Park County Studio Tour

Val and I went on the annual tour of artist's studios located in the Livingston to Gardiner area. What a great event! There is an abundance of very talented artists in the area. http://www.pcadc.com/pcst/artists.htm

We watched Ben Maestas weaving a beautiful rug from naturally dyed Navajo-Churro wool. The hardy Churro sheep produce a stronger fiber with lovely texture. http://www.tierramontana.com/studio.htm

The rich colors and optical illusions in Char Devine's quilts are fabulous. Her explanation of the complexities of quilt construction and design gave me a better understanding and appreciation of this art form.

Val couldn't make the second day of the tour, so I visited more studios as I drove through the Paradise Valley on my way to Yellowstone. I passed through the northern section of the park this evening on my way to the RVing Women Convention in Wyoming.

Malou Flato lives in an idyllic setting on the Yellowstone River and, as I wandered down the path to her studio, I came upon a white-tail deer and her two fawns. The surprised doe called a warning to her offspring and they bounded off, white plumed tails held high as they disappeared into the brush.


Malou creates beautiful paintings and also does clay sculpture and ceramic tile murals. Recently she has been having fun scanning various bits of nature into her computer and then using Photoshop to layer and juxtapose the images into a collage, which she often paints on. She had several of these giclee prints on display and I purchased one that touched my heart. Malou had found a dead goldfinch on her porch... the victim of an errant flight into a window. She scanned the lovely bird to her computer and then combined the image with other still life scenes. The result was a peaceful scene of the sweet bird cradled in the beauty of nature and forever memorialized in the digital collage. http://www.malouflato.com

By late afternoon I only had time to visit one more artist and I chose to drive up the mountain to the remote studio of Renee Evanoff. I was greeted by her big white, smiling Great Pyrenees dog. I wish I had taken pictures while I was there since Renee's house is an art form in itself. She and her husband built the charming and unique cottage with stone and wood and other natural materials. Renee explained some of the techniques she uses in her art including encaustic, which is a technique combining paint, beeswax and heat. Her art is deeply emotional and reflects her personal philosophies on nature and social consciousness. She told me stories about bits of her life and some of her experiences living on the mountain. http://www.rockdogart.com

It was a full and lovely day, and I had a lot to reflect on as I drove through the serene Lamar Valley in Yellowstone NP, sighting elk and bison along the way. Soon after passing through Cooke City, I picked a dirt road to follow and found a nice place to camp near a meadow at the edge of the forest. I took a short walk with my binoculars and did a little bird watching before retiring to my rig to prepare dinner. As I had hoped, coyotes serenaded me before I drifted off to sleep.