My 5th Glacier Field Season

Beautiful lil paradise! Bright green moss on the rock face covered with yellow and pink monkey flower 

This summer was my 5th field season working with the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project, and my second summer taking my own measurements of crevasses in order to observe their changes in accordance with the retreat of the glaciers.

Here are some photos of this field season! Next post I will show my field sketches from this summer!

A got a grant through the Center of Undergraduate Research at UMaine, and used it to buy a laser rangefinder (to shoot distance, height, inclination), the cam-line I am using here (intended to measure well depths, a steel cable with markers every foot for measurement. I used it to measure crevasse depths!!), and most of my plane ticket out here.

Watercolor near the terminus of the Lower Curtis glacier on Mt.Shuksan

Trudging back to camp after a long day of working on the crevasse-ridden Rainbow glacier (behind me)

Hike out of one spot - hike into another!

Descending the blue ice near the terminus of Easton glacier on Mt. Baker

Watercolor and colored pencil sketch of this pool at the terminus of the Iceworm glacier.

Mountain goats - I have a neat post about them coming up! These guys are very elusive, you can't get near them usually.

Ben using a rope to measure the depth of the snow accumulation from the past winter (crevasse stratigraphy - like tree rings!)

Checking out a lil water-filled crevasse on lower Rainbow glacier

Partway through a sketch of camp below Easton glacier

Working on Easton glacier

Set sail for the kingdom

I'm looking forward to bringing everything I experienced in my first year at UMaine into various projects over the summer. I will definitely be making art in my free time as per usual, and I have been getting some comic-drawing books at the library to work with, but I am excited to see what I can do with some of my new or increased skills gained through my art classes! Especially in terms of my glacier sketches when I head out to the North Cascades for the 4th consecutive year in August!
Below is a progression of glacier sketches from the 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook I have brought with me the past 3 years, as well as some of the works I have completed once at home!

Talus and cliff view from campsite at Columbia 7/27-28/09

Lupine by Columbia 7/28/09 - Day 2 of my first glacier trip!

View from ridge above Columbia campsite, looking towards Blanca Lake. I started and did a lot of this my first field season, on 8/29/09, but I continued it my second year, on 8/3-4/10!

Rock with flowering heather growing up the back, at the Easton glacier campsite.

View from our Sholes and Rainbow Glacier's campsite on Ptarmigan Ridge.

Camp Kaiser, near Mt. Baker, on Ptarmigan Ridge. I started this my first year on he glaciers, and continued it on the second, although there was much more snow and ice the second year!

Mokey Paw sketch at the Columbia campsite, 8/2/10.

A sketch I started off our tents in the foreground and Mt. Baker in the background, at the Rainbow/Sholes campsite.

Michael's Sword, a pinnacle on Daniels, I observed it from the Iceworm Glacier.

The third field season I experimented by bringing up a small set of watercolors instead of colored pencils. I liked it more for some subjects, such as flowers, and showing snow, ice, and water, but showing the rock and trees with paint was more difficult for me.

After we worked on the Lower Curtis Glacier on Mt. Shuksan I painted some of the flowers nearby - some variations of small, purple Phlox, narrow, purple Penstemon, and my favorite, the bright orange Indian Paintbrush!

I painted this from Lyman glacier, the area surrounding the water is actually rocky, but I liked the form of the ice on the water on its own.

Below is artwork I completed for my AP art drawing portfolio (the concentration section) my senior year in high school, in random order.

Enjoying Mt. Baker from a nearby ridge, the beauty and serenity one feels in this sort of place is represented by the magical flowers.

The same hiker returns, but now the glacier has receded greatly, and exposed bedrock and blue ice, as well as run-off streams, have resulted. The mountain and its glaciers are still incredible, but their dwindling power and presence decreases the natural beauty, and thus the magic that causes the flowers to grow.

The glacier's on Mt. Baker are all gone, and although the mountain is still awe-inspiring, it is nothing compared to what this hiker saw as a girl, and the same magic is no longer there.

I painted this after my first field season in the North Cascades, looking up from just below the base of Columbia Glacier. 2009

I didn't end up including this in my AP concentration, but I did put it in the breadth section. It is a view of what Columbia glacier may look like once it has melted away, with two lakes, and bedrock that has not yet begun to  grow much plant life. It is beautiful, but not in comparison to the glacier. I like the contrast between the top one done in acrylic paint and this piece done in watercolors. 

This piece was also in my breadth section, it is a cropped view of one of my crampons that I wear over my hiking boots while climbing on glacial ice.

An illustration of me, jumping over a crevasse! I showed the layer of snow accumulation seen in the crevasse, but this piece as meant to be more illustrative than exact or scientific in any way.

I painted this  for my dad's birthday in October after my second field season! It shows him in the foreground, making his way up the Lynch Glacier on Mt. Daniels! In the background we can see members of the documentary film crew that followed us around that year!

My nordic skis, their Peltonens, gliding through the snow like magic!

Snow girl! she represent me, seeing snow as beautiful, represented through the magical plants around her. On the bottom the growth is shown: as the snow picks up, the plants grow taller and bloom.

Snow girl walking through the new fallen snow. The idea that she and the snow together form the magic is shown through the growth the of the plants which spring and then bloom as she approaches.

Snow girl portrait

She is painting the snow back onto Mt. Baker, giving its glaciers life and a positive mass balance!

This year at UMaine I was taking all the beginner art courses: Drawing I and II, 2d and 3d design. So, I didn't do much art that wasn't observational, or pretty regulated by my professors, but I learned a ton. Our last project for Drawing II, which we worked on in and out of the classroom, was a landscape diptych or triptych. I chose to do two views of glacial spots that went well together!

Iceworm Glacier

Camp Kaiser

The diptych!

Wachusett and Breadth Part 2

The route

I ran in the Mt. Wachusett race last Saturday on the 28th. Last year I was participating in Art All State and I wasn't able to run it, so it wasn't until just before the race I found out that the course was different now. The old course was entirely on the road, 4.3 miles up to the summit. It was a tough race, all uphill - some especially tough climbs - and on pavement. I've always been a trail runner, and I certainly wouldn't call it a fun race, it was about the challenge. Now, the route covers 4.7 miles and the majority of it is on trails. Some areas were tricky because the trails were narrow, and it was hard to pass/ be passed. The steep uphill section about halfway through was the worst. It's very narrow with a lot of rocks and roots, the type of trail I often run on, but a lot of people decided it wasn't worth putting in the effort. I got stuck behind a large group of walkers, and I barely had the breath or strength to pass them. I managed to pass at least 20 people on that section. Many of them were obviously better runners than me - but they didn't even try to keep running, which confuses me. Sure, it's really tough, but it's a race, and you have to endure it and do your best to keep running!

Portrait of Inspiration
I created this for the assignment "create a self-portrait without your face." I chose to represent myself through challenges, and the "swirl" of inspiration I get from these challenges.

Salmon Boy
I created this illustration originally as part of my concentration when I was considering veering into the negative effects of glaciers' recession. People around the world depend on the melt-water from glaciers. A Chinese boy is watching, saddened by what he sees. The stream he depends on has retreated, leaving dry stream-bed exposed. The salmon that he also relies on are struggling with the lower waters, and some have died where the stream once was. 

Transforming
I created this piece in Studio Art, under the instruction to create a "self-warped-trait." I chose to illustrate my face mid-transformation into a creature. I actually went back to add more tentacles on the right later on, and I definitely like how it looks better than before.

Vases
I created this in Studio Art from observation. I chose a cropped view of a still-life my art teacher, Mrs. Tetler, set up. The floral background is actually a larger Chinese-flower print vase.

Violet Baudelaire
I created this portrait of Violet Baudelaire based off of the third book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Wide Window. Growing up, these were some of my absolute favorite books, I read and re-read them!

AP Art : Breadth Part 1

The following works are all pieces that I created either my junior or senior year in high school and submitted in the Breadth section of the AP Studio Art Exam!

Columbia's Future
After my first visit to the North Cascades, I painted a view of Columbia Glacier from its mouth. This year, after my second visit, I decided it would be an interesting challenge to paint the mountain once the glacier is gone. In the future, two small lakes fill the basins, and the uppermost lake feeds the lower lake. The rocky bed which was previously covered in snow is beginning to host plant life.

Crampon
I drew this observational view of a crampon after my second season in the North Cascades as well. A crampon is an object that people are often either familiar with because they use them, or it is a complete mystery. You basically strap it onto your hiking boot for climbing on ice!

Deception
The calligraphy assignment in Advanced Art my junior year was one I loved. We were able to combine any type of calligraphy with an image. I actually had a song and concept in mind, but ended up changing the song to better fit the image. Both the words and the scene imply that the character is deceptive.

Deserted
This piece was my first experience using oil paints. The only specified instruction was to use indoor lighting, and I decided to try to create a story with my scene. I included different elements, such as the abandoned tabled and fallen chair, as well as the person in the background. I like how the blue in the background gives the impression of sky.

Introducing Marble Boy
I created this for AP Art during the summer. Our assignments were marble-themed, but with one we were allowed to illustrate whatever we chose. I created a superboy, who has the strength to lift this super-marble.

Measuring Marbles
This was the second marble piece, with the instruction of "marbles in a container." I chose to try a more interesting composition by arranging the marbles in measuring spoons.

Mary-Kate
I created this piece after my art class ended junior year. I worked in whatever free time I had for months on her face. I worked directly from a photograph, which I had chosen because I loved the composition and lighting. Because I love to draw faces, I wanted to challenge myself to drawing this face, before continuing to create my own faces, or drawing them from observation.