A Rim With A View, Part I

Some 7,700 years ago two very spectacular geological events occurred in south-central Oregon that are now set to have a profound effect on my journaling. During the first event Mount Mazama blew its top. During the second "event" Mother Nature filled the volcanic cone with water, creating the deepest lake in the United States with some of the cleanest, clearest water in North America. (The record for visibility in the lake stands at 144 vertical feet!)

how's this for a rim with a view?

Fast forward 7+ millennia to 28 February, when I received a telephone call from the Education Coordinator at what is now Crater Lake National Park and an invitation to be the Park's 2013 winter Artist-in-Residence. Now, for those of you who are a flatlanders (like me) let me interject that "winter" in this case does not mean next November or December. No, in the higher elevations Oregon'c Cascade Mountains, winter means May. (And lest you think that's a joke I will share with you that I've been told that I can expect to find snow depths of as much as 8 to 12 feet when I arrive!) So, I've got just over two months to pull my kit together, get myself in shape, make my travel arrangements, and reestablish a rigorous day-long sketching routine. And I thought you might like to come along through a series of articles -- both as I prepare, and on the adventure itself.

So, in the next post in this series I'll share with you the kit I'm putting together for this expedition and some of the exercises (physical and artistic) I'm doing to get "in shape" our trek into the High Country. Please stay tuned -- and welcome aboard!

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OK, I should probably apology to E. M. Foster for taking the title of his delightful novel in vain -- but, as you might imagine, I'm in a particularly "exuberant" mood, and my sense of humor tends to get a bit quirky when that happens.