INVERNESS, SCOTLAND

Scotland has a rich agricultural and farming legacy, which is evident everywhere in the hedgerows and stone walls that divide the landscape and reveal the history of the land.

During a late summer afternoon, sitting in a freshly mowed hay field, I see infinite shades of green, giving a warm tint to the meadows. Heath blooms throughout the summer months and clusters around rocky outcroppings, framing the landscape in shades of pink and purple against dark greens.

Observing a place in this way, through color, can reveal surprising details that might otherwise go overlooked. I can’t believe all that goes on in a meadow.

MITCHELL, OREGON

The Painted Hills in central Oregon show you the colors of ancient time. These layers of striped sediment were laid down more than thirty-five million years ago, when the Cascade Volcanoes spewed layers of volcanic ash over a series of eruptions across hundreds of miles, stretching across parts of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. Over time, the lava and ash mixed with plants, minerals, and groundwater, to leave the distinct marks of each period of this distant time.

Differences in weathering and mineral content display themselves in a striking show of colorful stripes. Vivid reds, yellow, pale gold, and green are laced with streaks of black magnesium. Blue hills fade to purple under the vast sky. Sagebrush dots the landscape and perfumes the air. A cloud forms overhead, and the colors soften. Caught in a light rain, the colors become more saturated and intense as clay soil absorbs the moisture.

The trails within the Painted Hills, part of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, wind around and through the soft, undulating mounds of this ochreand sienna-colored earth. I love painting the varying stripes of color that trace the folds of the hills, plateaus, and basin. For me, this simple act of recording colors in a sketchpad is the best way to really see a place, be present with it, and make it my own.