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In five days the group might hike more than 20—the major-
ity of it off trail—and climb well over 10,000 feet of elevation.
In addition to packing the necessary gear—tent, clothes,
food—for a five-day backcountry trip, the artists had to figure
out how to haul the art supplies they would need to accom-
plish their work. Shear estimates that his pack weighed 60 to
70 pounds—one-third of that weight paints, brushes, paper,
and other supplies.
Says Shear, "Sometimes having those limitations, where you
can't bring everything, where you just have certain tools with
you, is not a bad thing."
The limitations on everything but time encouraged experi-
mentation and improvisation. One year, Shear scraped "water-
melon snow"—an alpine algae that dyes the snow red where it
grows—out of a cirque and used it as pigment in a painting.
Working in the backcountry, artists must balance the need
for total focus required to create art with the wrangling of the
forces of nature.
Rain can ravage a piece. Paints dry quicker on the palette
but not on the paper in the thin, gusty mountain air.
En Plein Air:
Art on the Wild Side
"If you'rE WaNtINg to PaINt
a MouNtaIN," SayS SHEar,
"LookINg at It froM far off
you gEt a SENSE of It,
but If you CaN StaND oN It,
SWEat oN It, bLEED oN It,
you'rE HoPEfuLLy goINg to
ExPrESS SoMEtHINg a LIttLE
MorE autHENtIC."
Aaron Theisen
Aaron Johnson, Scotchman Peaks Wilderness Study Area
Jared Shear, Scotchman Peaks Wilderness Study Area
