The Old Road Walking Into Beauty Reception

Sumac Silhouette - Walnut Ink and Watercolor on Paper

     The Old Road paintings and poetry are now on display at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center, 224 Court Street in Viroqua.
     Come by this Saturday August 10, 11am-1pm for our reception. Wander through the building and enjoy a new perspective on the Kickapoo Valley Reserve's favorite trail - the Old 131 Trail, or as we call it,
The Old Road.
    If you have seen this exhibit at VIVA or other locations, here's a chance to enjoy it again, and if you missed it earlier, this is a great time to catch up! Get your veggies at the Farmer's Market, then come on down the street and we'll inspire you to explore the Kickapoo Valley Reserve's endless beauty.
     The Old Road project includes paintings and poetry about what Joanne and I love on The Old Road, a book compiling the paintings and poems, and notecards.
     Part of all proceeds go to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve programs.

     We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

The Old Road Exhibit at Healing Arts Center Viroqua

Bridge 13   Walnut Ink on paper - Susan Cushing

Bridge 13

For years Bridge 13 has 

     spanned the river,

withstanding high waters

     that sometimes rise

over its base.

A passageway on the Old Road,

     framing in rusts and grays,

in every season,

     the wildness of its surround.

Stepping forward over the bridge

     onto the Old Road,

one can become lost,

     absorbed into the all…

vital and free.

Joanne Adragna Shird

The Old Road Walking Into Beauty exhibit of my walnut ink paintings and poetry by Joanne Adragna Shird is now at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center in Viroqua through September. 

Stop in anytime during business hours to view the show. If you missed it at Viva gallery, come enjoy the journey through the Kickapoo Valley Reserve's 'Old 131' trail with us.

Each painting is paired with an original poem to tell of the beauty surrounding The Old Road.

This trail is the old highway along the Kickapoo River between Rockton and La Farge. Long before it was a white man's road, it was used by local peoples and long before that by all the animals that shared the valley. Walnut trees are long time residents here, and have shared their bounty and talents with humans for centuries. I chose walnut ink to represent that long connection between land and people, making the ink from walnuts gathered here. Each picture is framed in a hand made solid walnut wood frame, harvested from local trees. The walnut's lightfast durable ink has been used for centuries and so we have used it to note the continuities between people, land, river, plants and animals, through time and in place.

As I write this, that old river has risen again, to major flood stage. In the past few years the river has been making changes to the landscape with each rise and fall through the valley. Our expressions of what we know and see here every day is changing and so some of these pictures are becoming a record of a certain time in this place, maybe to be compared to a different scene in the future. This is an attribute we had not thought of when creating this project.

There will be an ARTIST RECEPTION on Saturday, August 10th between 11am and 1pm at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center, at 224 East Court Street.

Please join us to celebrate the Kickapoo Valley Reserve beauty, enjoy a unique display of art and poetry, and home made refreshments. 

Saturday is Farmer's Market day in Viroqua. Some fresh veggies and beautiful art are a good combination for your day in town!

An addition to the paintings and poetry, The Old Road Walking Into Beauty project includes note cards and a small book of the paintings and poetry. These are always available at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve gift shop, on etsy and at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center reception.

Painting and Paddling the Kickapoo River

   Now that the flood waters have receded and the mud has settled, the Kickapoo runs clear. A few days ago I was thinking that there was only one day of paddling for me this year. Thinking of paddling inspired a look at photos I'd taken of the river, between Bridges 8 and 14. Each time the river is different. My favorite time to be on the water is just at daylight or as twilight turns to night.

Moonlight on the Kickapoo

   My favorite paddling trips were done for 'bat monitoring'. A full moon night, a flat bottom boat, the amazing and wonderful Bat Monitor ( which gives us both the bat calls in a frequency humans can hear, and a visual pattern of their calls) and a few friends with canoes floating into the magical dark tunnel carried us into a river journey hard to imagine during daylight hours.

   The water was dark, the banks were black, the cliffs were empty vaults of anything we could imagine. Then we would round a bend in the river and the rising moon poured liquid white light into everything that was a moment ago invisible in darkness. One moment we could see nothing but blackness, the next, nothing but light.

   Each time we followed the river's bends into and away from the direction of the moon, we glided from total dark to blinding light.

   During the day, light and how it plays on water and rock, leaf and sand, is much of what I notice when on the river. But color instead of dark and light contrast are daytime's priorities. The cliffs along the river are amazing for the variations in color. Moss and lichen are the most of the source of colors, and they change all the time. One day brilliant red and green covers a large flat cliff close to the water, but later that will be all gone. The colors will be muted greys, browns and greens.

   Here is my November meditation on our beautiful Kickapoo river cliffs. The blues are lichen on the rock; that's really their color.

Near Bridge 8  Acrylic on canvas 9" x 12"

   Now that winter is here, the ice caves are forming and the valley's water puts on a different display, silver, white, grey, making a different world than water makes in the summer. It's fun to go outside and watch the ice form, then come inside and paint the greens, blues and reds of summer.

   Please share this blog if you've enjoyed visiting. Thanks!

   Wishing you happy trails in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, all year round.

Susan

The Old Road Book

Map of The Old Road

       
  First, a warm thank you to the person who purchased The Map of The Old Road. I tried to make it feel like an old parchment map with a little bit of magic and whimsy, so that as it is examined up close, with a lamp softly shining over one's shoulder, memories and imaginings from the forest and water and sky come to mind. Maybe the thought of the walnut trees and the special places found after walking the road over and over will come to mind, and the map may feel a little more alive as the memories and dreams of the beautiful land rise up from the walnut ink's spirit embedded in the terrain of the map.
         Joanne's words so simply and clearly say what The Old Road is about, and what that path through time and landscape mean to so many people. We send this map and poem out to  hold those stories for those in the future who will look, and ponder and then go back out to walk The Old Road.

The Old Road Book

       Making a painting and poem that speaks to your heart yours to take home creates a connection between the artists and those in our community who love the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, and The Old Road.
We also made the book of all the paintings and poems, so that you can share the story easily with anyone. Books have already gone to Canada and Australia, Minnesota and Washington. They are a good way to share your experience of the KVR with someone else. VIVA Gallery and the Friends of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve gift shop in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve  visitor center have the book and you can also find it in my Etsy shop.
        We'd love to hear from you about your experiences on The Old Road. Have you walked it at night, or in different seasons? What do you like best? What are you curious about along the trail?
Maybe we'll meet someday, walking on The Old Road.

Shadow Catcher

Happy Trails,
Susan

     

Sunset on the Elbow River

A big thank you to VIVA gallery for sponsoring my exhibit 'Deep Snow High Mountains' during the month of October. And a big thank you to everyone who purchased a painting. The response to these paintings was heartwarming.

     Now the paintings are on display at the Driftless Cafe through the holiday season. On a chilly day, stop into the cafe, have something wonderful to eat, and enjoy the paintings. Lately I've been enjoying my favorite pizza, affectionately called the "Figgy Piggy".  Mouthwatering bacon, figs, blue cheese and garlic aioli-an unbelievably good combination. But really, you can close your eyes and point to something on the menu and it will be excellent!

     There are more 'mountain paintings' in progress so if you've seen the exhibit at VIVA, stop in at the Driftless Cafe sometime before Christmas to see what might be new on the walls.

     Since Deep Snow High Mountains went on display at VIVA gallery in October, I've been working on catching up with garden cleanup, hauling hay, and generally getting ready for winter. The warm weather has allowed time for the fall outdoor work that didn't get done while paintings were being finished in September. Besides, when it is 60 degrees, with a warm breeze, and the oak leaves are russet and golden in the sunlight, staying indoors just doesn't make any sense. The wind whistles through the eaves blowing leaves up toward the clouds on a sudden gust, warning of changes soon to come; so I know there will be plenty of time later to stay inside and paint. 

     See you at the Driftless Cafe!

Chinook

                                         Between the Clouds - oil on canvas 18"x24"

  All the snowy mountain paintings are done and on their way to VIVA gallery. But the scenes of those beautiful, amazing mountains are still filling my head, so I'm going to keep painting for a while. Remember to stop by VIVA gallery in October and take a virtual tour of some of the seldom seen places from the back country trails of Canada's western mountains.

        
     
   

Changing Weather - Rogers Pass

                                              Changing Weather - Rogers Pass
                                                      Acrylic 12" x 24"

     Imagine 15 degrees below zero, more or less, a clear bright blue sky, blindingly bright snow and your friends and you are slowly moving up the mountain side on skis. The morning is spent in a long climb and your pack full of avalanche gear and all the necessities of back country winter travel is feeling heavy. But the top of the climb is near. Suddenly, the rising ground ends and a vast space opens up; clouds and snowfields drop away below your feet and fade into the distance. Rising over the chasm a mass of dark cloud blocks the sun. Everything below is shadowed purples and blues. Mist and cloud fall down the distant canyons into what seems like bottomless space. The wind picks up. Standing on the col, you are on the edge between two worlds; the bright, quiet sunlit fields of snowy slopes falling away behind and ahead, the low roar of wind and darkening storm.
    That long, cold ski up the mountain brought my friends and I onto the col where we'd planned to rest and eat our lunch before going onto the Illecillewaet Glacier  but the unexpected drama of this view changed our plans. We simply had to stand around for a few minutes and watch the weather roll in. Of course, then our lunch was shortened and the day's plans modified so we could get back down to a lower altitude before bad weather trapped us too far from the hut.
    This view remains one of my favorite of all the spectacular mountain views I was so fortunate to know skiing in the Canadian backcountry. I always knew it was a painting, and finally it is!
     If you ski, here's some information on this spectacular Canadian backcountry destination:
Rogers Pass

Rogers Pass ski routes

   While doing this painting, our Wisconsin snow has turned to rain, the grass is greening, birds sing and winter is finished for this year. But I'm inspired about painting snow so have another painting started of the Blanket Glacier area in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia.
   Thanks for checking in; please share this blog, and leave a comment anytime!
Susan
   
                                                 

 

Sunrise On the Trail to Bow Hut

 

   This painting was a lot of fun! It's been many, many years since I've painted a wall sized mural and since starting to paint a couple years ago, have been using canvases no larger than 9x12 inches.  This 48x36" canvas was given to me by a friend. There are a lot of unused art supplies in people's closets, and I am the fortunate beneficiary this time.

   After preparing the surface, it was ready to become my first large painting. Time to paint!

   For many years we did extensive back country skiing in Canada. Everywhere we went offered spectacular scenery and lighting. Trying to get photos of the gorgeous light and colors wasn't possible with cold hands and a very basic camera and I always wanted to paint what I saw. The scene on this blog's home page is my first mountain painting (8x22") but the big canvas inspired me to do another backcountry scene.

   I started by making color samples and value studies.

   The photo reference was one hazy mass of vague shapes due to the glare from the low morning sun. Many ski trips found us far from the road by the time sunlight reached the valleys. This was a beautiful time to be in the trackless snow fields under towering peaks.

   There are numerous problems with the above value study; primarily the light is coming from all over the place! Hmmmm....should have looked a bit more closely before putting all that paint on....

 A few more value sketches were done then I just jumped in and laid out the idea on the big canvas.

      Building values.....

     I don't like the direction this is going. At this point I painted over much of it and made it much lighter in value, and changed the light to come from the left side of the picture. The sun is still behind the mountain, the night's clouds are breaking up and floating away in the warming (relatively speaking) air and each angle of slope reflects a different amount of light.

  

    This is starting to work better but it's a long way from finished. I've saved adding the people into the scene until now. There were seven of us on this trip but that was too many for this picture; but since everyone is bundled up and unrecognizable, we can each imagine we are there in the picture.

   By this time life got a bit complicated due to the need to wear a Big Black Boot for 6 weeks.

Suddenly I was very appreciative of Frieda Kahlo's  challenges, and her courage and commitment to her art.

   Oops, there are some awkward things going on with the clothes and positions of people, not apparent in this dark and blurry photo so this is still very much a work in progress. Shadows, clouds, people...all need some adjustments. Keep working!

   This painting took about two weeks to do. At this time it's 'finished'. The quotes mean it gets put away for a while, then taken out to review. Anything that shows up then gets fixed, or if it's the best I can do at this time, it's really done.

   Thanks for checking on this blog; Please share and let me know what you think.

Warner Creek Winter Reflections

   Warner Creek flows south along a rock wall that catches light only in the mornings. The low angle of winter light makes beautiful reflections along the cliff at this time of year. When the trees are leafy, the area is very shady but in winter it is bright and full of color.
   This pastel was started a while ago but I knew it had some problems. After Christmas several unfinished pastels, or ones that I was just not happy with, were taken out, set up where I could look them over and get comments from others as they walked by, and maybe finish. This was one of them.

   The dark areas need some softening. The reflections in the water and beautiful colors in the snow shadows were the reasons I was interested in the scene. The dark cliffs were distracting and the trees were a bit stark. A few careful changes brought it to a place I'm more happy with.

The trees, cliff and bridge are not competing with the water at this point. I might try this scene in oils and see what happens. The exposure on each of these photos is slightly different. Improving my photography skills is on the 'to do' list! 

Monashee Traverse

   The painting at the top of this page is a study for a larger oil painting. The scene is in the Monashee mountains of central British Columbia and I am at the top of an icy, rocky, cold and windy place looking down on my friends who have all merrily skied down this forbidding slope without falling down. While assessing my chances of descending to join them without sustaining too much damage the breathtaking light across the far slopes was impossible to resist and since I hadn't fallen on my camera yet I managed to get a few pictures.
   It seemed that everywhere we skied I was left behind on a problematic precipice while my companions zipped away, but the reward was a few dramatic scenes saved for later enjoyment.
   Yes I did ski down that slope and all the others too but as a relatively novice "telemarker" did not have the aggressive technique to be in the lead.
   Now I ponder approaching the Very Large Canvas that this scene will eventually end up on. I love painting murals but have not done that in many years. Starting a big painting feels about the same as heading down a steep slope after not skiing for a long time. But once some momentum is gained it will be a lot of fun. The first step is done of priming the canvas but since it's just a white blank it didn't seem very interesting to add a photo of that stage. Check in later for progress when the colors start showing up.