How My Walking Passion Influences My Art
Walking on the Kirkland Trail
All you need to do is look at the trail I’m walking near our house and the painting I created on the right to see the similarities. But first, let me tell you a little about my walking history!
A Little Bit About My Passion for Walking
I Love a Challenge
Sixteen years ago, when I was 48, I set a goal of walking a thousand miles in a year. That averages 2.6 miles a day. Since then, I have met that goal every year except one, when I had a major surgery. That means that I have walked over 25,000 miles.
Friends and family after a Boilermaker 5 mile walk
Back in the early years, I walked the Rescue Mission Walk and the Boilermaker 5-mile Walk. My times were good, and people encouraged me to take up race walking. I always love a challenge, so I did a little research and learned the correct form. I qualified for and participated in the Empire State Games Summer Olympics. I placed in my age group each time.
In 2006, our family signed up for the Syracuse Chargers Family Challenge, which involved walking or running 5,000 combined miles as a family. That year, I walked every day for a whopping 1513 miles.
For our 25th wedding anniversary, Moe and I climbed Whiteface Mountain.
When Moe and I vacation, we go on adventures. Often, these include lots of walking. Below, the first photo is of a long climb in Utah. The second one is a picture of us in Thailand. We were up in the clouds. We trekked for 18 miles that day, and then decided to take a tuk-tuk for the remainder of the way, and then back to town.
My Everyday Walks
Most of the walks I take are near home. Walking to the Kirkland Town Park (about a mile from our house) and completing some park loops happens several times a week. Meeting friends to walk the 840 Trail is a regular occurrence. Recently, our town completed work on the Kirkland trails. They start a mile from our house and are a great way to get off the road.
When we're at our place in Florida, beach walks are incredibly relaxing. If you don’t know it by now, we don’t rest!
How My Walks Influence My Art
I usually have my camera with me when I take a walk. I always seem to find something fascinating to photograph, which I hope will inspire my art. After I return home, I put the photos into albums so that they are easier to retrieve later.
Inspirational Subjects
On many of my hikes, I collect items such as leaves, flowers, seed pods, odd pieces of driftwood, pebbles, and shells. I photograph other things that interest me. Here are some examples of artwork that I created using objects that I’ve seen.
In many of my works, I use a Gelli plate to make papers from found objects that I can later use in a collage.
Above, I used pebbles that I collected at a beach in Portugal to create a watercolor painting and an acrylic painting.
The seed pods I have collected and observed have influenced these recent watercolors.
While in Thailand, we visited an elephant sanctuary. I painted this picture, titled ‘A Mother’s Love,’ for my granddaughter’s bedroom. I had cards printed from the painting.
Colors I See Impact My Art
There are so many amazing colors in the natural world! Every artist finds them inspiring.
The colors in my gardens inspired my acrylic, watercolor, alcohol ink, and multimedia paintings.
Blues and aquas are among my favorite colors. The colors of lake and ocean strolls ignite a spark in me that you can find in many of my creations.
Surfaces and Textures Along My Routes Inspire My Artistic Technique
While walking, I often stop to look at and feel bark, leaves, and rocks. Yup, I have a photo folder of each of these things.
Texture, subject matter, and colors that I observed while walking to our nearby park were all incorporated into this painting. The cabinet was sitting by the roadside. I was immediately drawn to the texture. The daisies, everlasting pea, and bird’s foot trefoil flowers were growing along the road. I replicated the texture by using crackle paste.
I am captivated when I see driftwood like this at several of the beaches we stroll along in Florida. I used watercolor and ink to draw the holes and lines that were in the wood.
Above, I used limestone and sand mixed with the paint to capture the harshness of the Sonoran Desert surrounding Phoenix, Arizona.
I will leave you with this quote from Vincent Van Gogh:
“Try to walk as much as you can, and keep your love for nature, for that is the true way to learn to understand art more and more. Painters understand nature and love her and teach us to see her. If one really loves nature, one can find beauty everywhere.”
After all, if I weren’t walking at low tide about half a mile out at the Bay of Fundy, I wouldn’t have seen this little face staring up at me!
I encourage you to explore walking as a creative tool in your life.
Beautiful Art for Life Well Lived,
Sarah
