When cruising south on U.S. 285, somewhere past Fairplay you are hit with the realization that you've escaped the Denver Doldrums and you are in the presence of the Real Colorado. A light rain had just tapered off, so we rolled down the windows and were immediately hit with the scent of Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole Pine, moist Alder Fruit and Colorado Blue Spruce. Keeler and I both leaned back in our seats and filled our lungs. In this part of Colorado, every switchback reveals a unique and picturesque panorama. It can be a bit overwhelming; every 90 seconds or so your entire field of vision is filled with a new and amazing landscape. It's enough to temporarily wipe the cynical gunk off of your pineal body.
I decided to take advantage of the situation by attempting to capture some of the landscapes in my sketchbook. As you can see, sketching in the passenger seat of a car doing 70-80 mph over mountain switchbacks poses some unique challenges. Aside from the bumps and g-forces generated by this kind of driving, there is also the previously mentioned constant changing of scenery. I only had about a minute and a half to capture each image, so I decided to do a series of thumbnail drawings. A started somewhere past Johnson Village and continued as we approached
Wolf Creek Pass. These are about 1" squares, more or less the same size as they appear on your monitor (unless you have the same screen resolution as my grandma).
Not the best drawings I've ever done, but I get credit for coming back from a road trip with sketches to post, right?
Thanks very much to Robin for the new moon Cleansing Ritual, and to Rollin for taking care of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Labels: art, colorado, from life, landscape, pen
