Tags
arizona, art, coyote buttes, geology, life lessons, natural wonders, painting, paria canyon, southwest, spirit, symbolism, the wave, utah, watercolor
Over the next few days (who am I kidding. . .it will probably be months), I plan on creating a series of paintings focused on different geologic formations. My goal is to try and capture the essence of what my spirit feels when I see each one– the awe, the wonder, the freedom, the joy, and the inspiration. God is truly the master artist, for there is nothing we can create that rivals the uniqueness of his work.
The first piece in the series is called Spirit of Sandsone. For sandstone, I wanted to capture the graceful flow and movement of the ancient sands, almost fluid in nature. Though the rock is solid now, it is still ever in motion, constantly being shaped and eroded by the elements.
And that is the true spirit of sandstone: joy in change. We can stay as we are, and we may be beautiful. But if we let the lessons of this life shape us and work us, then we become the truly unique and spectacular works we were meant to be. No one likes difficult times, but they will come whether we like them or not. We can deny them, fear them, or we can embrace them and learn. Trials erode away the weakness in us, just as wind erodes the weakness from sandstone one grain at a time. What is left is stronger, and all the more beautiful for it.
The Wave is a popular geologic feature found on the border of Utah and Arizona. It is located on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon Wilderness. The troughs of the Wave were initially formed by runoff. Eventually the drainage basin that fed runoff to the troughs shrank, and water was no longer able to keep eroding them. Therefore, they are now mostly eroded by wind.
During the Jurassic Period, this area was covered in sand dunes. They migrated across the land, shifting and changing according to prevailing winds. these shifts are recorded in the sandstone for all time, a blueprint of the ancient past. The strange ribbing in the formation is due to the different responses of the individual laminae to erosion. Some layers are more resistant than others due to variations in cementation and grain size.
Details:
Emily Schroeder ~ Amber Wolf Art 