the plaza in the 1920s that started the plaza from swampland that bordered the southern part of downtown Kansas City.  The Giralda Bell Tower pictured here is a half size version of the original from Seville, Spain.  Along with leading designer stores, there are numerous fountains, sculptures, and unique architectural details making the entire district a unique place to stroll around. 

I first learned about the plaza a year ago when I was asked to do a commissioned watercolor poster for the Urban Land Institute (ULI).  ULI is a public policy organization concerned with real estate development, and they hold a yearly competition asking graduate students from top universities to submit plans to re-develop an urban site in the U.S. I was responsible for designing the competition poster - the Gerald D. Hines/ULI Urban Design Competition.  The group asked that I use Country Club Plaza as the background for the 2012 competition.  Here's the poster below:

St. Louis

I has always wanted to see the Gateway Arch in person in St. Louis, MO along the Mississippi River.  I realize for me it was the "gateway home" rather than going west but I can say with confidence the photos and postcards don't do it justice.  The monument is HUGE!  You really have to stand underneath it in the park to understand the great feat of engineering that took place when it was built from 1963 - 65.  Underneath the arch is the very informative Museum of Westward Expansion that describes the journey of Lewis and Clark when they rafted up the Mississippi and then Missouri River in search of the Northwest Passage.  I particularly liked reading the direct quotes from the two explorer's notebooks.

The former train station in St. Louis was also a surprise, it's a beautiful red tiled Romanesque inspired site, and luckily it was saved and turned into a hotel (it's a Marriot) rather than torn down. 



A Few More Western Thoughts

My favorite park to visit when doing my fast southwestern tour was Bryce Canyon in southern Utah.  As you can see from the picture above, it looks like there are hundreds of little orange and sand colored spikes - kind of like the "dribble castles" you can make with fine wet sand at the beach.  These formations are actually called "hoodoos" and they are the result of erosion of the sand + limestone.  Although Bryce doesn't get a lot of rain, the combination of rain, frost and time have shaped these cathedral like spires.  And better yet, unlike the Grand Canyon, it only takes about a 1/2 hour to walk down into the canyon from select areas in the park.

Funny Story...

For my trip from San Francisco to Utah, I let the GPS do most of the work ( I do cross check the map briefly to make sure the GPS hasn't sent me off on a unpaved or side road).  After spending the night in Tonopah, I was on my way out to southern Utah when I turned onto route 375 South in Nevada.  All of a sudden my GPS announced - "Travel 99 Miles on the Extraterrestrial Highway."  I thought this was some sort of mistake, there hadn't even been a sign at the intersection.  I pulled over and reset the GPS to make sure I heard it correctly.  I drove 50 miles before I got to this sign in Rachel, NV - sure enough I was on the Extraterrestrial Highway that parallels Area 51 to the southwest - cool!

Will be doing a few more posts about the journey home - making a few more stops in the Midwest before arriving home!  Can't believe seven weeks are almost done!

Watercolors from the West!

I wanted to post two watercolor sketches from my last few days in the southwest.  More about my trip will follow.  The top one is of the North & South Window Arches in Arches National Park in Moab, UT.  The bottom is an evening view of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.