Sketching across the country, part 3

​I had a great last couple of days coming across this time. Montana to Idaho is a shorter day, and I decided to hike in the morning at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park before taking off. It was gorgeous. I climbed high above the valley floor in a scrubby landscape with hills and quirky trees that reminded me of painting in Turkey. Then I got into a pine forest and felt like I'd walked into a series of William Rice block prints from California. I ended up overcooking the sketch of that first fantastic tree, but it was great to sit and look so long anyway. I did a third one too, so I spent all morning and had a later drive than I had meant to, but it was so worth it. It was refreshing to get out of the van and do something physical and make some art. 

I got the end campsite at Farragut State Park in Idaho, down in a nest of trees a little further away than usual from other campers. It's the same campground where I did the sketch for my "Explore" print of Alice (the camper van) under tall trees last year. It was gorgeous to sit out there, and again, I sketched the next morning before taking off. The light in the forest next to me really caught my eye. Of course, the sun went away as I started sketching and only came back out when I was done, but I'd seen enough to capture the feel of the place, if not the exact patterns. 

For a few beautiful moments, I had a visitor at my campsite as well. She came and looked at me and really spent some time before slowly taking off again. I didn't have my sketchbook, but I grabbed it just afterwards and did this sketch from memory before the memory faded. I think it will be my holiday card this year. I loved the simplicity of it and also the moment it recorded for me. I love being able to make these moments live on. When I open my sketchbook years later, I can fall backwards in time right to the place where I was drawing and remember so clearly, since I took the time to really drink it in and record it in the moment. Not always, but almost always. I do a written journal as well, but the sketchbooks are always the most vivid memories I have to keep. I'm grateful for the ability to record my life this way.