Small World and Sketches

It's Friday, it's here so fast!

It's also sunny, blue and warm! (85 this afternoon) I drove back out to Foree this morning and hiked up to the 'Ring of Fire' - a steep but not too far trail up to an overlook with a sweeping view of layered rocks. 

The formations here are so unique, I started a painting but quickly realized I was making up some of the forms, not really understanding what was actually in front of me. I'm not a realist painter, don't even want to be, but I do want to understand what I'm seeing so I can push and exaggerate from something "real." 

So I walked to another viewpoint and sketched...

The formations are a lot like folds of fabric, triangles spilling down to triangles and fluid forms like curtains. The blue greens are a Celadonite (sp?) a type of low temperature Mica. Very beautiful.

As I was out at the end of the trail I saw a guy walking towards me with a huge backpack with a strange green contraption coming out of it... A Google trail camera.

So bizarre. Also, the guy was from San Jose :) His girlfriend was with him too, she is also an artist... Such a small world.

I met a lot of people today, I think because it is Friday and it was the first sunny warm day in about a week. I'm expecting it to be 'busy' this weekend here in the park, we'll see.

I'll stay close again... Which only means somewhere within 45-60 minutes of driving, as nothing is CLOSE and even if I see something stunning, I can only paint THE PARK.

We have two new campers tonight up at Lands Inn, the woman is a book artist :)

I love how random and small life can be and the interesting things you learn about someone when you don't have your face in your phone and strike up a conversation with strangers. Today I met a couple who live on a boat in Mexico,  a BLM Ranger/security patrol guy who lives in Pahrump, Nevada and a Photographer from Idaho.

Where I'm staying is very beautiful and pretty remote. No wifi. No internet. No cell service. Off the grid, solar and propane. Coyotes yapping. Cats running around. Somehow big moths get in my room every night... So my bedtime ritual is to catch and release the moths, write the blog, catch some more moths and go to sleep about 9! I post the days blog the next morning, when I stop by the visitors center :)

So goodnight! (Or good morning!)