Back in 1991 on the last full day of a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada with two friends we encountered a late afternoon storm. We had been working our way along the easterly wall of Darwin Canyon, an elongated "U" glacial cut canyon. Our goal was to get over Lamarck Col at 12,960 feet at about where the leg of the "U" meets the cirque. By the time we reached a point about 800 feet below the col the storm motored in and we were being pelted with hail. We all dropped our packs and found cover under boulders as the hail continued and lighting struck the ridgelines. After a "lifetime" of about 15 minutes the hail and lightening ceased and after collecting ourselves we decided to stay and camp for the night where we were. And for this we were amply rewarded.
The side of the canyon we on was mostly orange granite boulders with the ground between the boulders covered with a layer of white hail. Across the canyon the other wall was all in shadow ranging from grey-lavender to deep purple to indigo and finally to black in the deepest crevasses of rock. Then, the late afternoon sun, low on the horizon, burst through a gap between the remaining cloud cover and the ridges tot he northwest. The burst of sunlight cut a deep, bright orange swath across the canyon wall upon which we stood, contrasting with the lavender-purple-indigo if the canyon wall across from us. To top it all off wherever the rock of the far canyon wall jutted out just enough it too picked up the small bright flashes of orange further setting off the majesty of the scene.
This scene has been in my head for over 20 years and the time has come to express it. This project represents my process of rebuilding this memory into a rendered scene using pen and colored ink.
The side of the canyon we on was mostly orange granite boulders with the ground between the boulders covered with a layer of white hail. Across the canyon the other wall was all in shadow ranging from grey-lavender to deep purple to indigo and finally to black in the deepest crevasses of rock. Then, the late afternoon sun, low on the horizon, burst through a gap between the remaining cloud cover and the ridges tot he northwest. The burst of sunlight cut a deep, bright orange swath across the canyon wall upon which we stood, contrasting with the lavender-purple-indigo if the canyon wall across from us. To top it all off wherever the rock of the far canyon wall jutted out just enough it too picked up the small bright flashes of orange further setting off the majesty of the scene.
This scene has been in my head for over 20 years and the time has come to express it. This project represents my process of rebuilding this memory into a rendered scene using pen and colored ink.
Darwin Canyon 1 - Value Study
This drawing is a white (General's "Charcoal White") pencil on black paper study of the scene. With the far canyon wall in shadows I wanted to take advantage of the dark paper background and then build the lighter values up from the darkness.
This drawing is a white (General's "Charcoal White") pencil on black paper study of the scene. With the far canyon wall in shadows I wanted to take advantage of the dark paper background and then build the lighter values up from the darkness.
Darwin Canyon 2 - Color and Detail Study
This rendering was completed with Prismacolor on Canson drawing paper. This is the same scene as the above rendered this time in color and with more detail.
