Cathedral
Oil on canvas
36 x 60 in

This is a wilderness mountain painted on location high on the Aichilik River in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in June of 1990. Roger Dowding, bush pilot extraordinaire, named the mountain Cathedral. He was the pilot who opened the Refuge to plein air artists. He knew the remote landing spots like no one else. Cathedral was painted about a mile from one such landing strip. Since Roger died no one flies to these places. The closest gravel bar strip, more accessible to aircraft such as Roger's Cessna 185, is 20 or more miles downstream. It is unlikely that anyone will do large scale painting in this spot ever again because this distance is too great to carry the necessary camping and painting gear.

Image © 1990 by Bill Brody