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.