Posted 31 August, 2010 in Greenland 2010
This is part 1 of series of posts about my High Latitudes Expedition in East Greenland.
Heading to Greenland to paint with walrus researcher Dr. Erik Born, I packed light to avoid baggage fees. Somehow I squeezed everything into the following three bags.
Getting to Greenland is a bit of a project in and of itself, and it took several days of travel to reach. From Seattle I headed to Copenhagen, where I had a layover of one night and took some time to explore and sketch.
The following day, I finally met up with the other members of the walrus project team. It was great to finally have faces for everyone’s names!
All together we flew from Copenhagen to Iceland (where we spent a night) and finally on to East Greenland.
Our destination was Daneborg, which is located at about 74 degrees N within the NE Greenland National Park (world’s largest park). It’s a base for the Danish Sirius Sled Dog Patrol as well scientific research. Flying in, I had my first glimpse of Sand Island, where we were planning to camp for two weeks for the walrus research.
It’s that tiny island there.
But before we were able to head to Sand Island, we had some preparations to do in Daneborg, and I also had time to explore and paint.
17" x 11" Field Sketch, Daneborg at Midnight, Greenland
To be continued in my upcoming post, “Daneborg, Base of Operations”
Posted 30 August, 2010 in News
This Saturday I had a lovely time painting a ceramic bowl that will be glazed and auctioned off as part of a fundraiser for Room One, a non-profit wellness and health center in the Methow Valley. My bowl and others by local artists will be on exhibit in Winthrop and Twisp for preliminary bidding and the final bidding will happen Saturday, October 9th at the Soup Dinner in Winthrop’s Red Barn. Should be a great event! I’m excited to see my bowl glazed— I’ve never painted pottery before. When I was contemplating what to paint, my husband Darin said, “paint what you know…” so the bowl has penguins all around it and a blue interior with one little penguin in the very bottom. I hope it holds many tasty meals for whomever wins it.
Posted 27 August, 2010 in Events
If you’re visiting Twisp in the Methow Valley, you’ve got two opportunities to see my art! I’m delighted to be exhibiting three of my iceberg watercolors as part of the “Weathering Change” show at the Confluence Gallery and I also recently hung a series of my North Cascades and Methow watercolors in the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery (next block down from the gallery). “Weathering Change” will continue through September 18th and the Bakery show through the new year. I hope you have the chance to stop by! If you visit the Confluence Gallery, you’ll also have the opportunity to see beautiful photos by my good friends Benj Drummond and Sara Steele. They are a documentary team that specializes in stories about people, nature, and climate change.
Posted 25 August, 2010 in Greenland 2010, Sketches
I’ve been home just over a week now after a fantastic and productive expedition in Greenland. Highlights included lying flat-out in the sand near walruses and listening to them breathe, watching Arctic Tern acrobatics and mating rituals, painting under the midnight sun, seeing my first polar bear, and sharing time with an amazing team. I want to thank Dr. Erik Born and his colleagues for their support and good humor! As I get myself organized in the coming weeks, I’ll be posting full stories here. I have about 100 field sketches and watercolors, as well as notes, photographs, and audio recordings. I’m excited to share them with you!
Posted 28 July, 2010 in Greenland 2010
Maria has managed to call home twice by satellite phone, and has been enjoying herself immensely. Her days have been mostly occupied with sketching walruses and terns, mapping the island, and assisting the scientists. She has seen one polar bear, and carries a signal gun (for noise) as a precaution when out on her own. She mentioned the thrill of lying down close to a walrus and hearing its slow breathing and huge sighs.
As the wind has picked up, ice blowing in from open water has begun freezing the bay around Sand Island. The team will be on the island for a couple more days before moving camp. Hopefully, Maria will have the opportunity to explore more of the mainland by helicopter.
Stay tuned for more news from the field.
–Darin
