Road Through Colorado

 

6x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - not available

In October 2021 we took a trip to Phoenix, AZ. To get there, we drove across Nebraska, through Colorado Springs and ended up in a place called the Rio Grande National Forest. Our navigational system directed us to take the back roads, so to speak. In places like the desert at night with no lights around for miles it was absolutely terrifying, but in the Rio Grande National Forest, I was extremely thrilled to get lost on winding roads through the sea of aspen trees. I drove (and we were the only car around for what seemed like miles), which, of course in the place that we were, meant that I drove about 15 miles per hour and made my husband take plenty of photos from our rental car. I sorted through probably a hundred car photos and landed on the reference photo for the above painting. There was something about these trees that shouted at me "turn back! You're leaving your home!". It was on this road trip that I was confronted with the truth that one day we will live in Colorado. This painting is part of a series I am calling my "diary pages" - not for sale, but paintings that are snapshots of meaningful moments in my life. The first one was the Estes Park plein air painting from October of last year, a view of the mountainside from the deck of the cabin that I got married in. I have plenty of these diary paintings to create, so stay tuned! This painting is part of my personal collection.