Tinker Cliffs

I painted Tinker Cliffs around St. Patrick's Day in March of 1993. There had been a very heavy snowfall a few days before and I was curious to see the view from atop McAfee's Knob after a snow. I also thought the hike would be an interesting challenge since there was about two feet of snow on the valley floor. The hike was exhausting because the ridge up to the knob had between three and four foot snow drifts and I had to break trail most of the way. My gear was very funky; thrift store hiking boots, overalls, a sweater, and my dad's old 1976 down jacket that made me look like the Michelin Man. I had all of my painting gear in a huge yellow dry bag. When I got to the knob just at sunset I painted Tinker Cliffs. The view was spectacular with this amazing glowing pink, yellow, orange, and purple light. I felt so lucky to see such a sight. My little camp chair sank completely into the snow and was useless, so I crouched down in the snow and started painting with tube watercolors onto a watercolor block. I finished the painting in about an hour because as the sun went down the paint began to freeze. I had never seen paint freeze on a painting, and it left beautiful frost patterns in the picture. The hike back was nice but harder because the sun was down and I was tired, but the picture made it worth all the work.