I am coming back to Painting a Week in the new year with a spate of large River Paintings under my belt, and during the warmest winter anyone can remember.
That means I was able to drive farther into The Crazy Mountains, in my little Honda paint-mobile, than is usually possible. In addition to warranting new ways to enact conservation, this warm weather has changed how we recreate. While it is definitely worrisome, it also feels ungrateful not to appreciate a sunny, calm day.
Though today is neither and three days ago, when I painted this, we knew arctic weather was about to blow in. Not as much precipitation as we need, but cold enough that the little snow we have will stay and can be a base layer.
I was up close to Ibex. I turned off on a road to some haystacks. Usually I follow roads to their conclusion but on this day, the road itself felt like the subject. I backed up until there was just the right combination of sky and fields, road and brush. A lonely outcropping of juniper. The Absarokas in the distance. Perfect.