The mountains were calling, so I went. But to be honest, the mountains are always calling.
A trip to the mountains doesn’t happen every weekend, so I make the most of it each time I go. I didn’t have room in the car for oil paint and canvas, so I used my iPad instead!
To those who are not experienced in painting from life, there is a stark difference between what we capture in photographs and what we see in person. The range of light and shadow, the complexity of colors, and the atmospheric elements are just a few of the things that can only be truly viewed through the human eye.
Painting in the great outdoors is more than just a way to study light, texture, color, and form—it is a practice in patience and peace. Instead of podcasts or Spotify, you have the wind in trees and birds overhead. In that quiet, it is only you and the nature around you. In this silence I am both stilled and challenged, but that may just be a side effect of putting my phone away.
The Smoky Mountains and Appalachia as a whole is a place I feel at peace, and at home. The scenes here are so familiar to me: wet mosses on old stones, growing in lively bunches beneath an overcast canopy of clouds and trees; hidden waterfalls surrounded by dense foliage, constantly drinking from the clear stream; the feeling that at every moment you are surrounded by a plethora of living things, both large and minuscule…it is a spiritual place for me. This forest holds the memories of many millennia, and the peoples who came before left their footprints on every trail.
Every time I go back, I find something new to love about this place. If I painted this forest for the rest of my life, it would not be enough to understand it. It is impossible to capture true magic, but I’m so glad to be able to visit.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and that you find time to be in nature today~
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