I find myself craving the open road and wanting to travel and paint, to go to a spot and submerse myself in the study of my surroundings. It's always inspiring and I seem to get a lot of satisfying work done. This all adds to my sense of well being. Creativity and being productive are great ways to feel good about myself and this will probably always be an important part of human life.

I like to paint these small 6x8 studies of my surroundings and by camping in relative luxury (I have a truck camper which has all the amenities), I can get close to the source and I don't have to move, once set up. This recent trip to the southern Sierra Nevada mountains with Jean LeGassick was great and coming home I felt refreshed, renewed and optimistic again after over a year obsessing about Covid 19.

The campsite had views in all directions and finding shade and shelter from the wind using our campers, helped us do a lot of work. Also we could spur each other on to get busy!

It's nice to come home with rough sketches and work on them a bit. They become a travelogue of visual memories.

I love just sitting there in the campsite using "artist eyes" and staring at the patterns in salt bushes or huge boulders, or shadows on mountains. You begin to see more selectively and with more objective eyes. Working small also allows bold blobs of paint to make their appearance without getting fussy. I use these small ones as colors notes and ideas for possible larger works. Sometimes, they're the finished product on their own, just to enjoy.

This painting was begun in 2019 and I brought it with me on this trip to try to figure out how to finish it. I got many new ideas and immediately knew what I had to do to make it work. The colors of the distant Inyo Mountains became the focus of the painting so I knew the color needed to be right on. I hope we can now all get back to traveling and painting our favorite spots and getting inspiration from Mother Nature. Check out the video for a view of all the paintings in a pile.

Camp and Paint! A recent trip to California post-Covid

 I finally got vaccinated and the travel itch began.  My painting friend Jean LeGassick talked me into a truck camper about 25 years ago and we’ve been meeting up for creative campouts every year since then.  2020 was the exception. We all sheltered in place and worked on studio paintings, trying to be safe and stop the spread of the Corona virus.

After we both felt safe to travel again, we decided to meet  up near Lone Pine, CA in the fabled  Alabama Hills, a strangely eerie and beautiful place full of gigantic boulders scoured and eroded into odd shapes that artists love to paint.

I travelled from Arizona to Las Vegas and then through Death Valley crossing two or three mountain passes to get to the Owens Valley. This part of the Valley, near Lone Pine is dominated by Lone Pine Peak and directly adjacent Mr. Whitney, highest point in California. 

We found an excellent camping site with 360 degree views. It wasn’t difficult to find something to paint. Jean brought her dog Toby with her and he had remembered me  from prior years. We had our work cut out for us and lots of catching up to do.

The views were spectacular and the silence was incredible. A nearby raven’s nest provided entertainment and the night sky  was wonderful. We were close to having a full moon, so it seemed like our night vision was increasingly bright. There was almost a complete lack of cell service, which included any data, so news headlines could not come through nor could the internet. It was good to just immerse ourselves in the present experience. We solved many of the world’s problems and hashed over our histories. It was a great trip and the advantage of camping is that you are there for the sunrise, and the sunset and the moonlight, with no need to rush home.