Year - 2023 · Size - 30 x 23 cm / 11¾ x 9 in · Medium - Ink and watercolour on paper

As I pull into the carpark and prepare for the ascent, another car pulls up alongside me. On the lower slopes I can hear footsteps behind me — a younger, fitter man who quickly catches up. We start chatting and hike the first stretch together, me quietly stepping up the pace to match his. The trail climbs up and up through tall forest until it finally opens out onto a ridge where the trees thin into sparse stands of gnarled whitebark pine growing out of lichen-covered rock, their shapes distinct and wonderfully twisted. The view reaches out across the valley to Old Glory Mountain, undoubtedly living up to its name, its distinctive mountain hut perched right at the very top. I turned to my new friend. "I'm going to sit down and do a painting," I said. As I painted I watched him wind his way up the trail on the left side of the mountain, a tiny figure getting smaller until he reached the summit. By the time I packed up my brushes and began my own ascent of Old Glory, he was already on his way back down — and somewhere on the trail we crossed paths again. I showed him this painting.