Drawing in Death Valley.

Death Valley: Day 1. Wednesday March 23rd.

Zabriski Point.
My first drawing at Zabriski Point, looking up the walkway and out over the northern uplifting ridges.

Zabriski PointWow, what a view.  I was sitting down below the large overlooking view area, almost out of sight of most of the other tourists.  I could overhear people talking to one another in a variety of foreign languages, mostly German and Japanese, some French.   

Zabriski Point.
The view is just breathtaking.  Drawing it was both maddening and really, really fun!

Painters Pallet
This is a hasty sketch of a small part of the area called "painters Pallet".  This is part of a one way drive through a portion of the main valley. It features some wide vistas and narrow washes.  Amazing!

Painters Pallet
I loved the view of this dramatic wash, also in Painters Pallet.  I wanted to return to this site to paint but did not have time.

Hole in the Wall Wash.
Our Campsite, from under our shade/rain structure. We camped near the end of the Hole in the Wall Wash, a rough and tumble, undeveloped camping area!

Dante's View
This was my first drawing at Death Valley.  Done at one of the highest viewing points, Dante's View.  Wow!  You can see almost the entire valley.  At some points your view can cause some serious vertigo!

Dante's View
Trying to draw a vista this large is humbling, but super fun!

Dante's View
For this drawing I hiked down the path, off the main viewing area.  It kept going, so I did too, until I could get a better view, almost straight down the valley.  It was downhill, so it was pretty easy, not so, climbing out!

Badwater
This drawing was done at the very bottom of the same valley sketched above.

Painters Pallet.
This is just the beginning of Painters Pallet.  I really wanted to do some watercolors here, but sadly, I was not able to get back.  The visit was much too short.  So, I'll just have to go back!  My thoughts before the trip were that I would mostly do watercolors while in the park, instead I ended up doing a lot more drawing, which was a revelation in itself.  I really enjoyed doing these drawings.  I was using my Namiki fountain pen with Noodler's Ink on this first day.