Road Report: Paint or Hike?

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Road Report: Paint or Hike?

Hiking at 10,000 Feet - Lizard Head Pass

With the weather warming up, we felt the time had come to take Wilma, our Pleasure-Way camper van, out on the road. Our destination was Dolores, Colorado, a tiny town at the foot of the San Juan Range and a great base camp for exploration. The surrounding country offers plenty for the painter and hiker: mountain streams, winding trails, tall firs and, in the right season, snow-capped mountains.

Immersed in this kind of beauty, my painting self always has to wrestle my hiking self for equal time. Paint or hike? I try to find a balance, but usually, and especially when I come across a new trail, the hiker wins out.

A "postcard scene" - Sheep Mountain
5x8 gouache

A more artistic, close-up, abstract view of the mountains
5x8 gouache

Also, the painter in me prefers not to paint postcard scenes. This is hard when faced with a new vista that takes your breath away. What's more, developing an understanding of your subject matter requires time; this is more easily done if you immerse yourself in the landscape for awhile. For example, I've lived in western New Mexico for several years now and have developed a 100-mile “comfort zone of the familiar” around my studio; within this range, I am able to see past the postcard view to subjects that challenge me and build up my artistic muscles. But outside this range, when I encounter something new, I am more likely to take the easy way out. Plus, it's just so much relaxing after a long hike to plop down and paint the convenient scene!

Yet sometimes, you just have to paint the postcard. The view inspires you to paint, and even if you know you can do better, you have to do it anyway to get it out of your system before you can move on. Sometimes it turns out better than you had hoped; other times, it looks like, well, a postcard. Still, a postcard can jog the memory, especially if it accurately records the moment, and you will find it useful in the studio.

When we bought the camper van, I decided I would focus on using gouache. Although the 19-foot van has lots of storage room (and all the conveniences—i.e. stove, refrigerator, toilet, air conditioning and heat, full kitchen with running water), I prefer to take an extra pair of hiking boots and a warm coat rather than more painting gear. The gouache kit takes up very little space and it's perfect for satisfying the artistic urge. If I want to do something more ambitious, once home I can take my sketchbook and photos to the studio and engage in a bigger effort. Plus, for me, these trips are about exploring and relaxing and also about looking toward the future: Is this somewhere I might want to come back for some truly serious painting?

By the way, I don't take my usual watercolor journal with me on these trips. Instead, I dedicate a separate journal to travel.

Over the week, we had mostly excellent weather. The weather was cooler (and thus more pleasant) than we had expected. I think we used the air conditioner only one night, and even then, by dawn the temperature had dropped to 35 or so. During the days, hiking was a pleasure, especially as we wandered up to 10,000 feet near Lizard Head Pass, just west of Telluride. We did have one day of near-solid rain, but we easily coped with it by heading lower to a more desert clime, over in Utah near Hovenweep National Monument, where the rain barely reached. But up near Lizard Head, the rain fell as snow, and the next time we drove to the pass, I could see the snowline had dropped considerably on the surrounding peaks.

Here are some photos and sketches.