Next stop, Alaska!

Did I mention, a long time ago, that I was returning to Alaska as Artist in Residence with the Forest Service? Well, after months spent doing everything but writing in my blog, I am almost ready to head to the great north! I am almost packed, have read everything I could find about the Tongass National Forest, rolled over in my kayak 3 times and practiced rescuing myself and others in a kayaking class, and even watched YouTube videos of the take offs and landings in the Juneau airport. 

Having already spent a week kayaking in the Chugach NF has really has helped me figure out what to bring on this trip, and I've gotten a little more ambitious. This time in addition to a small gouache set, I am bringing acrylics and canvas, and a little lightweight easel, since those lovely Forest Service kayaks can hold an amazing amount. 

I'm expecting I'll be posting from Juneau, since I've now enabled my iphone to capture the internet and deliver it to my laptop, so if I can get a signal you may be hearing from me. Of course I'll be off the grid when in the field, but really, wouldn't you rather be in a field than mapped to a grid?

4 days till lift off!

Packing for Petrified

The Painted Desert Inn, Kachina Point ||  CLICK & SCROLL FOR 360 PANORAMA

Although they haven't said for sure where I'll be staying, I believe one of those little adobe houses to the left of the Painted Desert Inn has my name on the door, and in less than a week I'll be settling in!

With a bunch of other things going on I've been struggling to get ready, but I think I have my art supplies down, thanks to the packing list that I've developed over 9 previous residencies. New this year is my homemade pochade box, which I think will be easier to pack than my old french easel. But though bulky, the french easel was very sturdy, this little box on my spindly tripod might be a different story—thus the string to tie the center post to a rock if needed. The umbrella will be a nice protection from the sun the the exposed terrain, but I that's also what I kind of thought when I bought it for my residency in the Great Sand Dunes. The wind might decide it belongs elsewhere and insist on taking it there. Well, there's always my hat.

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I hear that there's good connection for Verizon in the park, so I should be able to post a daily journal of my adventures. My goal is to settle into my desert abode after a long day of hiking and painting and post photos and updates every evening. I'm also setting up separate blogs for my journals, which will keep things better organized. So check back just in case I actually get it done!

Countdown to Alaska

Looks like the government didn't shut down after all, but at this point it might have been a relief to put it out of its misery. It insists on limping on, however, so rangers will be paid, parks will be open, and I'm still packing for my National Forest Artist Residency in Prince William Sound. I'm also practicing blogging from my iPhone, but am already cheating by editing it on my laptop. In theory I should be able to take photos from my iPhone, write my blog on that tiny little keyboard and post through BlogPress. It actually seemed to work for as long as I could stand working that way, and a download of a Photoshop Lite app solve the photo rotation problem, so I'm good to go. I just need a wifi or verizon connection. That should be no problem in Anchorage, but out in "the field" is another story. So if I suddenly go silent just assume I'm having wild adventures, following grizzly tracks and swimming with killer whales, far, far from civilization. Or 60 miles south of Anchorage. Same thing.

The weather is looking a bit chilly up Whittier way, which is where we launch from, not to mention rainy. But I was warned that it is the rainy season so I'm just going to assume it will be misty and mysterious, which may be another way of saying wet, cold and miserable, but sounds a lot better. Then if the sun breaks through it will be a bonus, and the sun will have plenty of time to peek out, since it won't go down till about 10:30. 

Unfortunately I can't be totally excited about going, since life has a way of throwing curve balls and I don't always remember to duck. My dear father had a bit of a health setback last week and I'm going to feel nervous about going so far from the family. Not that I don't have dozens of wonderful loving and responsible siblings, but I still feel guilty leaving. He's doing better everyday though and has lots of support so I know he will be in good hands. I'll just bombard him with postcards and regale him with Alaska lore when I get back. I hear Alaska is loaded with lore.

Countdown to the dunes... 4

Last night I picked most of the good apples from my tree and made 4 apple pies, getting in the harvest before heading out to the Cape. I also mixed up some colors of gouache in little empty half-pans to put in an Altoid container for my portable painting kit. In addition to gouache, I'm going to bring oil pastels, which worked out great the first time I went out to the dunes. Spreading them out in the sand they get a nice fluidity as the sun warms them, without needing water or solvents. They also get a little gritty, but that's ok, so will I. I'll also bring my trusty charcoal pencils, of course.

Even though this time I won this opportunity in the Peaked Hill Trust member's lottery, it's hard not to flash back to 1997 and think of this as an Artist-in-Residence stint. I will be doing art though, and I will be in residence...

Countdown to the dunes... 5

The countdown to my escape to the last little bit of land curling out into the Atlantic has begun—only 5 days till I leave this messed up world behind and escape to the quiet and simplicity of dune shack living.

Figuring out what to bring is not too difficult, since I did this before way back in '97, and I expect the way of life out in the dunes hasn't changed much even after a dozen years have passed. So I'm packing as if I'm going out to play in a sandbox...which I am! Soft clothing...shorts, cotton pants, t-shirts, a sweatshirt, cotton socks for walking in the hot sand, a straw hat, bathing suit, food for a week (plus a few bottles of wine), sunblock, art materials and binoculars.

I'm reluctantly bringing a cell phone. It wasn't really an option in '97, but since I'm expecting a few guests during my week, I guess it would come in pretty handy. That is, IF I get coverage and IF the battery doesn't run down. I'm going to just turn it on once or twice a day, no plugging it into the wall for a recharge!

A week unplugged...I can't wait.

Days of paint and roses

I had a day off from work yesterday, so was tempted to paint "en plein aire", but the weather was so nice I decided to paint outside instead.

There is a jetty at the end of the little peninsula I live on, about 1/2 mile from my studio. It's not very dramatic, a scruffy and littered patch of seagrass, a short breakwater and a pebbly beach, but I am very grateful to those who had the foresight to form a neighborhood association in order to stop a developer from somehow constructing 4 houses on the little spit of land. Now association members chip in to pay the taxes and we have access to the quiet beach with a view down to Conimicut light and the Newport bridge, and large patches of beach roses.

I spent a crazy amount of time organizing my painting gear. Thinking they were more practical working outside, I decided to bring Interactive acrylics, but I'm beginning to wonder if oils are more practical outside. The acrylics do have the advantage of drying quickly, which is useful at the start, but then I like to take my time in observation and mixing colors, and it is just too stressful to keep the acrylics workable, even with the Interactives ability to be "unlocked" back to a liquid state. I think the ideal would be to use both. I may try to make up a kit with just a few basic acrylics, and then my full palette of oils. It seems like I've been trying to come up with the perfect outdoor kit for years. I guess it's because I don't paint outside that much.

By the time I got down to the jetty the sun had come out. I set my easel up in the middle of a big patch of beach roses. I thought I was going to paint the roses, but the new-green of the leaves was so saturated, it managed to overpower the wild violet pink of the roses. After a few hours of mixing greens (not my best color!) the hot sun and hunger caused me to pack it up. I was a bit disappointed with the result, but I've brought it back to the studio and if I can pull anything out of it, I'll post a pic.

Art supplies to go...

Here is another travel set I've made up for watercolors. I used a small cigar tin, but it also works well with a metal CD case, like the kind AOL used to send out way back when. I cut off the ends of the paint brushes, and stuck a little velcro on the handles and on the box so they don't move around and get bent bristles. A sliver of a flat sponge is also held on with velcro. This set will easily fit in a pocket, just add water and a small watercolor pad!


I've also made up 10 charcoal sets for the class I am going to teach in Mesa Verde. Each has soft, med and hard charcoal pencils, some soft vine charcoal, 3 kinds of erasers, a blade for sharpening, clips and some wipes for getting the charcoal off your hands after class. After all, charcoal drawing is a dirty business.

My tripod easel is coming along. I found t-nuts that fit the mounting bolt at the hardware store, and have attached one to a lightweight board, which I will mount to the tripod head. I think it just may work, and will post photos of it when finished. It should be pretty light and portable, more so than any of the travel easels I've owned or looked at.