ITS ALL ABOUT ART

Almost daily painter, traveler and art lover
It's all about art, what else is there?
@lisahutart on instagram

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Long Road Trip: Week 2 - Camping with Horses

The next few days we drove up 101 along the coast of Oregon and Washington. We've had perfect weather, chilly at night and 70 during the day. We are trying to find camping as we go, fun for Ed but nerve wracking for me.

I'm using a variety of apps; national and state parks, allstays, hipcamp, compendium, harvest host, and google maps to find spots and there was nothing available. Tricky with slow and intermittent cell service too.

So, in the afternoon we figured we'd start at Horsfall campground near North Bend, OR and work our way up the coast. A helpful ranger got us a spot right away at Wild Mare campground - told us it would fit the trailer just fine since it was meant for campers with horses. Sometimes winging it works.

Often, the prettiest flowers are near the dump station
Poppies - pastel


Camping neighbors from Idaho that like riding on sand dunes

Found a Brewery for dinner in Coos Bay - keeping everybody happy


Most of my sketches on the beach now have natural sand in them

Such a pretty drive but so many places we didn't get to pull over,
because if you don't see a large area to turn the trailer around ...  you need to roll on by

Farther up the coast we headed to Jessie M. Honeyman State Park. I lucked out and reserved the only spot available online, for one night. We wished we could have stayed longer, it was fun hiking up sand dunes right behind our camper. I tried sketching but the wind pelted me with sand (and my art, paints, etc.) so I gave up and headed back to the camper.

We did stop at a couple of lighthouses, and saw some stunning views - but we missed a lot of them for lack of seeing a space to pull the camper in and turn it around.

Then we camped at our 2nd harvest host, the Blue Heron French Cheese Company. This place was crowded with a dozen campers allowed to camp in a field next to the store. Hey, it's free. The place was crowded and an ok spot to stop for the night; but I'm appreciating gravel/concrete pads when you are trying to get the camper level. In a field, it's not always ideal. Luckily, no rain so didn't wake up sunk in the grass.

Blue Heron French Cheese Co. - who doesn't like cheese?

Some interesting facts about Whales we learned at a lighthouse stop

Thanks for reading! Lisa


Monday, July 29, 2019

Long Road Trip: Week 1 part B


Day 3 and 4: Drive to Castle Rock State Park in Idaho. Google maps gave me an alternate route, only an extra 10 minutes about an hour away from our camp spot. Sometimes Google lies. What google didn't tell us; it was a washboard dirt road for 27+ miles so we rattled a few screws loose in the camper. Literally.

Beavertail Cactus were in bloom in the park
Acrylic 12x12

I have many sketches of barns adding up because I feel the need to draw
every single barn we drive by. Barn obsessed.

Cleaned my pastels and right before we left realized I left the lids in Denver. Not something you can just run out and pick up - foam padded lids to my plein air box. So, I've got the pastels in other boxes but still needed to bring this to attach to my easel and tripod. Not efficient.

This old barn behind Tracy's General Store in Almo, ID

Then we were off to Boise, ID. Our highlight was seeing Shoshone falls near Twin Falls. Every single thing we drive by has a unique beauty to it, it's so fun seeing new things and going to places we've never been before. Very grateful.

Shoshone Falls, ID


Day 6: Drove through Bend, OR and would love to come back and spend more time here. A pretty park in downtown, a real art gallery, cute downtown area with shops, etc. After a brewery and dinner stop, headed south to be as close to Crater Lake as possible. I have 20 or so paintings in my head just hoping for time to get them on paper one day.

Day 7: Spent the day at Crater Lake National Park. Ed did a 33 mile ride around the rim and I got to paint. We did a short 1.6 mile hike up to Watchman Lookout for even more incredible photos.
Like most spots, it was empty and beautiful at 8 am but by noon packed with tourists, kids, buses and way too many people.

Paint spot along Crater Lake rim near the Lodge

Then I sketched the Lodge

Crater Lake National Park
Pastel 9x12

Most of my art is posted on Instagram here. Thanks for reading!

@lishutart on instagram
"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." Rumi


Friday, July 26, 2019

Long Road Trip: Week 1 part A

Hi friends - you all know how much I love a road trip and now I'm on a long one. My husband and I are traveling with our 24" camper across the Northwest. He's biking and I'm painting. Actually we are doing a lot of driving, camping, cooking, seeing stuff, googling stuff (when we have service) and taking photos. The only bad thing about camping is slow cell service, no wifi - but it's also the great thing about camping. I don't realize how much I just google stuff ... until I can't.

Starry Hollow Ranch - Utah

Day 1: We camped at Green River Campground in Dinosaur National Monument, it was really pretty along the river - but 100 degrees. No hookups, so I'm already grateful for the generator Ed bought last minute because all women in their mid 50's deserve AC, camping or no camping.

The drive was beautiful; fields of yellow Mules Ears, paintbrush and just a few lupine.
I managed one sketch but the mosquitos were relentless, I gave up and ran for the camper. We visited the Josie Morris cabin (how interesting was she! - She was married 5 times and hung out with some bad cowboys - read about her here).

Campground along Green River - Dinosaur National Monument

Day 2: we camped at a Harvest Host - a network of farms, wineries and museums that let you camp for free in a boondocking kind of way. Then you repay the kindness by purchasing from their farm, store or winery. Starry Hollow Ranch, a private farm outside of Salt Lake City was a beautiful spot, 22 acres with views all around. There was a barn, chickens, goats, alpacas, horses, dogs ... a few of my favorite things :) Genny was a great host, we toured the garden and I learned a lot about chicken eggs. We had a quick stop, I managed one painting of their view. I have several sketches not completed yet, lots of photos and good intentions.

Our spot next to the barn

A beautiful evening walk

The goats slightly curious as to what a plein air setup was

Sunset at Starry Hollow Ranch


Most of my art is posted on Instagram here. Thanks for reading!