I finally replenished my gouache supplies, and picked up some new Arches watercolor blocks. Here’s a little sketch I did from where fellow Invisibleman Kerry O’Neill and I hiked up to in the Adirondacks this week. This was painted from the Rose Mountain lookout in Old Forge, NY looking towards the High Peaks.
Here’s a composite shot of the interior of the Florian Cafe. We were there a couple of weeks ago when no one else was. I had the whole place to myself to shoot for a few minutes. It’s across from the Doge’s palace and just down the arcade a bit. After 3 or 4 cups of expresso a day, you don’t have to sleep anymore and are invincible…. kinda.
I recommend.
My beautiful wife Kristina and I recently returned from Costa Rica where we were honeymooning after a great wedding in the Hudson Valley. We spent amazing time down there surfing, sloth watching and fish-taco eating, all the while befriending local gatos.
I sketched the paintings below in my moleskine watercolor sketchbook:
Tools of the trade:
And let it be known that when I see a strange sea-monster shuffling it’s way back to sea,
I do what has to be done:
In early January Kristina and I spent an amazing week snowboarding at Powder Mountain which is situated west of Ogden Utah and is about an hour and a half from Salt Lake City. It was some of the best riding we’ve ever experienced and was six days of plundering powder for days on end. Powder Mountain has over 7000+ acres of skiable terrain which is the most in the U.S.
There’s a portion of the mountain named Lightning Ridge and is accessible via snowcat and costs a mere $12 – which is a total bargain as it covers a 700 acre area of often-varying terrain from woods to bowls to steep chutes. We found the mountain to be completely uncrowded with a friendly mellow staff.
I’d intended to do some sketching but instead stuck to a strict schedule of riding all day, consuming cheeseburgers and beer, watching a Hitchcock film and passing out by 9pm.
One night we received a foot of snow and by morning the mountain was enshrouded within a dense cloud. I stuck mostly in the trees to get a lay of the land but would often find myself out in the open areas where there was nothing to see but a foggy whiteness. The low visibility, abundant snow and Jedi skill-set made for a peaceful and incredibly fun day of riding. We stayed at the Columbine Inn which was a great little place directly next to the main lodge and we were shuttled out there by Wasatch Crest Shuttle who were great in getting us up the snowy and steep road to PowMow.
During our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, Corrie and I hiked up Hallett Peak via the Flattop Mountain Trail. This poplular hike is close to Bear Lake and the Estes Park entrance. It was amazing. The scenery was gorgeous and the weather held until we were on our way down. At the end we were soaked, satisfied, and smiling. Feel free to hike with along us via our Flickr set. Titles, captions, and notes are included. Enjoy! We certainly did!
While exploring Rocky Mountain National Park, Corrie and I spent two days at the Glacier Basin Campground. This watercolor depicts the stunning view near it’s entrance. Using Glacier Basin as our home base we did several hikes in the area. You can see images from our hike past several alpine lakes on my Flickr account.
This watercolor sketch was created during “happy hour” at Site 106 of the Winding River Resort, just south of the west exit of Rocky Mountain National Park. Corrie and I really enjoyed our stay at this campground. It was the ideal spot to pitch our tent after a long, exciting, but tiring week of high-altitude hiking and trekking. The view from our site was gorgeous. Sitting at our picnic table, we were able to gaze across an idyllic farm scene of grazing horses and bathing ducks, with the Rockies serving as a backdrop. This campground was significantly less crowded than the one we’d stayed at the other two nights, so we felt like we had the view all to ourselves.
We didn’t realize this at check-in, but included in our stay was a complimentary wake-up call. At 6am, just before we’d set our watch alarms, two giant moose came clip-clopping by our tent! They were less than 20 feet away! I quietly crept out of my sleeping bag to get a closer look…you can see photos of the “morning moose” here and here.
I recently had the honor and privilege to attend a friend‘s wedding in the Loir-et-Cher region of northern central France. During my time there, I stayed in the charming village of Trôo. The village is partly troglodytic, meaning that many of the homes are built into caves in the hillside. You can view photos of Trôo, along with photos of other spots I visited such as the castle at Lavardin and the Chartres cathedral, within my Flickr collection.
A few week back my three older brother and I hiked across the stunning Presidential Range in New Hampshire staying in the AMC huts along the way. The sketchbook drawings above were done in the Lakes of the Clouds common room overlooking the Ammonoosuc Ravine. Each summer my brothers and I try to gather in a nice outdoor location for an ‘Art Lodge’ in which we begin paintings and drawings and pass them around until each has taken a turn (these will be seen in a future post). Below brothers Phil, James and Stephen take their turns:
