Inspiring the Glacier Collection

January 15, 2020

We should be there by now. Or that’s what our GPS was telling us, anyway.

“We’re looking for the lodge,” we told the ranger at the tiny little guardhouse where we expected to see a grand, historic hotel. 

“Keeeeeeeep going,” she smiled as she pointed in the distance. “You’ll see it.”

Six miles and 45 minutes later, we arrived. Completely without cell service or wifi or anything resembling civilization nearby. To the place where we’d be spending the next two days.

We were surprised, but excited. Unplugging is kind of our thing. But how would our fellow lodge guests respond, we wondered? 

Our stay in Glacier National Park was an interesting but refreshing case study of what we as humans do when we’re forced to unplug. 

Along with our fellow lodge guests, we paused. We took time to bask in the natural beauty around us. We went outside to the wraparound porch and just sat. 

And when we felt a pull towards a different view, we strolled inside and found a seat near one of the many floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and we just stared.

At the mountains. At the sun glowing behind them. At the mirror-like reflection in the lake between us and that grand, awe-inspiring view.

But what I enjoyed even more than the natural beauty was the number of people I saw truly connecting and enjoying each others’ company. In ways that I rarely see anymore with screens available to distract us at every moment.

I saw strangers engaging in conversation by the fire.

I saw closet musicians trading turns playing the grand pianos scattered throughout the common areas, mesmerizing entire rooms with the depths of their sound.

I saw families laughing and playing good old-fashioned cards.

I saw couples and friends grabbing drinks in the lounge before wandering about the lodge—just sitting, sipping, strolling, and chatting.

When I think about this collection of paintings that I’m working on (which I’m calling the Glacier Collection after the park that inspired them), OF COURSE I’m thinking about natural beauty.

About the water and the lakes and the mountains and the air and the power and the expansiveness.

But I’m also thinking about connection. Person to person. Without screens.

I’m thinking about how we’re often at our best when we don’t have anything else to do but talk. When we’re miles away from civilization and just sitting on porches and around fires, trading stories and marveling at the beauty around us—and taking the time to notice the beauty in each other.

This collection of paintings is coming together, and it’s going to be so, so good and full of life.

I hope these paintings remind you to be more present—to treat every moment as if it were a majestic mountain or a roaring waterfall commanding your attention.

The Glacier Collection—a collection of abstract paintings inspired by my time in Glacier National Park in northern Montana. It’s coming soon!