Snake River Braids and Terraces

Western Wyoming is one of the most alluring areas in the American West. Only by flying low and slow over it can its complexity be fully appreciated. Immense and breathtaking in its grandeur, it’s one of my favorite places in North America. Sweeping wide and west around the Hole called Jackson and below Taylor Peak in the Grand Tetons is a heavily braided and terraced section of the Snake River. Sparkling in sunshine it is strikingly sensual! I knew enough on seeing it from the air for the first time to turn control of the Husky over to Paul, shifting from pilot to photographer.

Aerial painting of the Snake River

Twisting braids, erosion by rapid waters, elevated terraces, sedimentary basins, and cutthroat trout draw tourists and locals alike. Such endlessly varied lines, textures and colors as you see in the native photograph below cannot help but inspire artistic interpretation toward a new and imaginary vision. Voilà, the ancient Snake River conceptually transformed into an intricate weaving of blue and green colors that subtly imply the original river, islands, grasses, layer upon layer of patterns that were hiding there in the vast canvas of Wyoming. It is abstract but evokes all the beauty and emotion of seeing the real thing from a low and slow airplane.

I haven’t named this painting yet. Suggest a name and if I choose yours, I’ll send you a 13" x 17" print on archival paper! Entirely FREE to you, just my way to say thanks!