Badlands Residency Day 44

Finally, a really beautiful day again!  I was up early and painting hard all morning.  In the afternoon a group of friends headed out to fish in some of the local dams.  We tried one that was very windy before moving to another that had more hills around for shelter.  It was a grand few hours.  Katie and I observed while Ryan, Aaron, and John fished away, catching quite a few, releasing most back to the water.  Lots of joking, some cool discoveries (a Canada goose nest with six eggs), and much sunshine and fresh air.  Such a nice afternoon, this group is my second family.  I feel so at home here at Badlands, and much of it is thanks to these individuals, who made me feel welcome and at home during my first visit two years ago.  These guys are responsible for my first adventures in the South Unit, my connections to local ranch families, and they have taught me countless details about the park and surrounding area.  After two years, it just keeps getting better.  There are many others here who mean much to me as well.  Yup, seeing my time here coming to a close in a couple weeks is making me a little sappy.  Anyway...

We had a late dinner at the Wagon Wheel, meeting up with Katie's dad and uncle, who own the family's generations-old ranch just a little south of the park.  They are interested in commissioning a painting of the ranch, so we discussed plans for meeting at the ranch to assess possibilities.  I love Katie's family so much, they remind me strongly of my own, adding to the feeling to coming home when I visit here.

And back in the park, driving down Cedar Pass.

Badlands Residency Day 43

I made some pretty good progress on a new painting today.  This one is for the design guidelines book illustrations I'm working on for the regional NPS office.  Not my usual thing, I'm painting the sign for the visitor center with the badlands formations in the background.  Today was ranger Tyler's last day at Badlands, so I hung around the visitor center for a while at the end of the day to say goodbye, for now.  Sniff.  His energy and enthusiasm will be missed here.  After Tyler left, I followed a wildlife biologist/ranger, Eddie, back to his home for dinner with his family.  It was a delicious meal, and I enjoyed chatting with his family, meeting his daughter's family, and seeing his property which is out in the country, north of Scenic.  After coming back home, I stopped in to help Megan assemble her new bicycle, but she had already finished.  We spent a few hours relaxing and chatting about ideas.  Some good things starting to come together for me, idea wise.  I'm beginning to formulate a more real plan for a long term culmination of my time, experiences, and learning here at Badlands.