This video had everything we needed today: breathtaking scenery, gorgeous painting footage, and some incredible insights into how to persist and achieve without letting the achievement overshadow the experience! We'll be watching this one over and over!
Yay! I've been looking forward to this one. Such an awesome, positive message. Add motivational speaking to your list of talents! So cool seeing the region I grew up loving, appreciated through another artist's eyes. Your "gratitude" message really resonated with me on that note. It's so easy to get bogged down in day to day life and take for granted what's right in front of you. Very inspiring! Time to plan a hike. Thanks again.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful, and very wet vacation. I am a native Tennessean. I can appreciate the lushness of my home state, but love to be in the southwest as often as possible. How wonderful getting to paint with Steve! Thank you for all the positive quotes. I am a member of your watercolor mastery classes. Happy painting and many more enjoyable vacations.
I live in Cherokee, NC! glad you were able to see our beautiful mountains and rivers! I have had a total knee replacement surgery and haven't been able to get out this year but I have been here for 63 years, and I know to take my camera with me when I go out because the weather can change in a heartbeat! glad you got to paint here!
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I totally sympathize with your rain issues, but as an armchair companion, joining you from searing Arizona heat, I could only feel how wonderful it would be to enjoy a cool rainy week in North Carolina.
The same scenario happened when I reserved a room at the Mt. Rainier Paradise Lodge. I reserved the room a year in advance, trying to get the best timing combo of fewer people and lovely fall weather. Reality presented me with a fog bound mountain the entire time. I saw some blue sky in the rear view mirror as I was going down the mountain on my way home. It was beautiful…I took photos and then painted in my room. I had a lovely time and produced several paintings. Not exactly plein air, but good enough…grateful for the opportunity.
You are such an inspiration, you persisted in painting in the rain. Loved your quotes, good ones to live by. Take care. Happy painting, where ever you are
i'll never thank you enough for carrying us everywhere with you . I know we're heavy with all our tripods and battery .be assure that the joy it brings is real 🥳.
I live about 30 minutes from Greenville. The Smokies is my favorite place to go. I recognized so many of the videos from the area. Next time go to Cades Cove across the mountain out from Gatlinburg. The first cabin has THE most magnificent view across the meadow to the mountains. Fog and drizzle are the norm for the area but no better place to photograph, draw, paint and live. So glad to have you visit.
I just happened upon your video. So glad you got to experience our beautiful mountains, rivers and waterfalls! Smokey Mountains are called “Smokey” for a reason. In the summer, it’s best to wait till after 11 am if you want to see the mountains because of the fog. Too bad you missed Greenville! Downtown is amazing!! The Reedy River runs right through the downtown and the Liberty suspension bridge is absolutely amazing and allows gorgeous views to paint. I’m a pastelist but often do plein aire watercolor underpaintings in our area for my pastel works! Really enjoyed your video! Come back again! The third week of April and the third week of October are gorgeous weeks to be here. Amazing flowers in the spring and fall colors during autumn!
I appreciate your attitude and perseverance. You give me hope of being a better person. I let things like you experienced eat at me and, although trying to let it go, it still bugs me! I will try to look at it like you do and remember that most everything is temporary, so live life with joy, no matter what. Bless you Emily!
Luv the encouraging quotes and the way you authentically embraced them - reminds me of an old testament prophet living life as life presents itself. and yes the paintings you created will be strong memory tags. thank you for sharing life.
That was some spectacular hiking and painting, with a lot of hard-won positivity!! The rain and the scotched plans were all a handy metaphor for the stuff we all go through on our way where we're going, and the need for both flexibility and resiliency. Well done!!
I've been going through a rainy season in life for what seems like forever now. I'm just trying to keep up. Painting really helps and when I feel really down , I just let myself feel sad or upset. I think that like other emotions it also has a place in our lives and as long as it doesn't become the main focus, it's ok to not be happy or positive always and take some time to just be upset sometimes. Anyways I absolutely love your paintings as usual❤❤❤. I'm hoping to start painting landscapes this year so we'll see i guess 😅😅
Thank you for the wonderful video! I live in the Pacific Northwest, on the coast, and there are a lot of gray days when it's not raining. I'm a firm believer that you can't let the rain rule your life if you live here, but it definitely slows you down!
Wow! You were in my “backyard”! I live about 20 miles from Asheville. I loved this video. I’m so glad you enjoyed our beautiful area…in spite of the rain!
Fantastic video, Emily! Thank you for sharing your lovely art and for giving us a glimpse of how you handled the adversity you faced on your trip. Also, I think it's so cool that you spent time with Steve Mitchell. I've learned so much from and you in the last year or two; such a blast to see y'all together on screen.
Love this, Emily! So proud of your persistence. I love all your paintings, especially the beautiful tree you painted with Steve. I wish you would do a tutorial of that tree (or any of the others)for your Watercolor Mastery students! ❤
What a beautiful and uplifting video. Thank you for the hard work that went into creating it. I’m glad you made the best of it and also admitted the anger you felt. I can get the same way. I was there a couple months ago and experienced the same rainy and cool weather. But that’s the smoky mountains. Always green. Always rain. But where there’s rain there are rainbows!😊
Thank you for sharing your adventure. I’ve been following you and Steve for years and have enjoyed your journey. I love your cave painting, the soft transparent color translates the feeling of the weather conditions perfectly! Well done Emily!
What a wonderful video! I love Bryson City and every step you took there [and in the Smokys] I have taken for the last 10+ years. Tom Branch is the most beautiful of waterfalls, it is what made me fall in love with the Smokys and Bryson City. Alum cave is spectacular!!! Mingo is amazing in spring and fall. I enjoyed watching you paint, regardless of the rain challenges. It is inspiring and reminds of how much I love Western North Carolina. Thank you for sharing this with us and I can't wait to head out to paint there soon!
I have been to Builtmore multiple times, and if it wasn't raining you could have been fighting the crowds. Plus I LOVE the tree collab you did! Im so glad it rained since that video and this one with all of your encouragement came out if it!
You did great to hike Alum Cave Trail in the rain, that's not an easy trail even on a sunny day. Native Tennessean, I've stayed at Leconte Lodge that you hiked to 3 times. There are 5 trails that go there, and Alum is the shortest but the steepest. I'm glad you still got to do so many other hikes and enjoy the area. I live out West for several years now, but the Smokies are the thing I miss the most.
Hi Emily, Great video! Beautiful scenery there. It's so wonderful and I'm not surprised that you brought the beauty out in rain through your paintings Thank you
Great paintings for my favorite place (don’t feel too bad about falling on the trails. I’ve spent many moments, some on those same trails, on my hind end. It just comes with the territory 😂) It does rain a bit there, hence all the green. But you kept your spirits up and had a forward looking attitude. I’m happy for you and proud of you. I’m glad too that you met up with Steve!!🙏🏼🧑🎨🎨
We get sooo much rain in WNC! I hope you’ll come back and have better weather next time! I work in Brevard NC where we joke the locals walk their fish. Also! Thank you for your uplifting message. You certainly did make the most of your situation and I like the idea of going about your day assuming everything is stacked in your favor! It definitely helps to have a positive outlook rather than a stacked-against-me outlook.
Beautiful scenery in the Carolinas! Chose this area recently and loving it! Thank you for your wonderful video! Your talent and positivity shine through 🎨‼️👏☀️🌞🌅
That was such a great video,thank you for all of your insights and experiences, being thankful to God is the best reminder for us all when things don't go as we expect
the waterfalls and landscape are gorgeous there! and its great you did get to paint somethings, but always have the video to fall back on if you feel like trying again 😀
Super amazing paintings despite all the challenges you had to face! The collab with Steve also was amazing and fun to watch. He is an incredible artist and so are you! Please keep inspiring us with your fantastic art work!
You definitely made the best of it, although I think I would have just been in heaven enjoying nature on those hikes, painting be darned. But then I'm not much of a plein air painter so I'm more about getting tons of photos and then maybe (rarely, haha) painting them back in the studio. Thanks for sharing your tips on how you persevered and didn't let unplanned events ruin your trip!
What an amazing trip. Your attitude to overcome your obstacles (mostly the weather) and the quotes from the book were truly inspiring to me. Just what I needed to hear. I'm going to check out Vishen Lakhiani's book and keep you words in mind when tackling my future plein air trips (I'm a newbie 😸) Thanks so much for sharing.
Did you film this yourself!!!? It’s like a professional documentary! It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever watched! An art form of another type…videography ❤❤ I wanna go there now!🎉. Just a side thought…with your love of painting animals, and story telling ability, you could do a children’s story book or a book with encouraging quotes and paintings.😊
What a beautiful video , for those of us that may never see the Smokey’s or hike the trails , I really appreciate videos like this ,thank you for sharing ! Blessings to you from WA!
Hullo Emily, thank you for sharing your trip to the smokies! I know that we all enjoyed your collaboration with Steve and your paintings are truly amazing! I hope you decide to have more traveling collaborations in the future! You are truly inspirational and a delightful young lady. Thank you.
I live in Tennessee and have been to and through the Smokies many times. I know the rain isnt ideal for painting, but I want you to know how utterly miserable you may have been without it. Though, you're in an "alpine" environment, the heat and humidity can be brutal! I feel, In my soul, you read THAT book at THAT time, for a reason that is now clear to you. I'm overjoyed for ALL your recent discovery, GREAT and SMALL! ❤️
Thank you for posting your vacation trips........I am so happy you share your adventures with us who have not had the pleasure of visiting the smoky mountains. I love your videos and tutorials and especially working and painting with Steve Mitchell. You both are favorites of mine. You two are amazing and I love the work you both do. Thank you for sharing all of these with us.
This video was amazing!! Will check out that book for sure. Also, what nail polish is that (the metallic magenta 😍)? Thanks for all of your effort, your videos are so fun to watch!
