Wilderness Watercolors Exhibit at Siskiyou Arts Council

The Siskiyou Arts Council hosted a solo exhibition of my paintings in Mt. Shasta from July 1 through 11, 2011. This exhibition featured “wilderness watercolors,” paintings created on location in remote settings in the western US, Mexico and New Zealand.

From red rock desert cliffs to mountain glaciers, these paintings offer an intimate view of places that most folks will only visit in photos.

Among the colorful paintings were scenes from deep in the Grand Canyon, from the tundra of Alaska’s Brooks Range and the beaches of Baja California. I create these pictures on river trips, hiking, backpacking, flying by float plane into the Alaskan bush.

My style is a combination of painting and drawing, with lively pen and ink details overlying watercolors, chalk and crayon. My art supplies are packed in, either on my back or in the bottom of a dry bag carried by raft or kayak. If I’m lucky, I brought a camp chair. More often, I’m sitting on a boulder in the shade of some friendly tree, rinsing my paintbrush in the pool at my feet as I try to capture the excitement of a splashy rapid or the beauty of a downriver view.

A video slideshow accompanied the exhibit and further highlighted the journeys. This was a storytelling show as well as a visual delight. Each painting was displayed with it’s own story, often including a photo of the artist as she painted it.

The show opened on Friday, July 1 with a reception at the gallery in Mt. Shasta.  “Wilderness Watercolors” is available for other showings.  An exhibit at the Mt. Shasta Library is planned for later in the fall of 2011.

Seeking shelter from the sun while painting on the Owyhee River, deep in the remote wilderness of eastern Oregon.