Exploring the North Cascades

 Ross Lake, N. Cascades National Park

Matt and I just moved to Seattle, Washington for his exciting new job as the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Coordinator at the US Forest Service. We were excited to get out on our first trip to explore the area. Matt took these beautiful landscape shots... Check out more of his photography here and here.

 Canyon Creek

Coming from Colorado where the mountains are upwards of 13- or 14,000 feet, it seems odd to be in the midst of the Cascades where elevations are often lower than 8,000 feet. But, don’t let the lower elevations fool you, these are some steep, rocky mountains!

There are waterfalls and wildflowers everywhere! Check out some of my favorite wildflowers from our earlier adventures here. We also saw tons of roses and wild strawberries growing along the trails.

 Tiger Lily

 I think this might be a penstemon,but I don’t know what kind.

Flowers in Snowmass, Colorado

I spent last week making art at Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass, Colorado. Late June is the perfect time to spend some time high up in the Rocky Mountains. The weather is spectacular and the flowers are unbeatable.

These poppies were planted near the spot I chose for my daily meditations. Their scarlet color caught my eye every time I walked by . . . breathtaking!

I saw numerous varieties of Columbines, like this peachy-yellow one above, and this rich violet one below.

 

This is the traditional Colorado Columbine, the state flower. These flowers are so delicate and short-lived. They are truly a testament to the beauty and fragility of life!

And finally, I had never seen lupine in this shade of pink before. I have typically seen the silver, purple, and yellow ones in the wild. I’m amazed by the color variants found within one species.

Next week, we’ll begin exploring all new flora and fauna in our new home-state of Washington, see you then!

Anderson Ranch + Critique Workshop / Part 5

My final presentation at Anderson Ranch this week was really minimal and simplified. I narrowed down my concept so that the work would be more specific, yet also more open-ended.

I wrote up a mission statement to describe what I wanted my work this week to be about. It all boils down to this:

My work is about the material body plus the mental/emotional space that partners with physical embodied experience. It has a voice that is powerful but not aggressive.

I had worked all week trying to do too much within each individual piece I was making (especially the Stuffed Blue Heart). I wanted to strip away any extraneous visual information and leave only the essence of the physical/emotional experience in the heart center.

Each piece spills out from the wall at about chest-height, and is about 6x6 inches square.

I have about 1,000 ideas on ways to expand and build on this concept. I never thought about doing sculpture before now, and suddenly it’s all I can think about!

I hope I will be able to attend many more Critique Workshops at Anderson Ranch in the future. This was an amazing experience that has changed my work forever.