Horseshoe Park

I finished this watercolor painting this afternoon and decided to send it out today because there is a story behind this painting. It has been on my mind for some time to do this painting. I guess I was reluctant, because I knew it was going to be painful.

Fourteen years ago, on the morning of December 11, 1994, my friend, Rusty Dickerson, and I sat on this bluff overlooking Horseshoe Park in Rocky Mountain National Park. I know the date because when I identify a new bird, I write down the date and location. That morning, a Townsend’s Solitaire, was perched on one of the trees in the foreground, and is so recorded in my bird book that Rusty and I identified that bird at this location. Little did we know as we sat there that early morning was that Rusty had cancer and was soon destined to leave this earth.

He loved this park. Whenever I see an eagle soaring up high in the sky over the park, I like to think it is Rusty soaring over his heaven.

My wife, Corinne, and I established the fund, C. W. “Rusty” Dickerson Fund, at the Rocky Mountain Nature Association in his honor.