Color and Shape Inspirations

My family spent over two weeks this summer visiting 7 National Parks and 1 State Park. We traveled through New Mexico, a bit of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. As a Florida native, the landscape couldn't be more different. I'm used to green trees and blue ocean, with many shades of green and blue represented. I'm also used to the flatness of Florida, which made driving on the cliff roads (no railings!) at these parks rather scarey. I wouldn't say I have a fear of heights so much as a fear of falling. I can hike up a mountain with the best of them, I just don't like it when I don't have a nice wall or railing that will keep me from tumbling to my death.

Anyway, back to the landscape. We visited 5 National Parks in southern Utah, starting on the east side. That means, our first one was Arches National Park. Our base of operation for a few days was Moab, Utah. Before you even get to Moab, you pass a few arches on the side of the road, like Wilson Arch. We're amazed, and immediately jump out of the car to take pictures and hike to it. We didn't realize that once we get to the parks, we'd see hundreds more just like it. But for right now, it's our first arch, and we're going to stop.

 

This is a classic scene of "red rocks." But what do you think when you see this? Orange? That's what I thought as we made our way through several parks. Then we hit Bryce Canyon. That was different, and was clearly orange and not red. These just aren't colors that we see in Florida. And it goes on for as far as the eye can see. I couldn't believe how large these parks were.

In addition to the color inspiration, I was inspired by the shapes. Look at these jagged rocks at Bryce Canyon. Also, notice the horizontal layers in the rocks. I also thought it was interesting that sometimes you'd see nothing but rocks, but here you see a lot of green trees too.

When we were in Taos, New Mexico, we went to Taos Ski Valley and hiked up to Williams Lake. A lot of the hikes are essentially ski runs in the winter. We came across quite a few boulder fields, which my kids from Florida loved to climb.

 

I also loved the algae on the rocks, which told me that they are probably covered in snow in the winter, and wet most of the spring.

How about this gnarly tree? Are you inspired by the twists, layers, and colors?

At some point, I'll create art inspired by my travels. The photos don't even do them justice, but I think I've still got the true colors in my memories.