![]() I am convinced that art is 90% skill and only 10% “talent” the good news is that skills are learned. If You’re Struggling…Īnyone can learn to draw if they have the desire to do so and put in the time. The distinction is important! When you see them as unified and connected with the rest of the terrain then with practice your mountains will look less like they are just stuck on top of your map, but part of the landscape. ![]() A big part of the problem was seeing them only as individual mountains rather than a cohesive range made up of mountains. But another thing I’ve learned over the years is that it is up to the artist to decide before they start how much detail they want to include.Mountains were one of the things that took me the longest to figure out when I began to draw maps. It was only a little bit daunting when what I saw was a million tiny ridges, cliffs, snow packs, and trees. Keller calls sketching an “observational tool” (2008, p.161), and explains, “The creation of an accurate drawing requires a systematic approach, patient observation, an openness to unforeseen possibilities, an ability to regard a topic from a variety of perspectives, a willingness to pay attention to both the exciting and the mundane,” and building upon what my elementary school teacher said, requires “the deliberate setting aside of preconceived ideas” (pp.184-185). An elementary school teacher of mine gave me the best artistic advice, and the only artistic advice I have adhered to faithfully in my life – “Draw what you see, not what you think you see.” Drawing in the field demands that you pay attention to your subject to understand all its subtle details. Keller encourages people to give it a try even though they may not consider themselves a skilled artist. Keller was writing mainly about subjects that are much smaller than mountains, such as fish, flowers, or insects, but I apply similar principles to drawing mountains: sketching provides space to understand and connect to the mountain in a deeper way. In Field Notes on Science and Nature, scientist and artist Jenny Keller (2008) asks, “Why Sketch?” She discusses the importance and relevance of taking visual field notes in addition to written notes, advocating that drawing gives you an opportunity to understand your subject better and capture things that written notes or photographs cannot. My inevitable drift to art helped convince me to centre my master’s research project on how images shape our view of the landscape, particularly the ways in which people working in Waterton Lakes National Park connect to images portraying ecological change through the last century such as the 2017 Kenow Wildfire. There is something about drawing that pulls me into a different frame of awareness that also helps my graduate studies in the School of Environmental Studies. ![]() My artistic focus has shifted to natural history illustration in the last year, which was in part inspired by the time I spent drawing out in the field with the MLP. ![]() Alongside student and professional activities, I have identified as an artist for at least the second half of my life, and unabashedly in the last several years. I have been making art for as long as I can remember. My fellow team members-Sonia Voicescu, James Tricker, and Charles Hayes–were gracious enough to let me note-take as part of fieldwork, which gave me the opportunity to draw. I took every opportunity to sketch the mountains in our 2019 field season. ![]() There is a little box on the bottom right hand side of the Mountain Legacy Project field note sheets that I took as an invitation to sketch the landscape. ![]()
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