I love capturing fleeting moments from nature in my artwork. The ideas for these pieces don't just come to me from thin air. They come from real life experiences I have encountered - usually in the backcountry. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to get into the wilderness with my husband Jeremiah. We have spent our twenties traveling hard. We have dived deep into caves, climbed mountains, snorkeled blue-green oceans, and walked in the forests. During this time I have encountered breaching humpback whales in Australia, a cave dwelling penguin in New Zealand, a coyote who nearly ran into our hammocks in North Carolina because he didn't see us, and a huge octopus crawling across the sand to move from one tide pool to another. My life is filled with nature. I couldn't breath without it. People see what Jeremiah and I do and think we must be crazy or we must not work hard, but we work very hard. We are intentional. We both run businesses from our home AND we adventure hard in our free time. It takes courage, it takes determination, and it takes intention to chase what you really love and make a living out of it. All this to say my artwork comes from real stories and experiences. Soon we will both be embarking on an adventure of a lifetime and rafting the Grand Canyon from start to finish. We will spend 19 days on the river, self-supported, with a crew of 16 people. We will spend our days rafting and our nights camping along the Colorado river. I can't wait to be looking up at those towering cliffs from the rafts. In the time leading up to this trip I have been thinking about my art and how I might take it with me. I have plans to bring my watercolors and do some Plein Air paintings on the river. My goal is to paint one a day for the entirety of the trip and auction them at the end. These paintings will need to make it safely through the Grand and I am hopeful that I can protect them in waterproof bags and keep them relatively flat. Fingers crossed! When I get home I hope to create a large piece that encapsulates one of my favorite "fleeting moments" on the Grand Canyon. I am beyond excited and my eyes are completely on that trip right now.
In the meantime, I will be showing one of my pieces at Layor Art + Supply for the month of June if you would like to see my work in person :)
To my dear readers - life is fleeting. Moments are fleeting. Don't wait to live your daydreams. Go get them.
