If you are near Eastern California and have the chance, then visiting the Connecticut sized Death Valley National Park is a must! This truly is a bizarre and otherworldly place. One of the sites to see while visiting is Artists Palette.
First Visit
I have visited Death Valley twice. The first time with my husband in late April of 2017. The second time my brother and his girlfriend drove out to see us in Las Vegas, and we all went to Death Valley in late May of 2019.
Our first trip to Death Valley left me speechless. Everywhere looked like a foreign planet. From the strange rock formations to the ancient dried up sea to the below sea level phenomenon. It was April 30th, 2017 and had hit 100 degrees. The name, well deserved.
One of my favorite spots was Badwater Basin, which has earned the title “The Lowest Spot in North America”. As someone who is from the beach, this just seemed so incomprehensible. Once you get to Badwater Basin, there is a sign way up on the surrounding cliffs that says “sea level”. I sat there and thought about my parents back home, enjoying their day on Folly Beach, way up in the sky.
Once an ancient lake, Badwater Basin is now just salt flats stretching out for miles. The visitor center employee told us to just walk as far as we wanted. It seemed impossible to even get to the other side, not just the distance, but the intense dry heat.
In such a strange land, it was also neat to see wildflowers blooming amongst the unforgiving landscape.
Second Visit, with Camping
The second time my husband and I went to Death Valley, we were with my brother and his girlfriend. They wanted to camp. I had to remind them that Death Valley is in fact, the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in North America. They assured us it would be fine and we found a campsite 4100ft, which is crazy seeing as a lot of the park is at or below sea level.
Wildrose Campground was actually quite lovely, beautiful, and not hot! The only issue I had was in the night, you could hear the wild burros. They were very close. I was so nervous they were going to come over and trip over our tent guidelines. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well!
Artists Palette
Last week I celebrated my 36th birthday on May 9th. I wanted to do a painting where I could add turquoise, my favorite stone (hence my amazing turquoise wedding ring). I went through so many of my pictures trying to find the right color, mostly only viewing ocean scenes. Then I came across a photo of a place in Death Valley National Park called Artists Palette.
Located in the Artists Drive Scenic Loop, there is a section of the hills that stands out with its spectacular colors of the rainbow, aka oxidation of minerals. However, the only photo I have of Artists Palette was not as colorful as I remember the location being.
So I searched through the web to find a better picture I could paint. I found photographer Al Baker and his AMAZING shot of Artists Palette. I reached out to him to get permission to paint this photo and he said yes! The crystals I used for this piece were: blue and green turquoise, aquamarine, amazonite, and mookaite. This piece is an 8x10in oil on canvasboard.
I am so thankful to Al Baker for letting me use his photo, please go check out his site! My rendition of Artists Palette is also available in my shop. I am so happy I was able to use the beautiful green and blue turquoise in my piece!