"Near" - Class November 1st


My drawing this week is of the desert hills that I passed through when walking out of the San Bernardino mountains this summer. (We were on our way to Cajon Pass and then on to the San Gabriel mountain range.)

I switched over to markers from colored pencil this week and used a light pink construction paper for the background color. The markers have a soft, pointed tip sort of like a paint brush. I also used some pigment from a stamp pad (sky blue and silver gray) on top of the marker.

I unfortunately missed class this past week, so I don't have context for the word, which is "Near." So I drew on my own source material for this week -- my favorite artwork and writing by women who have recently hiked the pacific crest trail.

My favorite paintings are by Lindsey Fox, who hiked the trail this summer as well (although I did not meet her in person, and she hiked the entire 2,660 mile trail). Here is one of her recent watercolors:


Pacific Crest Trail Postcard, Lindsey Fox

My favorite book about the trail is by Carrot Quinn, called Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart, which she wrote in 2015. 


Here's a paragraph from Carrot's book that I like and that I think relates to this week's theme:

"And then there is a break in the trees, a bit of flattened earth just out of reach, and then I am standing on the trail and the trail is there beneath me, that familiar ribbon of dirt, my home. That gentle dusty path, that superhighway through the tangled wilderness. My whole world, eighteen inches by 2,660 miles long. I'm at a campsite next to a sparkling stream, five miles before the trail junction where I left the PCT. I sit on a sun-baked log next to a fire ring and stare at the afternoon light, which puddles companionably on the ground. I have never felt so safe."

Comments

  1. Kenny MeyerOctober 28, 2016 at 12:04 PM

    The drawing wonderfully captures the spirit of the terrain near Cajon Pass. Very, very nice. And the quote from Carrot Quinn is both fitting and elegant. Makes we want to hop in the car and start walking.

    On a grimmer note, that area was burned this summer during the Blue Cut Fire. It's sad to see. On the bright side, they are rebuilding the McDs.

    Please keep posting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. rebeccaNovember 1, 2016 at 11:29 AM

    Thanks Kenny, I appreciate that. Hope you've been able to do some good hiking recently -- I am still getting your InReach messages so I know you have been able to get out a bit :).

    Figured the McDonald's would go up quickly; the rest is pretty sad. Glad I got to see what I saw over the summer.

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