Ken Caryl Valley 8x10I am fortunate to live quite near this lovely valley in Colorado, and this painting is the result of an early summer morning's plein air experience. The spring green created by the sunlight shining on those distant trees is hard to imagine.
This valley is full of beautiful red rock outcroppings and has been inhabited for a very long time. In fact, if you started digging on the southwest side of any of the larger rock formations, you would be amazed at what you would find. For many years I taught anthropology to high school Seniors, and I always brought my classes to a dig site very near here that was being worked by the Colorado Archeological Society. We'd spend several Saturdays carefully digging in the dirt, learning all the ins and outs of what it meant to be an archeologist.
The students never failed to find artifacts, and over the years as the digging got lower and lower the objects got older and older. The look on their faces as they held their newly-found object was full of pride and amazement, and I remember one student saying of his artifact, "I'm the first person to hold this in 1500 years." Many of my students became hooked by this experience and went on to study anthropology and archeology in college.
So this is a very special place to me for many reasons--lots of good memories, beautiful scenery, and much pondering about the people who lived here so very long ago. You should come and visit sometime.
This valley is full of beautiful red rock outcroppings and has been inhabited for a very long time. In fact, if you started digging on the southwest side of any of the larger rock formations, you would be amazed at what you would find. For many years I taught anthropology to high school Seniors, and I always brought my classes to a dig site very near here that was being worked by the Colorado Archeological Society. We'd spend several Saturdays carefully digging in the dirt, learning all the ins and outs of what it meant to be an archeologist.
The students never failed to find artifacts, and over the years as the digging got lower and lower the objects got older and older. The look on their faces as they held their newly-found object was full of pride and amazement, and I remember one student saying of his artifact, "I'm the first person to hold this in 1500 years." Many of my students became hooked by this experience and went on to study anthropology and archeology in college.
So this is a very special place to me for many reasons--lots of good memories, beautiful scenery, and much pondering about the people who lived here so very long ago. You should come and visit sometime.
