More New Work from Alaska

We are now halfway through our residency. I was able to join the North Words Writers’ Symposium for their Friday night barbeque here at Alderworks. Mostly from Alaska and the Yukon, the participants were very warm and friendly with a wacky humor; at moments of high enthusiasm, they would erupt into hoots and howls. Many of them came to the cabin to see what I had been painting. After two weeks of solitude, I was back in gallery-mode, talking about my art and doing my elevator speech.

On Saturday I joined the group on a historic train that dropped us off at the Laughlin Glacier trailhead. We hiked 8 miles through mossy forest and into a moonscape left by the rapidly receding Laughlin Glacier, scrambling over ice studded with rocks and gravel. Our return train was delayed by a stalled engine on the tracks, so we waited 40 minutes in the rain on a remote mountain hillside. I jumped with excitement when I saw the single headlight appear around the curve.

This morning Ed and I visited the Skagway Presbyterian Church. I felt like we really got the pulse of the congregation as we heard the prayer requests during the service and talked about wild rhubard and wild moose as we ate biscuits and gravy in the fellowship hall.

Now it’s back to work. I sold one painting this morning (my first to go to the Yukon!), and I am putting most of the rest away in the closet so I can start fresh. I have two weeks left to go.