autumn morning vista ~ brush creek ranch, wyoming
24" x 36" ~ oil on canvas
Wyoming. I'd never really known it. 'Spent a few nights in Laramie a few decades ago. And twice I cut through on the way home to New Mexico from Oregon — once, skirting the Tetons (what an awe-some sight!), the other time cutting across the eastern sagebrush. Unfortunately I was in a hurry to be on my way and was unable to savor deeply the beauty of the landscape I was passing through.
Then in 2014 I was offered a gift: A chance to spend four weeks as an artist in residence at the 30,000 acre Brush Creek Ranch [BCR] in south central Wyoming. Each early morning and late afternoon I would head out across the ranch to explore. In between I worked in my studio, inspired by all that I'd seen and experienced during my outings. I spied minx, moose, raptors, caught a trout, hugged countless cottonwoods and fell in love with the strange and spooky hudoos on what surely must be one of the most beautiful acreages in all the west.
While the BCR is in full operation, sadly the pandemic forced it to shutter permanently its artist residency program. I'll be forever thankful that I was one of the lucky ones who got to spend time there. What a gift.