I wanted to paint more snow scenes, but we haven’t had enough lately. So this week I resorted to glaciers and memories of travels in Glacier National Park and the Columbia Icefields in the Canadian Rockies, north of Jasper in Alberta. Both spectacular national parks. It’s sad to realize that in less than 20 years, Grinnell and others have receded, mostly due to climate warming. This is a sketch, followed by another painting from the week’s work.
Grinnell Glacier. Oil on paper, 11″x15″ 2010.
This is the way the glacier looked in 1910, photo courtesy Fred Kiser, Glacier National Park Archives.
and a comparison of 87 years, the bottom photo is from 1997;
I’m crazy about Fred Hersch’s jazz piano compositions and this is a sketch in homage to his piece ‘Heartsong’, from his album, ‘Songs without Words, Volume One’. It’s disconcerting that two of our best jazz pianists, Keith Jarrett and Hersch, have gone through harrowing physical tribulations. Both continue to play sublimely, despite it all.
Heartsong. Oil on paper, 10″x6.5″, 2010.
