Indian Paintbrush

Title: Indian Paintbrush

Oil on canvas

Medium/Size: 18x24 inches

Indian Paintbrush is inspired by the wildflower of the same name — the one that appears, almost defiantly bright, along so many of my hikes through the west. This piece is my attempt to hold onto that feeling: the meadow opening beneath a ridge of jagged peaks, the sky pulling back to reveal water and stone beyond, and those brilliant orange-red blooms standing right at the edge of it all.

The composition isn't a literal record of one trail or one afternoon. It's built from color blocks and confident, unblended brushwork — the greens of the meadow push up against cool blue water, the mountains reduced to their essential shapes on the horizon. The paintbrush itself is rendered with more detail and warmth than anything around it, because that's how it feels when you find one: the eye goes straight there, vivid against all that open, quiet space.

This painting is about the stillness that hiking gives me — the way inner noise falls away and what's left is just attention, awe, and the ground under my feet. Indian Paintbrush is my way of returning to that meadow, that ridge, that feeling of peace, any time I need to.