My Fourth of July was an unusual and interesting day.

The Fourth fell on a Saturday this year so I had an extra day off. In the days leading up to it, I was anticipating some extra painting and writing time. A bonus day in the studio!

But on July 3, one of the artists exhibiting in June came to pick up her work and asked if I would like to drive out to the Flint Hills with her to take pictures. She wanted to be out there when the sun came up and my first response was No! No! No!, that’s way too early.

But I asked Neal if he would like to go and the end of the story is that we were up at four o’clock in the morning on July 4, on the road by five and at the highest point in the Flint Hills by six.

It was raining when we woke up and it rained until about 5:30, then the clouds parted and glimpses of pink and blue began to appear.

Our first stop involved a group of mares and foals, but it was still so dark that none of my photographs turned out. So my first photograph of a greeting party is of cows. These guys were immediately inside the open range. We crossed a cattle guard and there they were. The combination of cows, landscape and dawn was inspiring.

My mind tripped back to Michigan and my days on a dairy farm and growing up around Holsteins of all ages and sizes. Open range cattle are no less curious than the dairy cattle I grew up with. They just have that delightful pasture smell!

The next stop was a short distance beyond the cows, at a hilltop that marks the highest point in that part of the Flint Hills. You can quite literally see for miles from that hill top.

I have fond memories of my first visit to this place. That particular trip involved a leaking power steering pump and a two-hour wait for a tow truck to find us in the blackness of night. This time, there were no car problems, but the wind was shrieking and it was all we could do to stand still long enough to take good pictures.

Neal drove us from Matfield Green about halfway to Emporia through the Flint Hills, stopping as requested so we could get out and take pictures. Neal even got in on the action on the photography (he took the sunrise) a time or two.

We were out eight hours and took a total of nearly 400 digital pictures ranging from wildflowers and cattle to landscapes and skies.

We were especially delighted with the open range cattle that came right up the car and posed for us. At one point, we were all standing around taking pictures to the south and when we turned around, there were a group of yearlings to the north. They heard us from the other side of the hill and came to see what was going on. I got some great shots of them and hope to get at least one good cow painting out of them.

It was noon when Neal and I got back so we went back to bed and slept for another three or four hours. That was pretty much the sum total of my studio work for the day!

But I have been looking through photographs since. Sorting out those that look promising and seeing Flint Hills landscape paintings looming in my future.

Ah! Let’s be honest. I can see a series of Flint Hills landscape paintings!

©Copyright 2009 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.