Impression Evergreen

"Monument Canyon" Colored Pencil Out in western Colorado, the pinon-covered plateau is sliced by a peculiar gorge that appears more alien than Mars. Under a searing, summer sun, Monument Canyon is an inconceivable gateway to the Great American Desert but this sweeping panorama isn't make-believe. Like some garden of unearthly delights, chiseled sandstone pinnacles tower above a devil's den of arid habitat. The dazzling landscape is distinguished by sharp contrasts in value and color. In order to express the oppressive heat, a palette of warm tones is required. Beaming down from above, a radiant light polishes the red rocks with bleached highlights and dark shadows. Below, colors clash on the canyon floor where passages of green brush speckle the scorched earth. Behind, a hazy shelf of Book Cliffs becomes blueish-gray. The piece is meant to be an accurate representation of the view from an outstanding overlook along Rim Rock Drive. So if it seems like a stud...

"Dragon Duel" Colored Pencil "Riddles my weapons. Answers my shield. Though you battle with wit, I'll never yield." Slowly the clamped teeth loosened. The watching dragons collectively sighed in disappointment. But the confrontation was not over. "My wit is quite sharp," responded the leader, "as sharp as my claws and teeth. One wound means your life as surely as this battle will. "And if my riddle wounds you?" asked Strange One. "You and your servant leave here alive. You, as an unnatural dragon, are outcast and banished from the gatherings forever..." My friend, Cindy Schuricht, asked me to illustrate the preceding passage for the cover of her new book, Secrets of the Flame - The Power to Protect . Considered a magical fantasy the story is categorized as juvenile fiction. Written in a whimsical format, Secrets teaches us the hard truth about letting go. In the tradition of an American fable, this tale spotlights th...

"Last Dollar Road" Colored Pencil It's a wet spring day in southwestern Colorado. Along a rough edge of the San Juans, sculpted spires are an astonishing work of art. Standing in an ochre meadow, a grove of gray aspen is topped with a canopy of fresh green while olive-colored hills rise into a seamless transition with the silver mountains. Hayden is the prominent centerpiece of this fine bouquet of pretty peaks. Slightly offset, the festive summit to the right is aptly named North Pole. This open passage over the magnificent mesa described here will lead the lucky driver on an epic adventure. To find this place, come down out of the Black Canyon, head south from Montrose along the Uncomphagre Plateau, take a right at Ridgeway and you'll discover the Dallas Divide. Up top there's a dirt path that's an obscure shortcut to the town of Telluride. Snaking through the Sneffels Range, the scenic side-trip may slow your car down but the divine drive will ra...

"Blue Lakes" Colored Pencil On a cold, clear morning near Breckenridge, icy Blue Lakes is a stark land of rock, snow and ice. It's early summer but the orange peaks still dwell in winter's blue shadow. The mountain melt is a gradual process described with gradients of indigo and gold. After a season of somber gray, passages of fluid color are emerging from beneath the thick, white impasto. Long slides of ochre-stained snow descend to the water's edge and are swallowed by the merciless, dark reservoir. Due to the warmer dawn, spectacular bergs of emerald ice are beginning to break apart. The foreground is filled with a confusing jumble of fractured frozen-water where shards of sparkling silver frost succumb to the menacing pond. The array of awesome alps is a monument to an earlier epoch. On this day, the jagged ridgeline is an exciting contour that encloses the entire cirque while a network of slushy snow makes navigating the upper reaches a slippery pu...

"Evening Light Evergreen" Colored Pencil "Through art we can change the world." ~ #twitterartexhibit Regal elk graze peacefully in a rolling meadow near Evergreen, Colorado. Evening light infuses the landscape with a golden hue befitting this heavenly kingdom. It's fall so long shadows form undulating lines across the yellow field. Stately ponderosa pine swirl towards the cerulean sky, trying to soak in the sun's last rays. In the background, a ring of soft blue peaks enhances an already elegant atmosphere. It's such a simple scene but it means so much to me. After years of searching while on a never-ending quest, I feel like I've traveled a million miles. I truly believe this place is where I belong. I'm lucky, this is home. Evening Light Evergreen is my contribution to the upcoming Twitter Art Exhibit: Moss . This unique event is an international exhibition of original postcard art benefiting Home-Start Moss, a nonprofit organizat...