It’s been a much more action-packed semester than I anticipated, largely due to the time drain (and source of great joy) that was the “Harvard Student Art Show.” Several friends and I put on a massive exhibition and sale of 150 student works last week, and it attracted over 3,000 people. That was more than twice the number we expected!
I displayed the painting above ("The Pyg Track, Mt. Snowdon, Wales") in the show; I painted it in my dorm room using watercolor sketches and photos from 2006, when I hiked up Mt. Snowdon while working as a writer for Let's Go travel guides. The view is from a junction in the Pyg Track, one of the oldest routes up Snowdon. I was looking back down the trail towards the valley I had just left. Only a few hundred meters ahead, a wall of dense fog moved in and blocked the entire valley from sight.
Fog notwithstanding, Snowdon was one of my favorite hikes--it's difficult to imagine seeing greener hills or more beautiful, untamed terrain than in North Wales. And there were enough people on the mountain that I never grew concerned as a solo hiker, but they were few enough that I sensed every bit of the joy that comes from stepping out into an adventure alone.
“Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.”