NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: White Mountain Resolutions

Formidable Weather
9X12   pastel   $125

WHITE MOUNTAIN RESOLUTIONS

When the "trail" to my mailbox seems formidable, the ground from house to studio is an ice rink, temperatures are sub-zero F, and knee replacement rehab precludes snow shoeing and skiing, it's time to bring out my Three Point Program, a sure cure for abolishing blues and banishing boredom!   

POINT ONE:  RE-EVALUATE
Nostalgia is comforting, like re-reading favorite books, getting together with old friends. Nothing like the past to remind us of fun we've had  and stir memories of trails and travels we had put off. The "Roads not taken," to paraphrase  Robert Frost, have changed, but we can go back and pick up some of those ideas.

 For me re-evaluating means revisiting the paintings and photos of old adventures. Among the best of those memories are the Appalachian Mountain Club huts…the family at Lake of the Clouds, friends at Galehead, other friends at Greenleaf! And the hut not yet visited? Lonesome Lake.  

Galehead hut, white dot lower left, at the
 base of Galehead with Franconian Ridge in the background

Old memories certainly spark new ideas, doubly true for Painters. First the planning and  adventure, then the sketches, the photos and memories, the planning and process of painting, and finally the product. Reliving the scene multiple times, for me is "getting lost in the mountains" without need of rescue!  

Predictably, re-evaluating leads to 
POINT TWO:  REVIVE OLD RESOLUTIONS
Those memories I'd planned to paint? I blush to think of how long ago I wrote a poem about trees, with resolution to illustrate it. No detective needed to recognize my obsession with trees, obvious in my website, my former blogs and my home studio/gallery. 

Resolved two years ago …to paint each of the huts in its panoramic surroundings. Any hiker knows the feeling of first sighting the hut you are heading towards, or sighting it again as you have left it behind, sometimes only a white dot. Check my website section under "White Mountain Trails"  (http://barbaramcevoyartist.com/site/White_Mountain_Trails.html) for the "white dots of Greenleaf and Zealand.

Lake of the Clouds hut, in the mists.
 taken from slope of Mt. Washington, with Monroe in the background.

SO, RESOLVED, in 2015 I will finish the hut paintings and the Album of Trees!, aiming for June!! 

POINT THREE: 
NO YEAR IS A NEW YEAR WITHOUT A NEW ADVENTURE PLANNED…That's what February is for.  
My plan is to get to Lonesome Lake hut, the only one I haven't visited. 
And February is planning time, so look for another adventure or two in my plans?
If you've been only looking at Scenes from NH, why not plan to make them a reality?
Or make one of the huts your resolution? 
What's your choice?