Ruth Hamill, High, 2010, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches
Ruth Hamill, Beyond, 2010, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches
Ruth Hamill, Fresh, 2010, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches
Ruth Hamill, Peak Conditions, 2010, oil on canvas, 30x48 inches
Ruth Hamill, Exhale, 2010, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches
Ruth Hamill, Double Black Diamond, 2010, oil on canvas, 20x30 inches
Ruth Hamill, Breathe, 2010, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches
Ruth Hamill, To the Top, 2010, oil on canvas, 20x30 inches
I lived and worked at sea level for a long time. In 2009 I applied for an artist residency in Breckenridge, Colorado, to get out of that zone of comfort and see what would happen to my work when the altitude reached 10,000 feet. My first time living short-term in Breckenridge at the Tin Shop artist residency was great in all the ways it should be. It was June and there were no bugs in Breckenridge! There was no humidity! I loved Breckenridge, fully; but mountains I could take or leave. I worked on the projects I brought with me westward.
But when I re-applied and went back to the Tin Shop for the month in December 2010, I fell in love with the mountains. Fell hard. I could see the mountains from the studio and I could watch them just as I had been watching the sea and lakes forever. Hour to hour, day to day, the mountains showed me why their ever-changing presence was worthy of love. So I chucked the work I'd planned and used the canvases I brought, instead, for these paintings.