10 Year Anniversary
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of The Jaunt, we have invited some of the artists that we have worked with over the years to create a new silkscreen print. Hense’s print is one of the seven prints that makes part of this series.

Artist: Cody Hudson
Title: Micro Coral Floral Feedback Loop

Print details
Dimensions: ± 50 x 70 cm
Medium: three colours silkscreen print on paper
Edition: edition of 50, signed and numbered by the artist

“I purposely didn’t do too much research prior to my trip, as I wanted to be surprised with the surroundings. I was very surprised by the humidity and how wet my clothes would be, even after hanging them out to dry for days. It was interesting to see after a few days you pretty much got used to it. A little more research (and more technical clothing) on my part would have helped prepare for this but the wet clothes will definitely add to my memories and stories of this trip.

At the end of the week there so much impressions that I’ll never forget. The small 12 seat plane to get to Golfito, the intensity of the daily downpours and how calming they became by the end of the trip, the size of the bugs we would see in the tree house at nights, the amazing plants surrounding us, the large non venomous snake in the treehouse the first night, the hike through waist deep water to get to the waterfall swimming pond, and last, but not least, the earthquake the shook the treehouse and woke us up on our last night in Costa Rica. Looking back and bringing up some of these memories again I feel very lucky to have been able to go on this trip and be inspired by the nature all around me.

I wanted to keep the artwork bold and graphic while also being very inspired by the trip. This became the three loose shapes, the top shape referencing the amazing greenery and plant life we saw on the trip, the middle half circle playing off the sun that would come out through the clouds and hit us with some much needed rays of sun in the afternoon and the bottom shape is based on the rivers we would cross while hiking.”

Travel diary

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

GETTING THERE

Cody Hudson posting here….. Very excited to kick off this project with The Jaunt. Left Chicago on a cold Sunday AM, short layover in Panama then flew into San Jose airport in Costa Rica. After a quick night in San Jose (and meeting up there with old friend Jared Eberhardt who flew in from Los Angeles) we headed back to the airport to fly to Golfito to head out to the jungle. I have been on some pretty small planes but not like this. We boarded the 12 seat plane and grabbed a seat right behind the pilot and copilot.

Pretty amazing flight to be that close and watch everything happening as they flew. Felt like a very loud video game. Landed at a small airstrip that looked like a road and climbed off the plane and jumped in a 4x4 waiting for us 25 feet from the plane. After an hour of rough roads we ended up at our final destination. Finca Bellavista is an off the grid tree house community situated in the mountainous south Pacific coastal region of Costa Rica, called the Southern Zone. Hung out a bit with the crew there then hiked about 25 minutes into the jungle to check out our space for the week - El Castillo Mastate. Ran into a bunch of frogs on our way back to the tree house and ran into a bigger surprise as I climbed up the steps to my room back at the tree house. As I looked around the room with my headlamp and was getting ready to put my gear down I saw a decent sized snake curled up across from the bed. Since I’m not much of a snake expert and she didn’t look like she wanted me to try and move her I quickly headed back down the steps and back across the rope bridge and crashed for the night in the connected cabin Jared was staying in. Pretty exciting first day and looking forward to having a full day exploring out here tomorrow. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Hiked into basecamp for some beans, rice and eggs. Checked in with the outside world then packed a lunch and headed out to hike for the day. Walked for an hour or so and got to a nice look out point with the remains of an old picnic table. Sat down for a bit and did some field study plant drawings in the sun while a toucan flew over head. So much vegetation and amazing plants everywhere. Taking lots of photos of stuff to try and draw later. Hiked back out and headed down trail 13 toward the river to find a spot to eat. Ran into lots of frogs and a chill little snake. Made it on to some rocks by the river and started eating our epic chicken and rice burritos packed for us by the crew at Finca Bellavista. Almost finished eating before the daily rain kicked in. Finished up lunch in the rain while watching the river slowly rise in front of us then headed back to the tree house. Spent most of the night hanging in the tree house talking with Jared and making a few small painting studies on paper.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Woke to the sound of the river in the distance and birds calling. Not a bad way to start the day. Hiked to base camp for a special treat of banana chocolate chip nut pancakes. Packed up a lunch and headed for a long hike around the edge of the property. Found some red ochre on the side of a hill. I grabbed a few pieces of it to try to make something with it later. Stopped by to see where they grow most of the food we have been eating all week. Pretty cool to see how much fruit and veg they are able to grow in a small area. Headed to the river and found a spot to eat our lunch (a fried cheese and tomato sandwich and some plantain chips). It was a little high since it’s the end of rainy season but looked pretty calm. We hiked for a bit down river and quickly realized it was a little deeper than we thought when the water sped up a bit and went up over our boots. Since our boots were already filled with water we gave up on dry feet and hiked the rest of the way to the waterfall in the river. Headed back to the tree house to try dry off a bit but after a few days are realizing that its so humid once certain pieces of clothing (like cotton t shirts or socks) get wet they pretty much stay wet for days. Glad I brought extra socks and shirts. While drying out our gear we got our daily rainstorm as it poured for about 45 minutes. After dinner at base camp went back to the tree house (and ran into the largest frog I have ever seen in my life) and attempted to make a few paintings on leaves I had collected earlier. Painting by headlamp lighting at night was a little tricky but I might attempt to paint a few more during daylight tomorrow to see if like come out better.

Friday, November 9, 2018

Another good morning of bird sounds and plants and light. Hiked to basecamp for breakfast of home made tortillas and cheese with some fresh fruit. The night before the crew at Finca Bellavista mentioned they had some zip lines set up around the property if we wanted to get a different view of the river. It’s not something I have done before but seemed hard to pass up. Pretty nice to see the river we had been hiking down the day before from a different perspective. Also they mentioned if you hiked upstream there was another waterfall to see. We packed a lunch and headed that way for the afternoon. 20 minutes into the hike we saw a Coati (A raccoon like animal) run by us on a fallen log. The river hike got a little deeper and before we knew it we were waist deep in water to get through some parts of it. We had learned from the last few days that there wasn’t much use trying to stay dry here so we kept going. Every turn of the river was more interesting than the last with the different ways the river had cut through the rocks over the years, some larger pools, some tighter spaces like canyons. As we hiked into one of the darker areas about 40 bats flew out to either scare us away or try to high five our heads. Ate some beans, rice and chicken on a nice flat area and about 30 minutes later made it to the waterfall. Pretty beat from hiking all we day we crashed pretty early and woke up to the house shaking at 3:38 am only to realize it was a small earthquake. Not going to lie to you, that scared the shit out of me. We don’t get much of that in the Midwest. Might be time to head home soon…

Couple leaf studies from the tree house night sessions.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Didn’t get much sleep after last night earthquake action but the jungle was looking beautiful again as the rain broke and the sun came up. Saw a few huge blue butterflies with a super bright blue color on one side, looked like something out of dystopian sci fi movie. Turns out they are the Blue Morpho butterfly and have a wingspan of up to 15cm. Was nice to see those as we hiked out with our gear for one last breakfast at base camp. Said goodbye and thanks to all the crew at Finca Bellavista and got a ride to the Golfito airport to get back on a 12 seat plane to San Jose airport. From San Jose to Panama then back to good old Chicago. Landed back home to 20 degree weather, quite a change in one day. I had such an amazing trip, saw so many plants, animals, birds, bugs and everything in between. A huge thanks to Jeroen and The Jaunt for having me go on this adventure for them. I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity and am very inspired by what I saw all week. It was so different from my normal studio days so I’m excited to see what ideas comes from it this week. Also thanks to my old friend Jared Eberhardt for meeting me out there and thanks for the good photos of our trip, It would have been a tough trip to pull off solo. Also turns out after speaking to some of locals that the snake we stumbled upon on the trail is very poisonous (and the bite is known to cause progressive paralysis), so a lesson to all the kids out there to not mess with snakes you find in the jungle.

Peace Sign

Cody Hudson

Photo below: Jared Eberhardt