Tag Archives: Front Range of the Rockies

Vistas Taken for Granted

sketch of mountains

Front Range of the Rockies as seen from the Waffle House, mixed media by Kerry McFall

We all take our own stomping grounds for granted.  There have been many times when people confess to us that they’ve never been to the places we “tourists” are so excited about –  places like the Brixton Windmill in London,  or the museum down the street in many cities, even a surprising number of Peruvians who have never been able to make it to Machu Picchu.  We ourselves are guilty of not going to lovely local places like Alsea Falls for years at a time.  But I swear that if the Front Range of the Rockies was in MY back yard, I would build my buildings FACING them (or at least put some windows in the back of the building.)  It’s not like there’s anything else to look at in the other directions…

I have been amazed at how many buildings face some tacky stretch of strip malls, with no view at all of the mountains or even any windows on the mountain side.  The view I sketched above was from the glamorous locale of the Waffle House parking lot off Highway 287 near Longmont – it’s the ONLY place where I would have been able to sketch from inside (at the back table in the corner) but given the sticky syrupy table I thought better of it and went outside for a photo.  And of course what you don’t see are the gas stations and quicky marts and utility poles just outside the margins of the sketch… or the miles and miles of “Mc-Ticky-Tacky” developments.  Our hotel here in Colorado Springs has another terrific view – from the back parking lot.  NO views at all from inside the building.  So silly.  As a culture, we need to tell our architects and designers to readjust their priorities!

So now that I’ve finished whining, I do have to say the front range of the Rockies is a spectacular sight!

Technique Notes

The peaks and snow fields were outlined first in white china marker – gives it a nice icy feel!