From Patagonia to the Palette: How a Chilean Girls’ Trip Inspired My Newest Series

My sister, Whitney, kicking-off our first day of fishing at La Posada de Los Farios.

This was the only day we wore waders on the river. After that, it was just us in Chaco sandals and our Bose speaker.

Girls’ trips for the Van Cleave ladies are a bit different. We tend to lean hard toward the adventurous remote locations rather than an all inclusive resort. While we do love a frosty tiki drink beachside, we’ve grown up in a family that “unwound” from the hectic modern world around a campfire and favorite fishing hole. So, it’s not surprising that our 2026 girls’ trip was to a faraway fly-fishing lodge clinging to the Cisnes River in Chile by the name of La Posada de Los Farios. And what a glorious retreat from our daily lives it was, thanks to the warm-hearted people, expansive wilderness, and beasty fish.

Nestled below large poplar trees on a working cattle ranch in Patagonia, the old lodge carried that lived-in wooden charm that melts my heart every time. The current owners, Rex Bryngelson and Maike, revamped this abandoned homestead from the 1960s into a fly lodge in the late 1990s. Scented with the punchy aroma of wood smoke from a cast-iron fireplace, Whitney and I drank mugs of coffee in the early mornings musing over what luck we might encounter on the rivers. There was no talk about clients, spreadsheets, due dates, or any other nuisances of our work lives. Instead we strategized about which flyrod to take or whether to wader up (yeah we are more of the Chacos and shorts gals than the Orvis waders sort). The covered front patio provided us with a comfortable place to relax, a book or journal in hand. On occasion, we were treated to the musical dance of rain on the wooden shingles of this Patagonian river oasis. The evenings consisted of us wandering around the various buildings on this legacy property with a glass of red wine in hand or rambling down to the river for a few casts before dinner and the day’s fish stories began with other guests.

One of my favorite elements of remote locations is that buildings remain in use longer. The fuss of building new makes for creative maintenance of existing structures. For instance the lodge was once a tiny square building, but over the years small additions were added to accommodate a large kitchen and three guest rooms off the main room. Each new section was humbly added to the original bringing the charm along with it. The main room wasn’t excessive in size. Instead, it was entirely functional allowing enough space for a large dining table for all to eat together (guides and guests) plus leather couches and wooden rocking chairs adorned with fluffy animal fur by the potbellied stove. Cozy and welcoming vibes all around.

Similarly, older, less-used buildings on a remote ranch stay in place as the effort to remove them seems like a poor use for the long days of summer. At La Posada de Los Farios, the old corrals and chutes from the cattle age before still remained. We were lucky enough to witness the gauchos bringing cattle through the property on horseback late in the afternoon. The barn and outbuildings stood watch along the river as they had for decades of cattle runs. Perhaps their roofs a bit less sturdy but their charm still there. My soul savored in the slow rhythm of life at La Posada de Los Farios around the lodge, barns, and outbuildings, days there shaped by weather patterns and dinner bells for animals and humans alike.

Every morning we’d stretch on the grass in front of these echoes of buildings before jumping into the loaded trucks with gear and rafts. For this reason, these old wood structures stuck with me even after our return home. I couldn’t help myself from bringing them to life in a series of paintings this summer. The stories these structures could tell us would make for some interesting campfire fodder.

It was the memories of these wooden historical structures that kicked off my Still Standing Collection. In this collection, I’m capturing the visual stories of the older structures we see in our wild places. These buildings tend to simultaneously blend in and stand out in their respective settings. It’s their ability to be a part of the landscape and show the passage of time that fascinates me.

InShade of The Summer Barn, I was able to play with the angular shape of the old barn structure against the soft foliage surrounding it. The angles of the old structure stand steady in the fluid changes of the greenery and shifting shadows around it. While the original structure is of aging gray wood, I emphasized the separateness of the structure from its environment by selecting the hues of pinks and blues for the barn. This theme of color contrast carried through to the other paintings of these same buildings on La Posada de Los Farios.

With Glow on The Old Barn, I focused on the feeling of the warm summer sun radiating on the building. Just as when we were doing our modified yoga stretches in the sunshine, the barn seemed to be soaking in the joy of the sun right alongside us. For this reason, this piece has such a strong energy to it; I was channeling this mood into each of the brushstrokes.

As with many side buildings on a ranch, the one at La Posada de Los Farios lived many iterations. In High Noon at La Posada, I brought in the strength of the bright pinks and oranges to capture this small but mighty building under the long days of summer. I just love the contrast between the building’s pinks and the yellow grasses at it’s feet. I smile every time I set eyes on this piece.

Since we spent so many days enjoying the lodge, it was only fitting that I add the Evening at La Posadato the collection. This tucked-away little haven gave us a fabulous reboot to our spirits and deserved to be painted in the healing color palette of blues, teals and purples. It was a calming location for us to collect our thoughts, refill our cups, and enjoy just living life alongside the river again.

These original pieces will be joining me for the upcoming Boulder Fine Arts Festival on September 5th and 6th. You can find both originals and reproductions from this trip on the website.

If you’d like to get more details on the trip we did to La Posada de Los Farios, I’d love to chat. Feel free to drop me a message here.