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Shackleton Falls was our excursion destination at Stromness, S. Georgia Island. This is the location where Sir Ernest Shackleton and his two comrades ended their arduous trip from Elephant Island to S. Georgia across 800 miles of the worst seas in the world. Upon reaching the falls after a 36 hour trek across the island (glaciers, snow, winter temperatures), they had to walk down the valley to the then active Stromness whaling station. The Endurance saga is one of the most incredible accounts of polar survival ever told.

A Pennsylvanian by birth, my love of wilderness had its genesis in New York's Adirondack Mountains. Early childhood trips to the area resulted in a 17 year residence after college. I often refer to this time as my apprenticeship for living in Alaska. In 1990, I left the Adirondacks, driving across Canada with my dad to begin a new job and life in the 49th state. I'm still in Alaska, with no plans to leave. Around 2000, I took my first watercolor class at the urging of a close friend and artist. Having experimented with acrylics and oils during my youth, watercolor was a very different medium. I was fascinated by its luminosity, transparency and fluidity, despite the inherent difficulties in learning to use the medium. Over the...