Day 44: Artists Paintpots (7/18/15)

I didn't write anything in my journal for this day! I woke up feeling mentally rejuvenated (again I thank you Terminator) but still lagging physically with this cold. I decided to drive into Old Faithful where there is service and a general store to get more meds. On my way I passed Artist Paintpots and thought well artist is in the name and I am an artist so I should definitely stop there. It was an excellent choice because more strange phenomenon awaited me. Bubbling mud pits, vibrant hot springs...the pictures speak for themselves. Plus picture me standing there, transfixed and puzzled, mouth slightly ajar, thinking "what the....?"

After this adventure I went on to Old Faithful area where I honesty spent a lot of the day in the hotel lounge after I picked up some DayQuil. I eventually summoned enough willpower to walk to Castle Geyser, where it started raining shortly after I arrived. Got some sweet pics with the dark clouds behind the geyser smoke though. On my way home I almost missed a magnificent rainbow. Magnificent not in scale, but the colors were so beautiful and warm because of the setting sun on the stormy clouds. The sunset was phenomenal. I stayed and did a sketch at Biscuit Basin and hope to do a painting when I come home with the steam from the geysers and the Firehole River in the foreground.

Hot spring near artist paint pots.

Overview of Artist Paintpots.

Steam was coming out of these.

The color is very vibrant.

That COLOR!

Bubbling muddy clay like pit (the scientific term).

The mud bubbles kept popping and blowing mud bits in the air.

...my bubbles. Finding Nemo anyone?

Milky blue pool.

Bobby Socks trees.

Firehole River

Firehole Falls

Castle Geyser with ominous storm clouds.

Crested Pool (I think)

Just bubbling up from the center of the earth!

Thomas Moran's watercolor!

In front of Castle Geyser

There is some real crazy stuff here. Shag carpet, in the middle of a geyser? Come on people.

I almost missed this rainbow!

Stormy evenings make for the *best* sunsets.

Sunset sketch of Biscuit Basin. And yes, ducks on my dashboard.

 

 

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Day 43: Inspiration Point and Terminator (7/17/15)

I left Tower Falls campground this morning in search of greener pastures closer to my painting locations for the rest of my time in Yellowstone. My sights were set on Norris campground...this is probably the best and most central first come/first served campsite in Yellowstone. Plus it has flush potties. I got here and there was a mad scramble for campsites. It's pretty cut throat out here. I found a tag on a campsite that said they were leaving on the 17th and paid, put my tag on the site, and parked right next to it until the couple packed up and left. I hope me being a stalker didn't ruin their morning...but campers gotta camp.

Still feeling sick and kind of blah today. But there is so much still to do and see here. I went to Inspiration Point to sketch where Moran did a beautiful watercolor. I am sad to be feeling so under the weather because I'd love to get up super early and be at some of these crowded spots before many people are there. I also wish I'd tried a little more watercolor or maybe taken a workshop before I left. But, the beauty of this trip is how many new things following these artists has opened my eyes to. Just trying several watercolor sketches has sparked my interest in it as a highly portable medium for sketching, that I think will serve me well in trips with other people. Moran makes these sketches look quick and effortless. I have only seen his early oil paintings, no watercolors, so I wonder how well versed he was in the medium before going to Yellowstone. Anyway, I sketched at Inspiration Point. I wish I had done a painting here because I feel like it more accurately reflects Moran's canyon paintings than the view at Artist Point. The jagged rocks in the background are more similar to his rock pillars than from the angle on the south rim. But, I know he was here, and I have a sketch and some photos.

After, I decided to head down to Yellowstone Lake where Moran did a painting at the confluence of the Yellowstone River and the lake. I talked to some Rangers, walked along the beach, and saw a sun rainbow aka a sun halo, and went back to my car to get my paints. I talked to Dan for a bit with incredibly spotty cell service (frustrating!). I knew I should go paint but I just did not feel like it. The Six Week Slump had continued and worsened. I will be honest and say I didn't feel like painting, I didn't feel inspired. I have been trying to shake and overcome this feeling during a lot of my time in Yellowstone and especially since I got sick. Having a cold without Netflix or a real bed isn't awesome, I found out! I really felt like seeing a movie. I felt like having someone else entertain me for a few hours while I sat and ate popcorn. After talking with my best artist friend Katherine I realized I haven't really had a day off on this trip since I spent a few days with Dan. I have tried - but always find something to "do" like laundry, reading, grocery shopping, driving, sight seeing, etc. After talking with Dan and Katherine I decided to drive to West Yellowstone and see a movie, because I'm the type of impulsive person who has to consult two of her friends before doing anything impulsive. ;)

As soon as I left, even though I didn't sketch or paint at Yellowstone Lake, I knew it was what I needed to do. I was excited. On my way I stopped and looked up the movie theater and realized they only play one film. I got there at 8:30 to find out I'd missed the first half hour of the movie, and that they were only showing Terminator. Not at the top of my summer movie list...but I'd come all that way and damnit I wanted to see a movie and eat popcorn with butter! So I stayed and it was awesome. Maybe it was a crappy movie but I was so happy to be there and probably read deeper into the man versus technology theme than other movie goers. I drove back to my campsite feeling mentally rejuvenated, but still fighting the cold. So hopefully the cold clears up soon because my head is back in the game! #thanksterminator

Last time driving this stretch - many tall, gray, dead, burnt trees with new pine growth underneath.

Beautiful yellow wild flowers grew on these hillsides - extra beautiful on a sunny day.

The hills are alive...with yellow windflowers.

I saw a grizzly bear! There were tons of people parked and camped out along the road.

Inspiration Point

Yellowstone River from Inspiration Point

Lower Falls

Sketch from Inspiration Point

East Wall of the Canyon from Inspiration Point by Thomas Moran. Sigh...so effortless and beautiful and captures the canyon.

Throw in a bike rack and I'll buy it!

You know there's an animal nearby when...

Bald eagle!!!!

Oh the majesty!!

America!!!!

Hayden Valley

Yellowstone Lake.

Sun rainbow!

The movie I'd been waiting to see all summer!!!! [jk]

 

 

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Day 42: (Finished) Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone near Artist Point (7/16/15)

I slept in this morning (cold going strong) and went back to my spot near Artist's Point to finish the painting I had started a few days ago. It was much more enjoyable to tackle this painting in two sessions. This time I was working on more details and having fresh eyes helped immensely.
I made some time to read more about Moran and his time in Yellowstone. First, I found out that his Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone painting was fourteen feet by seven feet, if that puts it into perspective for anyone. There are several reviews of the painting from 1872 when the painting was finished...all very favorable, glowing reviews of the painting. It is so interesting how differently art was appreciated during this time period. It's grand opening was like a movie release is today, and reviewed like we appreciate movie reviews. Yellowstone's establishment as a national park also heightened anticipation for this painting. One man with the last name of Gilder (all I have in my book...) wrote about watching the painting take form - how at first it was an outline on bare canvas, then "great streaks of, to me, meaningless color flashed hither and thither. I saw only hopeless chaos." The painting continued to develop and take shape until "at last the artist's full, glorious idea shone perfect in every part." Interesting insight to Moran's process and approach to such a large canvas (his first of that size, I believe).
Thomas and his brother Edward went on a trip to England similar to my trip, which was *fascinating* to learn. I thought they had studied with JMW Turner, an English landscape painter, but they studied his artworks in England. They only had access to black and white prints of his work and wanted to see it in color. The Moran brothers traveled along the coast of England and discovered Turner's "willful disregard for topographical accuracy." More from Edward Moran on Turner:

I once took a lot of Turner's engravings of views on the English coast, and went with them, as nearly as I could judge, to the exact spots from which they must have been taken..He is very inaccurate - willfully so...His knowledge of the forms of land and sea and cloud was so thorough that he could do pretty much as he pleases with them, and yet keep within the bounds of naturalness.

I was stoked to read this...artists seeking wisdom of past artists! Fantastic. Studying Turner's paintings has a profound effect on Moran and his work:

Literally speaking, his [Turner's] landscapes are false; but they contain his impressions of nature, and so many natural characteristics as were adequately to convey that impression to others...The literal truth counts for nothing; it is within the grasp of anyone who has had an ordinary art education. The mere restatement of an external scene is never a work of Art.

This is what I have seen of Moran's work in Yellowstone so far. No scene too exactly replicated...but the essence of the landscape represented beautifully in oil or watercolor. His view of Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, even, is not the view from Artist Point, but a combination of his views, sketches, and experience in the canyon. But when I was there, I saw everything contained in his painting (minus the bear and men on horseback). I was impressed by the same thing that impressed him.

A description I read of his trip said Moran took detailed notes of rocks, trees, foliage, etc...but in his online diary I didn't find much of that. More "we camped here one night, then went there, sketched about the springs for the afternoon..." So maybe this information is notated in his sketchbook similar to how Church took notes. He was not bound by the scientific mission of the expedition, since he was along as a guest artist. He wanted to challenge Bierstadt who was the reigning western landscape painter (they actually had a squabble later about each wanting Congress to buy one of their paintings).

I remember first studying Moran and I was so impressed at the influence his (and Jackson's) artwork had on the creation of Yellowstone as our first national park. Years later, Jackson wrote: "The watercolors of Thomas Moram and the photographs were the most important exhibits brought before the committee." Hiram M. Chittenden also wrote: "They did a work which no other agency could do and doubtless convinced everyone who saw them that the regions where such wonders existed should be carefully preserved to the people forever." Amazing. His paintings were the first color images of Yellowstone anyone in the East ever saw (but native Americans had been living in the area for a long time). The power of art, my friends.

Moran's second painting of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Finished! Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Lower Falls.

The studio...

Canyon

Canyon

Unique colors...

...and textures.

Packed up and ready to hike back.

Pics from earlier today...dead trees from a forest fire and new growth underneath.

Casual.

Yes, this is my good side he says.

A JMW Turner landscape, as a point of reference for the artist Moran and his brother studied.

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