Stella Arbelaéz Tascón was hiking northbound over 107 miles along the Appalachian Trail going through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I joined her for the final 13 miles after I returned from the 75th Infantry Division Reunion in Texas. I was hiking with her when she reached the northern terminus of the park.
After passing out of the Shenandoah park we decided to return to spots along the trail that she had felt would make good paintings. She had taken mental notes but didn’t take the time to paint. We would drive to a parking spot near each location and then hike in. When the paintings were done, we would drive to a nice campground or cabins. We were glamping and I had no complaints.
We decided to paint this trail almost immediately after walking a short way from the parking spot. We both liked the way the light played on the warm trail. It is rare to see a wide trail like this on the Appalachian Trail. Most of the trails are narrow and can be lost if you stop looking for the trail blazes painted on the trees. There is one white trail blaze in this picture on a tree on the left.
Quite a few people walked past us as we painted at this location since they were just starting out on their walks. One guy joked that we should add him to our paintings, but he was I a rush to get wherever he was going. We were not in a rush; we lingered and watched the light change as we painted. My little palette that I had set up was running out of paint, but I still managed to cover the page. If I ran out of a color, I would compensate by using more of another color.
My favorite aspect of this painting is the red dirt trail. I used transparent washed to start and then painted the shadows with more opaque paint. Previous paintings had all used thick impasto. This thin and thick application came about since I was running out of paint, but I think it is a more natural way for me to work. I look forward to experimenting more with gouache.