Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Center Art Residency

On a warm day, sitting in the sandhill ecosystem, pelted by flying insects under a big sky with passing clouds was THE BEST.

That day was the first and only time I got to experience the center of the valley; the valley floor, the other side of the valley, all of it. To walk among the plants and animals that live in this place filled me with reverence.

I was a guest in their home and, as such, walked with utmost respect and deep wonder.

In the only field sketch that time allowed for while exploring the valley with my new friend, Shane, I chose a compact, unassuming wildflower called Prairie Bluebells, a native plant in the Rocky Mountain states and northern Great Plains, found at elevations between 5000 and 12,000 feet.

If you are thinking the sketch looks a bit rough and quick, you are correct. I often enjoy a certain amount of looseness with field sketches. What you can’t really see is the time and concentration that actually went into it. Colors, brushstrokes, composition; all of it is purposefully executed.

It’s so easy to get lost in the work of field sketching, so much so that ignoring the pelting insects can be pretty easy. Everything in the mind slips away except the connection to what your attention is fixed on in that moment.

While I sketched and painted in the field, an Elk cow was giving birth high up on a slope further away, which I got to witness in part. Talk about awe.

Prairie Bluebells
Watercolor
8x12” (unframed)