Above: A mosaic of Kolby Kirk's Pacific Crest Trail hiking journals. ©Kolby Kirk. See details below to view this and other images from his journals. If you click on this image you'll go to Kirk's Flickr site.
My friend Heather sent me a link to an inspiring site for hikers and visual journal keepers: The Hike Guy. You can read about Kolby Kirk in his own words at the site and you can look into his Pacific Crest Trail journals here.
Kirk has a lot of interesting posts on his site but one that caught my eye was his DIY Ultra-Light Watercolor Pencil Palette. For me this looks like a complicated way to carry a pan palette and it looks bigger than any of the palettes I carry around at any time. But he also gets more colors—and that matters to him and how he works. I love his post on this because it shows how if you love an art supply and have a creative turn of mind you'll find a way to take it into the field with you.
Poking around his site I saw a post on A.W. Wainright who is famous for writing books about "walks" around England. My favorite is "A Coast to Coast Walk" which I was first shown when I was a teenager and then found again about 10 years ago. When Dottie died I decided I would like to go on the walk and sketch, but while I normally like to be alone I didn't want to "wander lonely as a cloud" (I don't much like Wordsworth anyway) and couldn't find another person interested in going on the walk with me. (I also didn't want to lead a sketching class and have to "entertain" people the whole trip.)
I still content myself with reading passages from the book in the evenings, and then during the day, walking about my own city. It will have to do. But if you like hiking, like illustrations of architecture and landscapes, and like reading about parts of England I suggest you check out Wainright's book(s) after you enjoy Kolby's journals.
Thanks to Kolby and Wainwright we can enjoy the view while staying at home!
