New work from my studio. This is a new ongoing series of charcoal drawings based on memory and using on-site sketches to recall selective elements of space and time. I am really excited about these new works and ideas I have for showing them to create a unique experience for the viewer.
Colorado Trail 1
Chimborazo 1
Valles Caldera 1
Toolik 1
El Moro
El Moro, Detail
El Moro, Detail
West Contrabando Dark Sky Site
We recently spent a long weekend in Big Bend soaking in the massive night skies and glowing morning sunrises out of our tent.
Lunch time view between rides, Pen and Ink, BBRSP
Love this candid of Michelle looking up from the mine shaft
Big Bend Ranch SP has an abandoned mercury mine out in the park to explore
Sun baked textures in the desert
View from Big Bend National Park Hot Springs, Pen and Ink
Michelle and her CHUMBA URSA on Crystal mtn trail, yes, those are all quartz crystals!
The mine area has some cool artifacts like this ole’Chevy
Kept my map handy in my Wanderlust Gear Rattlesnake bag, sweet patch from Everything Will Be Noble thanks to Brent Knepper!
Recent fire damage in the Big Bend Nat. Park, native plants will likely come back strong and happy with new seeds being activated by the fires to grow.
We decided to get away for Thanksgiving, chasing the sunshine and trying to escape the rain storms that swamped Austin. Planning for Big Bend we changed gears last minute and headed for the Dragoon Mountains in south Arizona based on a route we found on Bikepacking.com Before the trip, Suzan Bright gifted me her vintage Nikkor lenses from her college days as a photo major at Pratt. So this trip I shot full manual with 35mm and 105mm Nikkor lenses adapted to my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera. The setup was great as it is very packable and the lenses are fast to change and intuitive to use. The fixed lenses increased my battery life by a long-shot which was great for covering this 3 day trip into the backcountry. [gallery type="square" columns="4" link="file" size="medium" ids="1050,1064,1063,1067"]
Thanks to CHUMBA USA for the unstoppable bikes, Wanderlust Gear for our flawless bikepacking bagsets, Maxxis for our burly test tires, Smith Optics for our stly'in helmets and Shimano for our smooth new XT 11 speed drivetrains! Our mix of gear certainly made for a reliable trip!
I am excited to finally have my studio together at our new home. I’ve spent the last year+ focused on sketching off of my bike during trips throughout the US and abroad in Ecuador. I’ll be continuing to seek inspiration through new biking trips coming up to Colorado, Big Bend, TX and Arizona. Some of the sketches will find their way into bigger drawings and paintings in my studio. I’ll be updating the blog with the drawings that the views inspired and a few of my favorite photographs from the trips. Thanks to CHUMBA USA and Wanderlust Gear for all the support!
Working from field studies back in the studio.
Sketching during a brief break in Big Bend, never even got off my riding glove.
View back to Papallacta from climbing up Cayambe Coca, Ecuador
Great Sand Dunes, CO
Great Sand Dunes, CO
Valles Caldera
Valles Caldera
Valles Caldera
New field studies from bikepacking on the Colorado trail are up on my site. Check them out. Here are a few to preview.
Mt Guyot
View from West Ridge
View from West Ridge 2
The park entrance promises great skies and open fields under dark mountain ranges with pinion and ponderosa pines.
Michelle stalks her prey: subtle videos of grass blowing on the prairie, emphasizing scale and movement.
Enjoying a beautiful dirt road ride out into the grasslands of the caldera. There were many opportunities to sketch and photograph.
Michelle barreling past me as I stop for more photos.
Conte and Ink Sketches
Pictures of my sketches coming soon.
Kody and I are in Breckenridge, Colorado working for CHUMBA USA, an American made mountain bike manufacturer, at the Breck Epic. After spending the week supporting our riders and racing ourselves we got a few days off to get into the backcountry. What says recovery after 3 days of racing like 3 days of bikepacking?! We loaded up our bikes with food: avocados, quinoa, dried beans, fruit, some candy bars and oatmeal, camping gear, our cameras & sketch books and set off literally into the sunset.
DAY 1: Pushing up to the tree line of the Ten Mile range at sunset, hiking with our bikes up to 12000′.
Finally near the top it is “flat” enough to ride again.
The sun is going down, but we haven’t traversed the peak yet.
At the peak at 9:00 PM, the Milky Way is arching right above us, terrain is all bowling ball sized rocks.
DAY 2: After a long night of hiking our bikes down from the peak in the dark, Kody and I slept in until 10 AM and then enjoyed a nice fire, coffee and breakfast.
Recharged we set out on the trail again, now enjoying our first hard earned descent.
Coming up hill I saw this incredible light hitting the grasses and had to stop.
Inspiration, I love the contrast in textures.
We came up on so many great views, but it was easy to choose when to sketch. You just know. All of the sudden I just had to stop. This happened a number of times, it was very exciting. Luckily, I chose a good riding partner who was equally enthralled with photographing. Kody was happy to enjoy the opportunity to shoot.
Warming up after another long day on the bike.
Kody plays with long exposures again, this time with our fire lighting up the trees. I was ready for bed, worn out after riding, starting a stubborn fire and eating the last of our dinner food. Though I agree, you have to shoot that Milky Way!
DAY 3: We went a bit overboard on lunch yesterday and only had a pack of oatmeal and some dates/apricots to split today. We still had enough energy to enjoy the views and I couldn’t help but pull off and sketch again.
We made it to Georgia Pass. Not sure how far our ride was, but it felt far, so I’ll say it was. From Copper Mtn at RT 91 to Georgia Pass to downtown Breckenridge nearly all on the singletrack of the Colorado Trail. Tough trails and fun trails, I have added respect for Continental Divide riders.
Kody doing a victory lap before our final descent down to town and finally to breakfast. Once we hit town, around 2PM, we were so hungry we went out and bought two breakfasts and a pitcher of warm coffee each at the Blue Moose Diner.
One last sketch, I will post some images from my sketch book when I return in a few weeks from Colorado and New Mexico.
Thanks to Kody for always having the camera ready, CHUMBA USA for the reliable bikes, Wanderlust Gear for the well designed bikepacking bags, and to Orange Seal for keeping us flat free all ride!
Photos courtesy of Kody Gibson and CHUMBA USA. 2014 Copyright.
the benthos 
