Snow Bound and Flying in Alaska

From 1991 to about 1993 I was hanging out with a bush pilot in Alaska, so I saw lots of snow and a good sectiion of  Alaska, more from the air than anything else.  I substitute taught in Kotzebue for a month while I was staying with Ben, and I learned to memorize in order to draw later inside the apartment.  Otherwise, my ink would freeze.  I would stand stock still, like I am doing here in my drawing of the beginning of ice fishing in Kotzebue inlet, and some of my elementary students would come up and ask me what I was doing.  I would tell them I was memorizing, and they, being little kids, would nod wisely at the strange white woman and run off to skate/fish/tumble/ fight on the ice.

Once I flew with Ben  into the Copper Mountains (the boundary between Alaska and the Yukon Territory) to bring supplies to a gold mining operation.  The days were sunny, and quite comfortable in the light, so I did a bunch of watercolors on paper outside along the plane landing. The paint did freeze and make these great patterns, especially with the cobalt blues.

A fox came running across the mountains, a brilliant orange against the complements of blue and violet shadows.