Impression Evergreen

"Golden Eagle" Colored Pencil Perfectly integrated into its environment, the golden eagle is a highly evolved bird of prey. The regal dignitary is a versatile hunter armed with an array of deadly cutlery. This keen-eyed, king of the birds may be the most impressive monarch in the animal kingdom. The imperial eagle has been an everlasting symbol of strength and power. An icon of religious adoration, the golden eagle was revered in ancient Rome as the god Jupiter's personal messenger. Speeding across the heavens with astonishing speed and maneuverability, it was thought to have thunderbolts in its talons. A world away, Native Americans also worshiped the Thunderbird. They believed this sacred deity was a link between mortals and the Great Spirit. When falconry flourished in Europe, the esteemed eagle was flown by kings only. Gliding between cliffs from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Plains, the golden eagle is one of the most fierce predators on the planet. If ...

"Evergreen Lake Spring" After a tiresome winter, it's finally spring at Evergreen Lake where everything appears back in perfect order. The trout are jumping, ducks are quacking and dippers are dipping. Rushing out of the rugged Front Range, Bear Creek becomes a lazy river as it enters the wide reservoir. The foreground features sparkling highlights that flicker across the icy inlet. On land, the variety of fresh vegetation displays a rich diversity of size, shape and color. Known as Elephant, the big, gray butte concludes the background while wispy, white clouds sweep across a cerulean sky. An arched footbridge transports the ambler to a winding boardwalk through a marsh of soggy cattails. The yellow reeds are a place where red-wings make a ruckus over food, relationships and intrusion. Despite the blackbirds' disruption, most creatures consider the warmer weather a Godsend. Pressed beneath an arctic crush, we welcome spring as an uplifting transition to a ...

"Sneffels Range Spring" Colored Pencil Tucked discretely below the Dallas Divide, the Sneffels is a scenic sub-range of the San Juan Mountains. The confusion of untidy crags is a rugged remnant of an ancient volcano. It's late spring but bare rock is beginning to emerge from a shroud of heavy, winter snow. A row of crooked cottonwoods is an elaborate gateway into the Colorado wild. Patches of delicate dandelions are scattered throughout the lush meadow while an assembly of blazing brush complicates an already busy foreground. As a gray sky drizzles the landscape with cold rain, receding into the distance, colors cool from violet to blue-green. A series of spectacular buttes is a scenic prelude to an awesome alpine environment where a single, cautious stroke defines the ragged peaks. Composed from equal parts image, experience and memory, this drawing was not meant to hang on a wall. It's more of a sketch than a showpiece. A little bit looser and fabricated ...

"Maroon Bells" Colored Pencil Years ago after a heartbreaking winter, all hope was lost. The apathetic winds and embittered cold were just more salt in the wound. Unable to recover, an excursion to the medicinal Maroon Bells offered rebirth. The mountain refuge promised restfulness, remedy and reinvigoration. Springtime in the Rockies is so pretty. Nothing in nature can match its perfection. After a dreary dark-season, the longer luminance sparks a renaissance of optimism, light and life. Decorated with patterns of pure green, the entire landscape is laid out with unabashed affection. The muddy path to Maroon Lake is an uplifting pilgrimage to Colorado's scenic paragon. The regenerative powers of such an enchanting place is simply undeniable. It's outlet blocked by broken branches, the deep-blue lagoon is bordered by grassy banks and bushes. Commanding the composition, the rugged, purple peaks are serrated with wedges of white snow. Yellow wildflowers dot t...

"Monument Canyon" Colored Pencil Out in western Colorado, the pinon-covered plateau is sliced by a peculiar gorge that appears more alien than Mars. Under a searing, summer sun, Monument Canyon is an inconceivable gateway to the Great American Desert but this sweeping panorama isn't make-believe. Like some garden of unearthly delights, chiseled sandstone pinnacles tower above a devil's den of arid habitat. The dazzling landscape is distinguished by sharp contrasts in value and color. In order to express the oppressive heat, a palette of warm tones is required. Beaming down from above, a radiant light polishes the red rocks with bleached highlights and dark shadows. Below, colors clash on the canyon floor where passages of green brush speckle the scorched earth. Behind, a hazy shelf of Book Cliffs becomes blueish-gray. The piece is meant to be an accurate representation of the view from an outstanding overlook along Rim Rock Drive. So if it seems like a stud...

"Dragon Duel" Colored Pencil "Riddles my weapons. Answers my shield. Though you battle with wit, I'll never yield." Slowly the clamped teeth loosened. The watching dragons collectively sighed in disappointment. But the confrontation was not over. "My wit is quite sharp," responded the leader, "as sharp as my claws and teeth. One wound means your life as surely as this battle will. "And if my riddle wounds you?" asked Strange One. "You and your servant leave here alive. You, as an unnatural dragon, are outcast and banished from the gatherings forever..." My friend, Cindy Schuricht, asked me to illustrate the preceding passage for the cover of her new book, Secrets of the Flame - The Power to Protect . Considered a magical fantasy the story is categorized as juvenile fiction. Written in a whimsical format, Secrets teaches us the hard truth about letting go. In the tradition of an American fable, this tale spotlights th...

"Last Dollar Road" Colored Pencil It's a wet spring day in southwestern Colorado. Along a rough edge of the San Juans, sculpted spires are an astonishing work of art. Standing in an ochre meadow, a grove of gray aspen is topped with a canopy of fresh green while olive-colored hills rise into a seamless transition with the silver mountains. Hayden is the prominent centerpiece of this fine bouquet of pretty peaks. Slightly offset, the festive summit to the right is aptly named North Pole. This open passage over the magnificent mesa described here will lead the lucky driver on an epic adventure. To find this place, come down out of the Black Canyon, head south from Montrose along the Uncomphagre Plateau, take a right at Ridgeway and you'll discover the Dallas Divide. Up top there's a dirt path that's an obscure shortcut to the town of Telluride. Snaking through the Sneffels Range, the scenic side-trip may slow your car down but the divine drive will ra...

"Blue Lakes" Colored Pencil On a cold, clear morning near Breckenridge, icy Blue Lakes is a stark land of rock, snow and ice. It's early summer but the orange peaks still dwell in winter's blue shadow. The mountain melt is a gradual process described with gradients of indigo and gold. After a season of somber gray, passages of fluid color are emerging from beneath the thick, white impasto. Long slides of ochre-stained snow descend to the water's edge and are swallowed by the merciless, dark reservoir. Due to the warmer dawn, spectacular bergs of emerald ice are beginning to break apart. The foreground is filled with a confusing jumble of fractured frozen-water where shards of sparkling silver frost succumb to the menacing pond. The array of awesome alps is a monument to an earlier epoch. On this day, the jagged ridgeline is an exciting contour that encloses the entire cirque while a network of slushy snow makes navigating the upper reaches a slippery pu...

"Evening Light Evergreen" Colored Pencil "Through art we can change the world." ~ #twitterartexhibit Regal elk graze peacefully in a rolling meadow near Evergreen, Colorado. Evening light infuses the landscape with a golden hue befitting this heavenly kingdom. It's fall so long shadows form undulating lines across the yellow field. Stately ponderosa pine swirl towards the cerulean sky, trying to soak in the sun's last rays. In the background, a ring of soft blue peaks enhances an already elegant atmosphere. It's such a simple scene but it means so much to me. After years of searching while on a never-ending quest, I feel like I've traveled a million miles. I truly believe this place is where I belong. I'm lucky, this is home. Evening Light Evergreen is my contribution to the upcoming Twitter Art Exhibit: Moss . This unique event is an international exhibition of original postcard art benefiting Home-Start Moss, a nonprofit organizat...

"Bald Eagles" Colored Pencil High above a big, blue reservoir, snow-covered peaks form an impressive backdrop as a pair of bald eagles secure their lofty roost. The fish-filled lake will provide the birds of prey with plenty of food for an entire winter. Always around water, the white-headed raptor is an opportunistic angler. Though an apex predator, it's versatile enough to procure a meal by any means necessary, including hunting, scavenging or outright thievery. Native to North America, the bald eagle is the undisputed emblem of the United States. Pesticides and hunting by paranoid ranchers almost exterminated our national bird but with proper protection, it has recovered and is prospering across the union. A powerful patriot, the high-flying eagle is a symbol of everlasting liberty. We watch enviously as the wide-winged warrior soars freely through spacious skies above, while us downtrodden dreamers remain confined to the earth below.