Inktober 2017: day thirty
Paragliders over Firle, South Downs, from the Ouse river near Lewes.
Inktober 2017: day twenty nine
Storm clouds gathering over the i360 in Brighton.
Sketched to the tune of Sunday morning Brighton Pier classics by 10cc and Sophie Ellis-Bexter
Inktober 2017: day twenty seven
I’m sure there used to be coffee table under there somewhere.
Still life with special fried rice and ketchup
Inktober 2017: Day twenty
I ended my last day in the National Parks at Zion, the most lush and colourful. This meant a very early start, to miss the holiday crowds.
A chipmunk nibbling on a prickly pear on the Kayenta Trail
The Riverside Walk takes you up to the start of The Narrows. Which is essentially a hike in the Virgin river, so you need to be prepared. Fancy shoes, dry pants and a wooden pole can be hired for the occasion.
A couple of people setting off up the Narrows. Would love to have done this but sadly, although I had dry pants, I didn’t have the other necessary fashionwear
Ended the day with The Watchman trail. An amazing view up the valley, although the cloud was setting in.
Goodbye Zion.
Now the joy of my world is in Zion
Inktober 2017: Day nineteen
I’m at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona and it’s raining, which makes it feel like Symonds Yat in the UK.
Whilst I sketch, a Chinese woman asks my partner to take her picture. She gradually edges towards me, until eventually, she squats down right next to me, puts her arm around my shoulder, and grins for the camera. She doesn’t look at me, or talk to me. Now that never would have happened in the Forest of Dean.
Another trippy ink moment
Look no vertigo!
A quick stop at the Glen Canyon Dam. 15 feet shy of the Hoover dam.
Then just before Zion National Park, the Buffalo came.
Inktober 2017: day eighteen
Windows or Mac user? Who cares! Lower Antelope Canyon has wallpapers for both.
The canyon is as stunning as it appears in the now famous National Geographic cover photo. The tour moves fast, so I only had time for a some quick outlines, adding colour later in the dusty car park.
The sandstone canyon was sculpted by water and continues to be shaped by flash floods. Lower Antelope is around 45m at its deepest
Holes in the wall (left) and ropes, were used before the staircases were installed
The car park and Navajo coal-fired power plant
Sunset at Horseshoe bend, hopefully back tomorrow for technicolor
Inktober 2017: day seventeen
Walked part of the Bright Angel trail in the Grand Canyon today. I felt quite intrepid until someone overtook me uphill, carrying a baby.
Almost a private studio at the mile and a half resthouse
Another picture of me looking smug
So hard to capture the light as it shifts so fast
I love that when you enter the South rim of the Canyon, you are greeted with pictures of deer and elk, in ever increasing states of ecstasy.
Should come with an age rating
Inktober 2017: day sixteen
Bluff and I got off to a bad start last night. First I mistook the town laundrymat for our hotel (it’s huge). Then I found myself driving through the dark, deserted town on the left hand side. Whoops!
I admit I had fairly low expectations for Bluff fort, but this great museum and its dedicated volunteers really bring to life the story of the town’s first white settlers.
Bluff fort has numerous log cabins, lovingly furnished by the ancestors of the first white settlers
I was struck by the Native American attitude to the land, contrasted with the white settlers who literally blasted their way through rocks, adapting the landscape to meet their unbending needs and faith.
Native American teepee and mud hut, frankly much warmer than the log cabins!
Pre-colour
Post-colour
The only thing to top that has to be sunset at the Grandview, Grand Canyon.
Inktober 2017: day fourteen
Endurance sketching today in Bryce Canyon. Nobody warned me about those bitter cross winds!
I put the full Faber-Castell ‘Terra’ Pitt pens through their paces in far from optimal sketching conditions – stood on a cliff, on a narrow path, in mighty gusts!
7 layers and still chilled to the bone.
A walk around the stunning Navajo loop saw another opportunity to perch precariously for 45 minutes. I really missed my compact little paint palette, as shuffling through a rucksack for the right colour inks on a steep slope is not so fun.
Supreme thanks to my little helper today. You are ‘sweeter than Muscat wine’
After that, a 4+ hour drive to Moab. Some truly eye-watering scenery, if only I could sketch and drive at the same time.
Inktober 2017: day thirteen
I had a request for Halloween pumpkins today. So with just an hour to spare before leaving Vegas for my road trip, I reeled off as many pumpkins at I could.
One of the brilliant Halloween displays on the Linq Promenade
Friday the thirteenth: The gates of hell, where soft rock meets teeny pop. No wonder that fella looks a bit peaky
Sweetly terrifying pumpkin family
cmoorelife 