During our summer road trip in 2019, one of the parks we stopped at was in North Dakota. It was definitely off the beaten path: the beautiful Theodore Roosevelt National Park. But, before I can go back to that amazing summer, I need to go back to about a week ago.
In this post I sanded and re-prepped three old oil paintings I no longer wanted or needed. I buffed down all the bumps and paint ridges. Then I covered them in a thin coat of oil titanium white, burnt sienna, and ultramarine blue.
Now that I had a dry prepped canvas ready to go, it was time to choose a new subject. I flipped through several National Parks pictures I had taken over the last six years. Many were pretty, but one really caught my eye.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, this place was amazing! Rolling hills of green prairies and jagged cliffs, the “badlands”, as far as the eye could see. That is what inspired me to paint “N Dakota Wilderness”. I wanted to capture the vastness. Along with this spectacular scene, while we were there we of course visited Theodore Roosevelt’s cabin and did the scenic loop. We saw prairie dogs, feral horses, wildflowers everywhere, mysterious “cannon ball boulders”, and I FINALLY saw big horned sheep.
Named after a man who lived here, Theodore Roosevelt moved to North Dakota in 1884, after suffering the death of both his mother and wife. He was 25 years old. Upon moving here he bought the Maltese Cross ranch. His goal was to find comfort and hunt bison. However, moved by the inspiration and experience he had here, he worked hard at preserving our beautiful lands and animals, and became our 26th president.
My favorite part about this park was that it is in North Dakota. This park is 1,886 miles from Folly Beach, SC where I grew up. So needless to say, it is not somewhere I ever thought I could visit. I am so glad I was able to explore this amazing park. I would recommend to anyone, no matter how many miles away, go visit this place. It is truly a gem. That is the beauty of a road trip, you get to experience the unexpected.
It was truly special to share the experience of this wilderness that inspired a man to create the places that I love to visit.
Not only have painted this visual on canvas but expressed the beauty in words. I’ve never been to either of the Dakotas and now you’ve spurred me to get going.
Get there, you’ll love it!