Blog: Wilderness Travel

Featured image: Six Pears

For me when I begin a new work of art, it is exactly like when I travel in the wilderness with my hubby. Our trips are planned months in advance and they are always by water in a canoe. When we shove our canoe off from the shoreline and leave civilization behind us, we have adventure ahead of us. We are always filled with wonder and excitement. The beauty and discovery of the land and all things natural always fills our souls, spirits and inner selves.

When you travel in the wilderness there are no phones to check up on the kids, no running to the grocery store because you forgot something for dinner, no flushing toilets, no running water and no hard shelter to take cover if a storm approaches.
When you travel in the wilderness, you always become your authentic self. Well, I do anyway and so does my hubby. We live rationally, honestly and independently. We are responsible for creating and finding our own way, and we always feel so genuine when we know we have the ability to do that. We have learned this by taking many wilderness trips. The first were baby steps of learning to wash my hair, cook out simply, and enjoy the time listening to the music of the back country.

That's also the way it is for me when I begin a painting. Each experience is fresh and raw and very authentic. From the very beginning when I first started taking myself seriously as an artist until now-nothing has changed. Each work is like dipping that paddle in the water for the first time as I begin a trip, leaving civilization behind me and allowing for all things natural to come to me and enrich my soul and spirit.