The first time I went to Colorado we took the train up to the summit of pike's peak. As we rode up the mountain, the guide shared that the view we were all looking at was the same view that inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write her poem America which would eventually become the song America the Beautiful. She didn’t write a poem about the way America is or was, but her dream and vision of what it could be. Looking out over Pike’s Peak, this story really resonated with me as a girl who has always loved to paint, knowing I was feeling the same deep sense of possibility and love for life and the world that she felt in that moment, and I have always really appreciated this song ever since.
 
This watercolor + pastel of Pike’s Peak is available only as a digital download and 100% of the money made from it will be donated to the The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a national nonprofit resource center that provides immigration legal trainings, technical assistance, and educational materials & engages in advocacy and immigrant civic engagement to advance immigrant rights