Painting the Parkway

"Follow your bliss," advises Joseph Campbell.

Anytime I can combine two loves: painting and camping,

well, that's bliss.

I don't "do" watercolor and I really am not a "plein ar" painter.  So what possessed me to attempt both?  The lure of spending time along the Blue Ridge Parkway while camping had a certain cachet about it.  A friend nudged me along suggesting I should paint all along the entire parkway while compiling a visual and written journal of sorts.  When my husband bought into the crazy idea of cycling all 469 miles of the park we were committed!  

Here is a bit of a peek into our first 10 day outing.  Our "Flying Pig II" housed us beautifully in the two most northern national campgrounds, Otter Creek and Peeks of Otter.

not a bad studio I think

our home away from home

very long uphill climbs but Bob got 107 miles completed

I hope the painting gets easier, watercolor is so 

unforgiving...

we were running low on electricity and I "had" to finish

some last marks so I would not forget my scene

I love this photo of my biker all set to take off

this is "Sharp Top" one of the 3 Peaks

of Otter, I even got it stamped at the Visitor Center.

Now that we are parked, unpacked and showered I can hardly wait to go again.  There might be a viable project in this fun after all and I certainly did enjoy the slow rhythm of camping and painting.  Mighty glad I am not on a bike but happy to meet my crazy husband along the way for picnics.  More later, I am still processing all of this.

Blissfully Yours,

Cindy