Choss Pile

How bad ass is this painting of Cathedral Ledge by Albert Bierstadt? Sarah Garlick just emailed it to me and I am totally psyched! This is the kind of painting I am so inspired by lately, especially when the subject is a place of such importance to me! Many fun times have been had on those cliffs, and it's cool to see how they looked before all the development that exists there today. Packing for a trip up there right now, and can't WAIT to get in the woods!

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It's been 4 days since we had news of Jonny's body discovered in an avalanche on Mt. Edgar. Wade's body has also been found and the search continues for Micah. The chances of him being found alive in that severe terrain are slim, but I am still hoping he will pop out of a crevasse all shaggy and smiling. 6 of our friends from Boulder are on the ground in China carrying out the search, my love and prayers go out to them right now.

The outpouring of grief and happy memories on facebook has been really moving, these men inspired so many with their contagious joy, their kindness, and their motivation to go after their dreams full on. I feel so lucky for the time I did get to spend with them. I did not know Wade but I've read everything I can about him and he sounds like an amazing person. My heart goes out to all who loved him in life.

journal page, 2003 Amelia, Greg, Micah, & the Technobego

Micah, I first met you when I showed up in JTree by myself looking for climbing partners. I had driven all the way from the east coast looking to change things up in my life and get back to what made me happy -- climbing. You and Amelia were living in the Technobego and always surrounded by a crew of friends who made climbing their full time occupation. I was totally inspired by the way you lived, the priorities you had, your community of close friends, and your dedicated work toward your goals. I looked at you and thought you had it all figured out! You were definitely a big influence on my own choices of lifestyle ... although I think I remember you preferring not to partake in the dumpster gorgefest we had going on that year! After you left JTree, you went to Greenland for some bigger adventures and when you returned I got to know you better in the Creek and Yosemite over morning coffee on the slab, in the caf, and listening to your endless supply of stories. You and all the friends I made out there definitely taught me something about being motivated and going after dreams. You worked your ass off to send your projects and you were always humble, always psyched to step it up another level. After spending a few years running into you on the road living in campgrounds, I ended up living in a house with you! We had 6 people in there, a dishwasher, and 3 flushing toilets. The civilization was luxurious!

found this from my old journal, 2006, Micah & Cleo in the kitchen

You and I were both early morning people, and you would always be up first, making a HUGE pot of espresso. You were super motivated as usual, writing grants for expeditions and finishing up your last year at CU all while training and climbing as much as you could. You loved your friends and always wore your heart on your sleeve with unrestrained affection and caring.

Jonny, I didn't get to know you until I moved to Boulder, but you quickly became someone who I always looked forward to seeing. You were always so positive, always present with whomever you were talking to. You were super psyched and supportive of my art, always telling me you wanted to help out in any way you could. One year you made room in the lobby of the Boulder Theater for me to have a painting exhibition during the film festival. I was so inspired by your creativity, your motivation, and your ability to combine an active life going after it in the mountains with film, photography, community, and creative expression. I will always be impressed by how you managed to not only do all those things, but KICK ASS at all those things!

One of the last times I saw you guys, I was living in Salt Lake and you both spent the night at my apartment during the trade show. You had just gotten back from your successful mission on the Shaffat Fortress and we stayed up late looking at all your photos and videos from the trip, including my favorite hilarious yet terrifying "Alpine River Swimming with Jonny Copp" segment! You were both totally glowing with happiness and it seemed you were really on fire as a team. We talked into the night about dreams and goals, friends, relationships, families. You got up at the crack of dawn to go ice climbing in LCC, the weather was shitty and i worried about you all morning, I guess it was perfect training for the mountains! After you left, I felt charged by your energy all week and inspired to go after my own dreams with as much passion as you have.

You will be missed so much! Over the last 4 days of mourning and getting back in touch with so many friends, I'm reminded of how special the climbing community is. The friends I've made through climbing are all such motivated and passionate people, not afraid to take risks or shoot for the stars or to slow down along the way to appreciate friendships and the beauty of nature.

Your memory will be with me always as a reminder to live life to the fullest, never put anything off for later, especially friends.

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News is breaking that Jonny Copp, Micah Dash, & Wade Johnson are missing in the mountains of China where they have been on expedition for the month of May attempting a new route on Mt. Edgar in the Minya Konka massif, in Western Sichuan Province, China. Jonny and Micah, along with cameraman, Wade Johnson, are now officially “late” returning home to base-camp from up higher on the mountain. This is not unusual for expeditions like this and especially for Jonny. They were scheduled to fly home 3 days ago.
Jonny & Micah are good friends who I love and respect, I am seriously worried about them tonight! It sounds like the climbing community is rallying quickly and tonight Nick Martino & Eric Decaria fly from San Francisco to China & launch the search mission. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you guys! Please read the thoughtful letter from Pete Mortimer below and consider donating whatever you can to the rescue fund.

Micah & Jonny in front of the Shaffatt Fortress in the Kashmir Mtns, India, 2007

below is a letter from Pete Mortimer:

Dear friends,

As you all know by now, Jonny Copp, Micah Dash and Wade Johnson are missing on Mt Edgar in China and we are working on a multi-pronged search and rescue operation. The support for this operation has been unbelievable, and I can’t thank those of you enough who have contributed by offering connections, resources, emotional support and, most importantly, financial support.

These three guys have given so much to the climbing community in so many ways: their dedication to pushing the barriers of the sport on rock and in alpine terrain; their extensive community outreach through slide presentations and film festivals; their work with clothing and gear companies in designing and promoting cutting-edge equipment; and their dedication to capturing the most inspiring photos and footage from the most extreme places on earth.

Their lives have been dedicated to one thing: a celebration of climbing. And when you give as much to the climbing community as they have, I now see that the community gives back. In spades.

I wanted to share with you a few small examples of gestures performed in the last day alone:

• At midnight last night, a notoriously impoverished local climber – and good friend of the team – showed up at search headquarters, threw his passport on the table and said that for the first time in his life he has two thousand dollars to his name, and he wants to spend it on a flight to Chengdu to be one of the first Americans on the ground to help out with the search.

• This morning at 9 AM, a guiding client of Micah’s wired $25,000 to search headquarters to make sure the search did not slow down due to a financial bog-down.

• Companies who compete with the sponsors of these athletes are paying for their own athletes with Chinese visas to get to get to China as quickly as possible.

• People have offered up the 65,000 frequent flyer miles needed on United to get to China.

• Senators have pressured the Chinese embassy to expedite visas for American search volunteers.

The list goes on.

This is an expensive operation that will cost well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But there is every reason to believe that these guys are alive and trapped only a few hours from base camp. While there is hope, there is life. We need to do all we can to get people on the ground quickly, to get a helicopter in the air, and to keep communication flowing.

If these guys ever gave anything to your life, or ever inspired you in any way, now would be the time to give them something back.

As climbers, we are one big family and it is amazing to see how we look out for each other.

TO DONATE PLEASE GO TO: http://www.adventurefilm.org/blogs/adventure_blog.aspx

Kindest regards,
Pete Mortimer
Boulder, CO
June 5, 2009

Mt. Edgar, China, where Jonny & Micah & Wade are somewhere out there

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Here is my finished cast drawing, this one took a lot of time but I'm psyched about everything I've learned. We get a break from school for the summer and I'm so excited to be working on some different kinds of art (aka not this drawing!) In June I'll be in New York working on little projects here and there, some commissions, some studies for school, and some figure drawing. In July, I'm attending the Hudson River Fellowship in the Catskills! I am REALLY SUPER STOKED about this opportunity. I will be up there in the woods painting and drawing every single day for a month with 16 other artists. I haven't done very much plein air painting before. I really want to find a way to combine my love for the outdoors and wilderness with my artwork, so I hope that in July I can focus on that side of things.

Laocoon, 14" x 20", graphite on paper, 2009

detail

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My final cast drawing is coming along, I would love to finish it by June 1st so I've been putting in some extra time at school, usually 12 hours a day. It's a little bit embarrassing to admit how much time I am spending on this drawing, but it's actually pretty normal for this kind of training. I am definitely faster and more efficient than I was a few months ago, so that is an encouraging feeling! It's a slow process in an age of instant gratification, but I find it more rewarding. Most of all, I feel like I am building the skills that will allow me to have a life long career doing work that I am proud of and that I believe in. This training is all about becoming a keen observer of nature, of reality, and of light. Joaquin Sorolla says it well with this quote: "There is nothing truer than truth. All the mistakes committed by great artists are due to their having separated themselves from truth, believing that their imagination is stronger... There is nothing stronger than nature. With nature in front of us we can do everything well."

3-day block in exercise (12 hour pose) 4/3/09

3-day block in exercise (12 hour pose) 3/27/09

Portrait of John (4 hour pose) 3/30/09

Copies of the ear & nose feature casts. All students are required to finish 4 feature cast sculptures before moving on to figure and portrait sculpture from the live model.

If you want to see more of what we're doing at the Grand Central Academy of Art, I also manage the school blog and update it every few days with photos of student work.

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Earth Hour was tonight at 8:30 PM, a global effort to call attention to energy conservation. Starting in Australia, the world turned it's lights off for one hour in what is being described as the largest climate change protest ever attempted!

Events like this really highlight the change that social networking has brought into our lives. I was following earthour on twitter, facebook, and youtube leading up to 8:30 PM EST. I was able to see videos, photos, and comments from people across the globe who had already participated in their earth hour. I could watch the lights turn off in Sydney, Rome, and Paris in real time and rally my friends to get involved as 8:30 grew closer to our continent. The momentum was exciting and I was inspired by the power of the internet and our ability to unite and participate in something like this.

My friends Valentina & David cooked dinner for me by candle light, it was so nice we just left the lights off for the rest of the night too.

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Went out to Jersey yesterday to breathe some fresh air and get out in nature. Surprise! There's more to the Garden State than endless miles of Jersey Barrier. In fact, there are thousands of acres of protected shoreline and forest which you are welcome to enjoy as long as you can get there without making a left turn. I think maybe the Jersey Barrier was invented to thwart possible visitors to one of this nations great wild places. I think Yosemite could use some Jersey Barrier to throw off some of the tourons out there.

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This is the drawing I'm working on in the mornings at school. After 2 months, I finished the "block-in" stage today, which is what you see above. In this stage of the drawing, I'm just trying to locate all the different bits (of which there are a lot here) and draw them EXACTLY where they go. Working from general to specific shapes, at this point there should be no more adjustments made to the drawing. Now I transfer it to a clean piece of paper and start modeling - adding value to "get all 3-D on the form". So far, this drawing has been humbling and frustrating - I had to start over 3 times, but I have definitely learned a lot in the process. OK, onward and forward! Psyched to tackle the third dimension first thing in the A.M.

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Some inspiring painters I just found out about today!

W.C. PIGUENIT (1836-1914) On the Nepean, New South Wales, 1881, oil on canvas, 106x92 cm

Clarice BECKETT (1887-1935) Beaumaris seascape, not dated, oil on cardboard 50x49cm

Hans HEYSEN, Mystic Morn, 1904, oil on canvas, 122.8 cm x 184.3 cm

Frederick McCubbin, (1855 - 1917) LOST, 1886, oil on canvas 114.3 x 72.4 cm

Arthur STREETON The selector's hut 1890, oil on canvas, 76.7x51.2cm

A.E. Newbury, Eltham, 1919, oil on academy board 30.8x23.2 cm

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I have a new artistic hero: John James Audubon (1785 – 1851) right now the New York Historical Society has an amazing exhibit of the original watercolors he painted for his masterpiece book, Birds of America. It was so cool to learn more about Audubon's life story and how he worked. He was a tireless hunter, explorer, and artist who was always obsessed with birds, even as a kid. His hero was Daniel Boone and Audubon himself was a rugged guy in the woods, able to walk 50 miles a day while hunting. At the age of 27 he had about 200 of these amazing paintings stored in a trunk when rats moved in for the winter and shredded everything! His life's work was destroyed in one shot but he brushed it off and kept painting, believing that his best work was still to come.
The purpose of Audubon's work was essentially to catalog bird species for research and documentation, but he approached this task with such a sensitivity for emotion and creative expression. I love the lyrical compositions, while at the same time many paintings contain exact details about habitat, food, behavior, plumage, markings, color, and size (each bird is painted life size) His passion for birds and nature is evident in every piece, it is an impressive body of work and really exciting to see it in person. The show is only up until April 5 if you want to see it yourself! (click here for bird soundtrack)