The Appalachian Trial Painting Series:
I recently went on a trip to the Appalachian Trail section hiking from the Georgia/North Carolina border up to Hot Springs, NC and shared the adventure in my other blog: The Appalachian Trail, In the Footsteps of an Artist. I wanted to share what it’s like to be on the trail for 200+ miles, many times with out any contact, deep in nature. Each day, I jotted down notes in the spare moments and even on the trail as it happened. You’ll read about thoughts (often discoveries), pain, joy, solitude and companionship. You’ll see short video clips, pictures, color sketches and read about all the unexpected events. Out there, life happens to you so much it’s enough just to adapt and hang on. Mostly, words captured the moments of the day, but in those moment when there are no words, I sought to capture those with painting. So, please enjoy the adventure of the Appalachian Trail blog first and you’ll feel a much richer sense of the joy behind the moment these painting are about. Thanks!
This Painting:
This is a view from the trail about 1 mile from Clingman’s Dome, the highest point on the entire 2000+ miles of the Appalachian Trail. We were hiking along a ridge line marking the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, so we literally looked to out left and saw 50+ miles of Tennessee and to the right, the same of North Carolina. This view is of North Carolina.
Later, I took the reference photo and video clip noting the colors I saw to do a quick color study for composition with a very limited pallet:
When I got home, these helped me to relive the moment and paint this scene in a larger scale as shown above.
En Plein Air 
This is beautiful! Really captures the area.
Thank you!
I really enjoyed your blogs. Can you describe or photo your backpacking “kit” for painting?
Sure, I’d be glad to. I’ll post a quick video explaining my kit this weekend. Thanks for asking.
This is beautiful – just like you subject. Great job.
Thanks!