Soaring Together

The day after massive flooding on July 11, I hiked up Angel’s Landing for a second consecutive day of painting, only this time, had to navigate the boulders and sand strewn over the trail as well as a 17 foot section of trai that was completely missing after the previous evening’s massive flash flood. On the summit of Angel’s Landing, after painting peregrine falcons and the landscape with usual crowds around, I noticed the trail grew quiet and I realized I was the only human around. I later learned that the trail was closed earlier that morning, shortly after I started hiking. As I painted in complete solitude and silence, a pair of California Condors known as 523 (wing tag J3) and 409, (wing tag 9) appeared rising up from the shadows below and soared past. Without any other visitors around, the condors seemed exceptionally comfortable to fly close to me for extended periods of time so I could make observations and capture photo references as I painted a small plein air study which served as the reference for this painting. Standing on the edge of the abyss, made me feel like I was soaring in the air with them. In spring of 2019, the pair hatched a chick (condor #1000). If you look closely enough in the shadows of the cliff below Scout’s Lookout, the chick is barely visible perched in a crevice and surrounded by white wash. The chick fledged in November, bringing hope and continuing the successful recovery process of this species once on the brink of extinction.