Blog

I didn’t grow up in the mountains.

I grew up in suburbia, homes 12 feet apart, hoping not to see my neighbor walking past their window as I stared out mine wondering where the thousands of cars crossing the San Mateo bridge were going.

Aerial View of Foster City, California

I grew up drawing horses and playing with my Breyer models, imagination in full swing as we trotted over golden hills dotted with oaks, or rode a precarious mountain ridge, or felt the wind whipping through my hair as we galloped through the surf.

My Muses and Models

I grew up on horse back. Our horses, stabled 45 minutes away by car. Hours and hours in the saddle, scooping poop, eating molasses covered corn out of the grain bin, (yes I did!) watching the dried sweat leach away from wet copper hair as I hosed my horse down after a ride.

As a flight attendant I flew over the Sierra Mountains. Those massive peaks blanketed in powdery snow, the sun blinding my eyes as it reflected off facets of a ridge line from 35,000 feet in the air. The alpine lakes sparkling like sapphires and emeralds. The immensity, the impossibility, the power it took to form these granite beasts rushing up inside me. Dreaming of exploring them someday....

Stitching my passions together: horses, painting and the mountains came with an invitation from Bill Cone and Paul Kratter in 2008 to join them on their annual painting and pack trip in the John Muir Wilderness. I hiked in to Ediza Lake, CA with the artists the first year, but ever since then I’ve ridden the stock from Red’s Meadows Pack Station just outside of Mammoth CA.to reach our camp site.

Loading our gear at Red's Meadows Pack Station

There is nothing like he sound of hooves making their way up and over the granite boulders ringing off the canyon walls, my hips in time with the sway of the horses body, in sync, dancing, graceful.

The best thing about riding up is that you don’t have to watch where you put your feet!

Every time it is an adventure.

One year riding along the High Trail, a massive storm rolled in while maneuvering through the series of gem  lakes to get to Garnet Lake. Thunder, louder than any concert you’ve ever been to, cracking and booming through the granite walls, reverberating while lightning sliced through the sky. Stainless steel horse shoes attached to 1000 pound horses sliding over slick granite. Too far up to turn around…

The Early California Impressionists have inspired my creative journey from the beginning. To this day I hold me breath when I come across a William Ritshel,  Franz Bischoff or Edgar Payne.

With my feet planted on granite slabs in the same spot Edgar Payne created studies for his unbelievable mountain paintings, I feel a connection to the past, life and death, the insignificance of my being, and yet a powerful connection to the whole.

Difficult, really, to describe...

Maybe you can feel what I mean in the images below...

I've been drawn to this scene every time we've camped at Ediza. I love the reflected rich colors in the granite slabs, and the feeling of being that much closer to heaven.

We headed out with clear skies and no reports of weather...haha, it changes so quick! Packed it up and got drenched on the mile hike back to camp. Worth every step as the mud worked at sucking our hiking boots off!

Wake up to 30 degrees, I can see my breath in the tent. Pull on wool socks, a couple layers and crawl out of the tent to paint the morning sun as it spills over the far ridge.

The mountains turn pink. Indescribable light, never the same twice.

Garnet Lake

Last Call, Ediza Lake 16x20 Pastel

Sketching before the adult beverages come out, and the kitchen glows below.

Bittersweet as our time in the Sierra's comes to a close.

It goes way too fast!

Grateful for time well spent with like-minded friends, new and old. Grateful to Paul and Bill who've asked me to join them all these years. Grateful for the opportunity to stitch my passions; horses, painting and the mountains into one beautiful tapestry.

The adventure a blessing, a way to recharge creatively and spiritually.

Passionate about paint.

 in love with horses.

I am grounded in granite.