Memories

My inspirations for painting "Ski Scenes" comes from 21 seasons as a ski instructor. I have taught skiing in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Some years, I spent more than 200 days skiing and teaching on the mountain. 

While teaching at Perisher Blue and Falls Creek in Australia, I learned perseverance and tenacity while skiing in rain and wind wearing soggy wet boots and rubber gloves over mittens. Finding beauty in the toughness was a goal. Gum trees when wet and covered with thick snow, are some of the prettiest trees I have seen with their rainbow striped bark.

When teaching in Portillo Chile, in the shadow of Aconcagua, I learned how to feel comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. The resort, which is above treeline, has the most spectacular evening light. As the sunsets, the lingering light bounces off of Lake Inca casting a warm glow on the surrounding mountains. The cold snow radiates with warmth. 

Beaver Creek taught me how to be a dedicated and curious and take responsibility for personal growth. I came to Beaver Creek to teach in 1999 not knowing much about skiing. I learned from great teachers and trainers and quickly earned my full cert in teaching and became a resort trainer. I surrounded myself with inspirational leaders in the ski industry and created strong relationships. I remember early morning training runs down Gold Dust. We were training for the synchro championships. The grooming lines from the prior nights snow cats would be pristine and straight as an arrow. The corduroy lines would create a humming vibration in my boots and skis that would travel up legs. I liked listening to the rhythmical swishing sound of rounded turns. 

In 2007, I moved to Aspen, Colorado. Aspen taught me about time management, accountability, and creativeness. 

Aspen Snowmass has four mountains and each mountain has its own personality in skiers and terrain. Early morning Aspen Mountain’s FIS double chair is surrounded by aspen trees. After a night of cold dry snowfall, the aspen trees catch the the sunlight in the most ethereal way. Sparkling diamond snowflakes fall gently, as the chairlift whisks you up to Ruthies Run and into the sun. Aspen Highlands bowl can be intimidating to hike but you are rewarded at the top with 

West Buttermilk trees on a snowy powder day are gentle and quiet as you snake your skis around thin aspens and bulky pines.

Traveling up two ski lifts to the top of Big Burn at Snowmass, rewards you with a extremely long and energetic and Powerline Glades early morning

Aspen's cold beauty in the winter is almost outmatched by summers’ vibrant colors in town and in the mountains. Fields of bright red paintbrush and tall lupine in deep purple, radiate the summer trails. Bountiful flower baskets and manicured lawns paint the town like a rainbow. 

I have gathered and accumulated numerous memories and recollections of living in the mountains. In my current work, I have decided to paint from memory and from photos.