Yellowstone’s Geysers

9/17/13 Old Faithful. (Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor)

Yellowstone National Park is best known for the world’s largest collection of geysers and other hydrothermal features, and the most famous of all is Old Faithful. We arrived at Old Faithful’s location shortly after it had just blown, so we had more than an hour to wait for the next one. While the others in my party took photos or killed time inside the information center, I went straight to the bleachers surrounding Old Faithful’s blow hole to stake out a seat, front and center.

I killed the hour by sketching the growing crowd and getting my paints ready for Old Faithful’s eventual eruption. A few times while we waited, a ranger shouted to the crowd that a huge storm was expected, and we were all at risk of being struck by lightning. She urged us to seek shelter immediately. Although the sky was definitely ominous, no one budged. (After waiting an hour, are you kidding?)

When Old Faithful blew at 4:12 p.m. (only three minutes later than the time predicted by the information center), my paints and I were ready.

Luckily for us, the electrical storm didn’t begin until we were back in the car.

9/17/13 Crowd waiting for Old Faithful. (Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor)

9/17/13 Geyser field. (Platinum Carbon ink, Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, watercolor)