Inspiration for Mount Everest

My husband Jim and I are very independent travelers. We wanted to backpack in to the Tibetan side of Mount Everest. The Chinese authorities want everyone to pay for an expensive permit and to hire an expensive Jeep and guide for the trip from Lhasa. But since we wanted to backpack for several days, we didn't want to be paying for a car we weren't using. So we got together with Sean, a like-minded Australian fellow, and bussed/hitchhiked from Lhasa to Tingri. No one ever asked for the supposedly required travel permit. From Tingri we backpacked several days to base camp. Much to our amazement, we were the only people there.

Mount Everest was clear and we had an awesome view. After a couple of days of hiking in the area, we walked out along the road for a day. We were finally picked up by a truck driver who spoke not a word of English, so we communicated hilariously through our phrase book.

At the top of a pass we took a rest stop, and this was the view of Mount Everest that I painted.

Inspiration for Storm over Hermit's Peak

Hermit's Peak is the outstanding landscape feature in the part of northern New Mexico where I live. You can see it for miles around as it juts up above the high plains. I'd been doing a series of paintings of the mountain, and wanted to add a summer scene. We get some great thunderstorms complete with big hailstones here, so an imminent storm seemed appropriate. I photographed lots of heavy-looking clouds before choosing these. I placed Hermit's Peak near the bottom of the painting to emphasize the heavy feeling of the approaching storm.

Inspiration for Tracks in the Snow

One day I was going for a walk on my neighbor's ranch. This scene just struck me, and I did a quick pen-and-ink sketch on the spot. I went back home and returned with my camera to take several shots. Back at home I did a quick preliminary painting, and knew I had to do a full-scale one. This was one of those pieces that practically painted itself.

I believe the tracks are coyote tracks, but the rancher who bought the work asked me to paint in a cow behind the fence. I like this version, though, because you the viewer can imagine the tracks to be anything you want.

New Year's Eve at Mt. Chimborazo

For three days my husband and I camped at the base of Mt. Chimborazo, tallest peak in Ecuador, and if you measure from the center of the earth rather than from sea level, it's also the tallest peak on earth. Not a soul in sight. Although this is a national park, the main entrance is on the other side of the mountain. This access road is unmarked and hard to find. Nevertheless, if this were in the US, there would be mobs of people here.

On New Year's Eve, shooting stars puncuated the sky all night. Who needs fireworks? The next morning a heavy layer of frost coated the grass, and the early morning sun turned the cliffs to gold. Several vicunas, wild relatives of llamas and alpacas, were grazing in the meadows. How could I resist painting this scene?