My life is a project. It always has been. On Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Kathie and I were already twenty-four days into self-imposed quarantine. New York City was seeing a sharp rise in new cases, hospitalizations and fatalities. This would continue for several weeks before infection rate showed signs of ebbing. Unable to get to my studio in Haverstraw, New York I kept busy writing, transforming my journals from 1990 to 1992 when I visited and painted Civil War battlefields under threat from development. At the time it seemed like a piquant metaphor for how the American landscape is a quarrel about what it is. In a divided nation thirty years later, it seems timely again. My intention had always been to write a book on the subject. Suddenly I had time to devote to the task.
Pouring over pairings of words and texts, like in my recent exhibition curated by Laura Vookles at Hudson River Museum, it occurred to me to start a quotidian blog that celebrates travel, making art and keeping journals. In other words, paying attention. Perhaps I thought it might provide some with relief from cabin-fever, or soothe the anxiety of those gripped by fear. Now in the second month of this project, I find the process has had a beneficial effect on me, and hope that it brings comfort to others.
At the end of each month, daily posts will be archived on new webpages. Below is the page for April 2020.
The reader will find a lot of content in each of these links. Alternately you could download the PDF
Save the document to your desktop. Click on links in it to access quotidian posts.
April 1. North Gate, Hudson Highlands
April 2. Thursday. North-South Lake, Haines Falls, New York
April 3. Friday. Ellis Island, New York Harbor.
April 4. Saturday. Rio Grande near Embudo Station
April 5. Sunday. Sunset, Columbia Railroad Bridge. Schuylkill River
April 6. Monday. The Rio Grande Below Pilar, New Mexico
April 7. Tuesday. Fort Wool, Rip-Raps Island, Hampton Roads, Virginia
April 8. Passover. Wednesday. Twin Bridges at the Mouth of the Sacandaga
April 9. Maundy Thursday. Twin Stone Bridges, Schuylkill River
April 10. Good Friday. Roadside Vista. Rio Grande Gorge
April 11. Saturday. Summit Springs Battleground. Sterling, Colorado
April 12. Easter Sunday. Western Highlands from Boscobel
April 13. Monday. Confluent Des Creuses
April 14. Tuesday. Looking South from Three Angels
April 15. Wednesday. Confluence of Rio Grande and Rio Pueblo de Taos
April 16. Thursday. South Gate. Hudson Highlands
April 17. Friday. Crows’ Nest Mountain. Hudson Highlands
April 18. Saturday. Dragon-Boat Dock
April 19. Sunday. From the Rim of Rio Grande Gorge.
April 20. Monday. Below the Railway Connecting Bridge, Schuylkill River
April 21. Tuesday. Poets’ Walk. Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
April 21. Tuesday (part two). Bonus Dispatch: Field Gear
April 22. Wednesday. Earth Day. Picturesque Effluence in the Schuylkill River
April 23. Thursday. The Summit of Eyjafjallajoküll
April 24. Friday. Under the Volcano (Eyjafjallajoküll)
April 25. Saturday. The View from Olana
April 26. Sunday. Outriggers on the Schuylkill
APRIL 27. Monday. Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan
APRIL 28. Tuesday. Revolutionary War Battery, Fort Lee, New Jersey
APRIL 29. Wednesday. Tracking Eliza: An Art-Historical Detective Story
APRIL 30. Thursday. John Burroughs Grave-site, Roxbury, New York
Due out in late September. Reserve your copy now.
(A preview of SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER by James L. McElhinney (c) 2020. Schiffer Publishing).
Copyright James Lancel McElhinney (c) 2020 Texts and images may be reproduced (with proper citation) by permission of the author. To enquire, send a request to
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Links Day-by-Day: Downloadable PDF