Showing posts with label art camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art camp. Show all posts

Friday, May 20, 2016

Painted Canoes and Worn Out Shoes

Just met a soft-spoken, unemployed civil engineer who, five years ago, decided that sitting around worrying about his lack of employment due to the "Depression' was not getting him anywhere so he started to walk across the country.
He's walked the eastern seaboard from Key West to Canada, some Pacific trail and several others. He was now walking from Missouri (his home and where his wife is located) to New York following trails and connecting roads. He had one midsized pack on his back and a couple of hiking poles with some serious miles on them.
I wanted to find out if he was a little nuts because he looked a little light in gear for the Kekekabic trail which is a four-day adventure in rugged terrain.  I had recently spoken with a deputy sheriff from Lake County who had to go in a few weeks ago to rescue two guys who only brought with them a battery operated GPS (and no map or compass!!!) which they lost by dropping it when crossing a fast-running creek.   It was fresh in my mind what can befall someone on the Kek trail when they get lost or the weather goes south quickly.  I didn't want to see another guy get himself in trouble, hence the reason for my questioning his preparedness and mental state.  I figured I could always call the sheriff's department once he was out the door and they could catch him.
After a bit of conversational questioning and general Iron Range nosiness, I found out that he refers to the current recession as the Depression and doesn't believe it is actually merely a recession.  I also saw that he had the correct maps and a smartphone.  He claimed he had a satellite emergency notification system (like a Spot), a GPS and plenty of food tucked in that pack.  He sounded sensible, not overly certain, and quite capable.  It was after all that when I found out he was a civil engineer by trade.
The Painted Canoe of Ely
The Painted Canoe of Ely
I mentioned that "my walk across the country" was in that canoe resting upright on sawhorses before him.  I explained that with the depression and increased competition for even less discretionary dollars, retail business slowed down in our store so dramatically that starting last June I fell back to my one ability that nobody can take from me.  That would be my ability to paint.  I pointed to my painted canoe and told him that the silver lining in terrible business is that I was afforded the time and opportunity to  do something really different and The Painted Canoe of Ely was born.  For just over two months and almost 400 hours of work, I painted this aluminum canoe with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness -past and present-  to the best of my ability to make something unique to Ely that hopefully people would travel to see.  It became my obsession, my Sistine Chapel.  And while Michelangelo easily runs astronomically large circles around me artistically (it's really close to zero comparison), he never painted a canoe.
I told the hiker that this was the very first thing I ever painted in my life in which my end goal was not to sell it.  I've pretty much sold every piece that I ever painted, but this canoe was different for me.  I was very happy that I was actually able to do this and am quite content with the outcome.
He walked around the canoe, pausing and bending to examine the detail of the various scenes as they changed along the freeboard.  He mentioned the 3D effect that some of the trees had along with the  depth of the images.  I attributed that particular effect to painting on aluminum.  Painting on aluminum offers a visual presentation that stretched canvas won't touch, I explained.  I can't quite figure out why, but it just does, and I really like it.  He appeared to like it  as well.
painted canoe of ely
The Painted Canoe of Ely
He then asked if he could snap a few photos and wanted me to stand alongside the canoe for one of them.  He said that he would never have guessed that walking for hundreds of miles and a chance following of a dirt road would lead him to see something like this work of art out in the woods.  He seemed glad that destiny led him down this path and added that he was sure blessed to be walking across the country like this because this life experience was one that he couldn't even imagine prior to actually doing it.  I offered that one just doesn't get to find the great things and people he's found/met while traveling in a car.  He agreed.
With that, he shook my hand, looked one more time at the canoe and told me that I've "certainly made a lot of lemonade"  and continued on his way.
May his journey continue to be safe and worthwhile.  It was an interesting mid-day for me.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Into The Brush - Saving the Future of Wilderness One Stroke at a Time

Come up and stay with us for an Into The Brush art camp experience.  Learn the basics of painting plus become introduced or re-introduced to the joys of wilderness while staying in a nice, housekeeping cabin.  I think it's going to be a lot of fun for our new art students!  It'll also be an adventure and hopefully something that you'll want to do and share with friends and family for years to come!

Despite what the media says along zealot extremist environmental organizations, wilderness today is quite fine. It's doing well.  very little pollution if any is affecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. Wild animals are still running around. In some cases, it's a little TOO fine - meaning no humans are going to it anymore - it is not down to zero use but the number of humans seeking wilderness in northeastern Minnesota is tumbling.  Supposedly, there used to be 250,000 visitors per year to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the mid 90's. In 2013 the actual number is 114,000 participants and in 2014, it dropped to 97,000!  That is an alarmingly low number relative to the 250,000 back in the day.  We're still waiting for the government to release the 2015 numbers. I expect them to be lower and will post them when I get them. 


Don't you find it a shame that interest in the natural world is dwindling only to be replaced by the digital world and all of it's cheap distractions?  I know it bugs me and that is why I've started the Into The Brush art camp program. The "interest-in-wilderness-death-spiral" needs to stop.

We are going to save the FUTURE of wilderness, one stroke at a time.  Just think about that.  You go on an experience, paint some pretty cool stuff, go outside and play and have a really relaxing time at it.  You then go home,  & hang your cool painting on the wall.  Your friends want to know more about how it was that you did that, along with where was that beautiful place, and before you know it, you are telling the whole story about your Into The Brush adventure.  When they see that you could do it and had a blast, some of them might begin to turn a blinder eye to their electronic distractions.  Maybe they'll want to experience wilderness as well.  If everybody and his/her brother enjoys wilderness among the mature adults, what might the immature adults think?  Those are the ones who will be making the decisions of the future.  It's a lot harder to destroy a place that you like.  Observation + paint = fantastic experience.


If we don't get the word out to people who can think rationally today about the threat of "lack of public interest" for tomorrow, we are going to have a real problem.  Today's kids aren't going to care one bit if the water is drained from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to grow crops in the Heartland of the US where they are literally running out of water in 2016.  That is but only one disastrous possibility that will affect the wilderness of today if we don't get people back into the brush.

The only way to  actually save the future of wilderness is start re-introducing people to it.  Into The Brush seeks to expose students to bettering their observational skills, while applying basic painting skills using the surrounding wilderness of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for inspiration. It will be unique way to get back into the brush and see what one has been missing for all these years!

Find out more at our Northwind Lodge site:  Click Here