Small landscape views of National Parks

 National Parks are all the rage right now, advance reservations just to enter America's National Parks are being required for the most popular. At first my reaction to this was a little sad, however over time I've come to appreciate that this is for the best to preserve those sacred lands. And, I'm even more appreciative that we have a Native American leading our National Parks.

While the joy of standing in these beautiful lands is thrilling and spectacular, I can't help but feel as if I don't want to hasten any decline in quality of our national parks. I've got my 'bucket list' of parks I still want to see-North Cascades, Lassen, Yellowstone, Picture Rocks-it goes on too. For now, I will simply enjoy zooming in with Google Earth and seeing images on the the NPS website. 

With those lovely images I can see, these prompt me to paint more landscape style 'bookmarks' on Arches paper. I have a huge lot of Arches remnant papers that were part of a bigger project from my former employer at the art supply company. Most watercolor artists are aware of the pristine quality of this paper, so any remnant big enough to paint on is worth saving.

And I'm not limiting the images I paint to just American parks either. Australia is another country with outstanding and wild national parks. For example, this image is of King George Falls.

This is a remote and incredible dual waterfall that is only accessible by flying or boating to it!

Acadia National Park is also on my bucket list. This is one of the parks requiring advanced reservations, and it's also over 3000 miles from where I live. For now, I will indulge in photos that others have taken and recreate this beautiful place.

Americana series-9 mini snapshots of the USA

Working at an art supply distributor has its perks. I was able to score these 4 x 4 mini canvases as a discontinued deal for next to nothing, and I turned them into something! America is a diverse landscape that I have great appreciation for. I doubt just these nine paintings capture all of them, but here are my viewpoints of the landscapes of America. Notice I did not do a big city as these represent escapes to the beautiful American countryside. All of these painted with acrylics.

Starting from top left:

• The covered bridge can be found many places, especially in rural America.
• This is obviously O'ahu, but it is definitely an escape!
• The southwestern desert has amazing saguaro cactus.
• Lighthouses also can be found in many areas of America, including the Great Lakes.
• Route 66 is the all American road.
• The high desert regions of Native Americans is very sacred.
• The mountains and lakes of the western USA hold a special place in my heart.
• The Great Plains is our bread basket, usually not a destination but just as important to America.
• The beach, which also can be the ocean, lakes or rivers that Americans escape to for recreation.
  

Memories Journal #12

In May 2012, I was laid off from a job I had for only 18 months. It was a devastating feeling, but the day after they let me go I realized it was a big relief. With the little bit of savings I had, I decided now was a good time for that mid-life crisis, and so my husband, 6 year old daughter and tiny dog jumped in our Subaru and we toured the United States for three weeks. The next few memory journals document this epic roadtrip.

On that first day, we drove straight for 14 hours with few breaks. From Oregon, we ended up just north of Zion National Park. America never ceases to amaze me with the beauty we hold in this land, and Zion did not disappoint.