Creativity: Drawn to Jamestown

I love Jamestown: the Mercantile, the dogs that lounge in the middle of Main St. , just the whole the spirit of the place. This amazing, quirky mountain town was all but cut off during the terrible flooding of 2013. The road to Jamestown was washed away, taking homes, trees and enormous boulders thundering down the canyon. The flood redirected the creek, widened the canyon and destroyed so much in its path. But Jamestown rebuilt, the Mercantile held on and the city continues to rebuild. The road to Jamestown is being rebuilt this summer; sections of it would not be out of place on a cyclecross course. I know I rode it last week; the drivers patiently waiting for me as I was the last 'vehicle' on the single-lane portion of the rode. They even waved at me--that's Jamestown. Last weekend, we headed up for 4th of July pancakes.  The park has been rebuilt, the stage was filled with musicians and dogs roamed around making sure drivers kept way under the speed limit in town.

Creativity: It's hard to sketch in the wind

Ever since the sun crashed into earth this week, I've taken the opportunity to go through photos/drawings from our trip out to Oregon.  Amazing time! I feel fortunate that we were able to take some time to do a road trip across the southwest into the northwest and top it off with several days in Oregon. Of course, there were parts of Utah and Wyoming that looked like places where some higher spirit channeled some spit-fire rage onto the land leaving only salt and scrub behind. But even in those places, the unexpectedness--the palest of blues at the horizon, the stratification of cliffs and hillsides highlighted by changing colors, and the way the road really did seem to disappear into the future--has stayed with me.

I didn't do as much drawing as I had hoped. Our camper, at 7ft long and that's being generous, became quite a bit smaller with two furry creatures vying for the best spots.

But that's my own fault. I got distracted by reading good books, walking the dogs, and generally hanging out.  I did get one sketch in with the intention of painting it but right now I'm enjoying the learning process of sketching.  The paper was meant for water color but it was a fun surface to sketch out the scene. The wind was pushing mist onto the shore, the leaves and bushes were tousled and it took a bit of effort to keep the pad from flying off but I managed to get something down on paper. I still have a ways to go but it feels good to keep practicing.