John and I drove up north a bit Saturday morning. I wanted to show him some of the excellent landscape vistas we have in Georgia, so we went up to Dahlonega and on over to Neel Gap. We walked a few feet on the Appalachian Trail, but spent most of our time hiking the Byron Reese, then setting up on a spot on the Freeman Trail. I had found this spot a few years back and knew John would like it. Indeed he did, and except for the annoying roar of some of the motorcycles on the road below, it was idyllic.
It was just fantastic to be hanging out with John all weekend. The style he is painting now is really awesome and fitting to the kind of work he's done over the years. I especially dig the flower painting and hope to see it in person before too long. The energy he brought also helped me along, as I was able to hit the color notes on the sunlit mountain better than I have before. Thanks to John for coming to see us. The dogs already miss him.
Submitted by donthacker on Mon, 2011-07-18 19:28