20/30 Zion drawings- Entry to the narrows

Another popular hike are the beautiful narrows. Yet at that time of year the water was still really cold, and if any of you really know me I don't really like the cold so needless to say I was content standing around, on the warm dry river bank, taking pictures of the more daring people embark on thier cold wet adventure. 

19/30 Zion drawing- morning guests

Artists in residence here at Zion national park get to stay at the historical Ghrotto cabin. It was centered in the park so we weren't too far away from anything, especially the the wildlife. Early in the mornings I would walk to the window to find the group of deer grazing on grass as well as a flock of wild turkeys. The turkeys were definitely less trusting then the deer, when I tried to go outside to take some pictures the turkeys would run away but the deer didn't seem to mind. There were even fox paw prints around indicating a nocturnal visitor had stopped by. 

17/30 Zion drawings- playing at the river

The Virgin River is a beautiful place and it's the reasons we have Zion national park at all. Families come from all over the world to see its creation, and sometimes add a little back. :D I sat around a little while watching kids try to skip rocks across the river. 

18/30 Zion drawings- star gazing

I grew up in the city where at night all you could see were house lights, car lights and street lights. You couldn't look up and see the stars because of all the light pollution. (That's what my astronomy teacher called it) some times you could turn off all the house lights and look up in the sky and see some of the brighter stars but nothing beats going out into the country where there are no city lights for miles and looking up at the sky! That's how it was in the park. The stars were bright and beautiful. You could clearly see the milky way stretch across the sky. And I wasn't the only one to enjoy the speticle, there was a group of night hikers there identifying the constellations. 

16/30 Zion drawings- dinner party

In the afternoon/evenings there was a family of deer that would come down to graze on the grass near the Ghrotto cabin where I was staying. This area is also near the trail head to Angels Landing so many visitors rested and ate lunch in this area. Dinner anyone? 

15/30 Zion drawings- field trip

One day I planned on going to the visitor center at Zion park to look around at the gallery space where I would be showing my work. While I was looking around, I noticed a group of students being guided around by a park ranger. I thought this would make a good addition to my body of work so I quietly snuck around the corner to take some photos so not to interrupt the ranger's teaching moment to already distracted kids. It's fun playing stealth artist :D 

14/30 Zion drawing- the onlookers

While in Zion we saw many different types of animals. It was fun watching other people interact and react to the animals but I know I was excited to interact with them too. One afternoon my wife was taking a nap and I was relaxing after a hike, when she started screaming and called me into the room. She was hearing a noise near the window rattling the window shades. As I investigated, a little lizard popped out from behind the blinds. We cought it and  took it outside and let it go but not before taking a couple of pictures

13/30 Zion drawing- wonder and amaze

I was walking a long behind this couple when they stopped and just gazed up taking in the scale of the mountain formations. It was a nice stollen shot and beautiful landscape. 

12/30 Zion drawings- family sunset

This black and white drawing doesn't do the colors in my reference photo justice. The colored are beautiful and I hope to capture them in my colored print but for now your just going to have to take my word. 

11/30 Zion drawing- edge of discovery

10/30 Zion drawings- old time tour

Visitors to the park can take a horse guided tour like they did in the founding of the park. Walking through rivers and over rock formations, it's a beautiful way to experience the park. Well I would imagine it is. I haven't taken a horse guided tour but it looks wonderful. 

9/30 Zion drawings- Mountain top Victories

At the tops of these mountain, people can be observed celebrating their courage, determination, and will power. With arms stretched victoriously out wards like Olympic athletes after a race, hikers take moments to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. Through pictures they document the emotions of satisfaction and excitement and accomplishment. This was fun for me to feel myself as I hiked through Zion park as well as see other hikers experience this. 

8/30 Zion drawings- brothers lookout

From the top of the canyon peaks, you get a greater sense for just how wonderful this place is. How for thousands of years before, the Virgin river has cut and carved the canyons now standing thousands of feet above the ground. These are incredible views. And off in the distance you see the road, bringing your memory back to where you started and remembering how far you came. 

7/30 Zion drawings- the accent

Angels landing is a beautiful hike and a beautiful rock formation. It jets out from the other mountainous cliffs and has sheer cliff edges on either side. There is just a narrow land bridge that you hike to reach the top. While holding on to chains for support, hiking up this mountain makes you question your determination and sanity. But as you keep hiking, keep putting one foot on front of the other, you get closer and closer to the top and a new fire of excitement burns within. Fron the top the views are breathtaking. Well breathtaking is more of what you experience hiking up Angels Landing but the views are also breathtaking. 

6/30 Zion drawings- hiking

Again there are so many people leaving the luxuries of modern life to reconnect with nature. Taking time out to explore the beautiful aspects of life around them. This is what I wanted to focus on with my art in this project. 

5/30 Zion drawings- portrait of the patriarchs

Just as abundant as hikers in the park are photographers. Professional and hobbiests alike people are taking pictures to capture the beauty of nature and capture the memory of thier experience. 

4/30 Zion drawings- with the ranger

So while I was out hiking the beautiful park, I was gathering reference photos from people I would see along the way. I did this by conspicuously holding my camera in my hand down at my side while people walked by and just snapping away in hopes for a good shot. Also as people walked past I would turn around and take a shot of them walking away from me with the landscape in the background. I would also look for people doing something interesting and hope they didn't notice I was taking pictures in thier general direction. For the most part people had no idea I was photographing them, but every once in a while I felt like I cought someone's eye and they sensed they knew what I was up to. 

Here were some images I gathered of a ranger out talking with visitors about the park. Again I captured these photos while they weren't looking to keep the moment natural. So here is my 4th idea for my print series

3/30 Zion drawings- skirel!

This was one of my favorite moments while I was there in Zion. We were hiking down a pretty easy trail that was paved which ment that a lot of families hike this area. While we hiked I was stopped by this sound "skirel!" (Squirrel) A little girl around the age of 1or 2 was walking with her grandma when she stopped because she saw a squirrel. She pointed excitedly then walked over to it slowly and just watched the squirrel. It was fun to watched this girl connect with nature especially at that time because my wife was pregnant and we were just a few months away from having our little girl. 

2/30 Zion drawing- to the top

Everywhere you look there are hikers in Zion. For native Utah'ns and those from outside the state hiking up the various trails in Zion park is exciting and nerve challenging way to experience nature. There are feelings of thrill and anxiety as you hike up Angels Landing steep rocky trail. 

So here is my new sketch in my series, hiking the steep trail to Angels Landing.