I took my family backpacking down the coast of Washington State - beginning about 12 miles south of the NW tip. That's the westerly most point. What a huge inspiration!!!!! Between the natural beauty, the wildlife and the petroglyphs, it was hard to ask for more (except maybe a lighter back pack!) It wasn't a huge trip, only about 12 miles over a few days. But boy was it hard on the ankles, hips, knees - deep sand and rocks to pick through at low tide...

A lot of inspirations are now awaiting their chance to become paintings. I also did an experiment. Often when I travel I don't take the time to draw on the spot - too busy attending to details. I recreate the memories later. So this time I did 2 drawings of a grove of amazing old curled trees. The first was done by memory, the second on location. I'm sure the final will be somewhere between the two. But the interesting part (dare I disclose) was that the actual trees were far craggier and more twisted than the ones in my "memory" drawing. It was good I went and saw just exactly how wild they were.