Vanderbilt Beach, Naples, Florida – March 8, 2009

Inspiration is everywhere.

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:

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From an old sketchbook, Venice in March of 1997.

An old sketch from a visit to the amazing town of Èze, France.

Sketching in Millennium Park, from my trip to Chicago back in April.

It has been just shy of a year since the intrepid members of the Invisibleman Exploration Committee first surveyed the wilds of the magnificent Escarpment Trail in the Catskills. After a thorough examination of the flora and fauna, we declared it safe enough to bring our significant others along, and this past weekend we had a delightful (but HOT) weekend of hiking and camping, based at the North South Lake Campgrounds.
These are two small ‘thumbscapes’ I did while being consumed by gnats and black flies.
Posts from last year’s trip:
http://invisibleman.com/archives/travels/000467.html
http://invisibleman.com/archives/photos/000465.html
http://invisibleman.com/archives/travels/000468.html
http://invisibleman.com/archives/drawings/000483.html

To the best of my knowledge, these are the last pictures I shot on 35mm film. When we were living in Los Angeles back in 2003, I grabbed my trusty Yashica T* loaded up with black and white film, and Julie and I set off to explore the haunting Salton Sea area, about 60 miles to the south-east of Palm Springs.
We had heard it was an interesting place to visit, but we weren’t prepared for the things we would see: An artificial mountain built of mud, paint and car tires as a monument to God’s love (Salvation Mountain), entire neighborhoods, buildings and vehicles devoured by pink alkaline slurry, sulfurous boiling mudpots, defunct hotels from the 1950’s heydays and a dead, smelly sea.
If you are ever in the area, be sure to make time for a visit.

Last week my girlfriend and I hiked a healthy portion of the Appalachian Trail within the Presidential Range of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. We took advantage of the High Mountain Hut System the AMC runs up there. Our hike was incredible. After an initially dreary hike-in day, we enjoyed “the best weather of season” according to the locals. In total we spent 3 nights in the huts, 4 days on the trail.
I’ve created a web gallery of our pics. Several of you IM contributors will recognize the sites: still beautiful, awesome and amazing. (And the huts only make ’em better!)
As the sheer number of pictures will attest, Corrie and I took our time getting from hut to hut. That left very little free-time for stationary sketching. Fortunately I did fit in some painting on the shores of Squam Lake prior and did draw the kitchen accoutrements with the Madison Hut, as seen below.