Favorite Places

My favorite places to feel closest to heaven.  It is almost as though God paints the scene differently every single night. Some trees with tiny icicles on each needle, some delicately powdered with fluff on the top of each branch, and then some totally encased in a frozen frosting. These thoughts led me to look at a folder of old shots up on the ski hill.

Probably one of my favorite things is the way light shows through the trees almost as an invitation. Always a thrill and obviously a favorite of mine as I probably have 100+ shots similar to this in my reference photography.

I have done paintings of this frequently and this is one of my early oils.

The shadows are of my husband and me around 2001-02. This was an early morning right after heavy snow that left the trees fully cloaked they looked like hunched over creatures in groups. I loved being on the ski patrol, getting up on the mountain for the first tracks, and watching the mountain transform from sleepy and dark to bright white. No better morning than that. On the hill, the same location never looks the same.

Here is another early morning where I stood for 5-10 minutes in this spot taking shots so I could see how fast the colors changed.

Amazing isn’t it? Okay, so maybe I aspire to be a ski bum. My son gave me a sweatshirt with that on it. Yep. Signed the Hawaiian  X-Ski Patroller.