More adVANtures…

When our son and daughter-in-law were here, on their way to their own adventure rafting the Grand Canyon, we took a quick overnight trip up to one of the campgrounds on the Grand Mesa, which overlooks our valley. They stayed in their tent, and we, my husband, Murphy, and I, were in the van.  Like most (or maybe all) of the Mesa campgrounds, there was a lake, which delighted Murphy. While the others took a long hike, I did my small 5x7” acrylic painting of the scene. The watercolor sketch of my daughter-in-law was from a photo my son took. The wildflowers were, again, amazing!

We had already reserved a campsite at another of the Mesa campgrounds for the days after our kids left. Again, Murphy was thrilled to swim in yet another mountain lake. He reminded me of the tapestry I had woven of our last dog swimming in a mountain lake! There was a boat sunken in the lake, and that is what I chose to paint for my 5x7” acrylic ‘memory painting.’ We were so tired from 2 camping trips in a row, we did little else but rest for our time there. It was a lovely place to rest!

Several weeks later, still in July, we went to Ridgeway State Park. Friends were also camping there, so while Craig went for a bike ride with one of them, I had time to paint and sketch. On a short hike, we’d heard an unfamiliar bird call, so I pulled out my phone to have Merlin identify it as an eagle! But as we got closer, we saw that the bird making the sound was not an eagle, but a Raven in the tree above us. As we looked below, there was a young eagle resting on the cliffside. That story so amused me, I had to put it in my sketchbook. 

The morning was foggy, and the distant mountains were indistinct as I painted them from our campsite. But I also wanted a ‘memory painting’ of the eagle, that the Raven imitated, so painted that from the photo I’d taken, as well. Both are 5x7” acrylics on canvas.