“It seems wrong to just paint a flower as a flower these days. Shattuck says using this format today gives him an opportunity to layer the paint with purpose. The objects in traditional Dutch still-lifes were symbolic-a freshly peeled orange, for example, signified abundance and wealth. Since returning from the trip, Shattuck has turned several of his sketches and photographs into still-life oil paintings. “It is actually, for a brief period of the year, one of the most beautiful, life-affirming bursts of flowers and animals and creation.” The idea that tundra is a barren, desolate, snowy landscape couldn’t be farther from the truth, Shattuck says. Because of the severity of the park’s weather, when Shattuck asked what kind of camera to bring, he was told “an underwater one.” (He opted for an iPhone sealed in a Ziploc bag.) They move fast this far north, and Shattuck’s trip had to be carefully timed to catch the wildflowers in bloom. The seasons in Gates of the Arctic are full of awe, too. It’s, like, scary-awful, in the old sense of the word.” “The only way I can describe it is like a hallucination of beauty,” Shattuck says before walking that description back. In the mornings, they’d step outside to find fresh wolf prints nearby. At night, Shattuck says, the sound of millions of mosquitoes brushing against the tent gave the impression of a rainstorm. In the land of the midnight sun, they saw grizzlies, watched caribou streaming through the valleys, and stumbled across ancient cairns and hunting blinds. Lugging 65-pound packs, they hiked through the park along a caribou migration route to a Nunamiut town. Shattuck discovered that Gates of the Arctic was home to wildflowers with similarly spectacular names (frigid shooting star, Lapland rosebay, rock jasmine, windflower), and soon he was spending two weeks with two intern rangers tracking them down. So he began painting old-fashioned still-lifes as a kind of memorial to wildflowers like the 10-petal blazing star, ladies’ tresses, and prairie smoke that he found-ironically enough-in graveyards throughout the Hawkeye State. While attending the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he learned that less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the state’s prairie remains. Shattuck’s interest in ephemeral blooms began with the ghost flora of the Iowa prairies. He came to this vast, forbidding wilderness to focus on humble, delicate wildflowers, often smaller than a human finger. Each year, the National Park Service invites a lucky artist to share these abundant natural and cultural wonders, and last June, writer and painter Ben Shattuck made the trek north. The website warns: “Visitors to the park should be PROFICIENT in outdoor survival skills and be prepared to care for their own life and their partner(s) if an emergency arises.” Yikes.īut those who do brave the journey get to see a landscape that “remains virtually unchanged except by the forces of nature,” the website promises. While Alaska Natives have lived off this land for thousands of years, a trip here is not for the faint of heart. Located entirely north of the Arctic Circle, the park has no trails (unless you count those made by caribou), roads, or services-so you must either fly or hike into the park and be ready to fend for yourself. The park’s low turnout has nothing to do with its beauty or size-at nearly 8.5 million acres, all of Belgium could fit comfortably inside Gates of the Arctic-and everything to do with its remoteness. By contrast, Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve saw just 10,047 people-one for every 1,100 of Great Smoky’s draw. ![]() I reserve the right to display logo in my portfolios.Īll images Copyright © Cowgirl Media until purchase is final.Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most visited national park last year, welcoming 11.3 million people to its swath of Appalachia. You will retain all copyrights to the design and files. Upon purchase, this logo will be exclusively yours and will be removed from our online store. It takes approximately 1 – 2 weeks to receive your final logo. You’ll receive a custom logo in high quality file formats (JPG, PNG, PDF, and EPS) along with a logo style guide that explains how to use your logo and the files provided. Once your purchase is complete, you will receive an email requesting your business information so that the logo can be customized. Price includes customization as mentioned, but does not include any modification of the logo vector itself. Logo can be customized with your business name, color palette and font choice. Two existing color variations to choose from, but of course this logo can be customized to suit any color palette. ![]() Originally designed for a boutique farmhouse home decor store, this logo could be used for so many different businesses.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |