Emma Yardley’s freehand landscapes ride along on truck tailgates, beat-up Yeti coolers and mud-caked mountain bikes. They decorate whole walls at pottery collectives and sweet-smelling bakeries. One’s even permanently inked into her skin. Whether doodled on her last shred of Moleskine paper or stretched across the side of a van, Yardley’s lines and dots are incarnations of movement.

Originally hailing from Vermont, Yardley became nomadic in early adulthood. She cleaned hostels in New Zealand, sat at a Buddhist retreat in Nepal, and nursed a spinal injury in Patagonia—all in search of the alpine peaks she dreamed about as a kid. Eventually she made her way to the American West and her lines and dots followed.

Her drawing process, though mostly subconscious, follows a similar path…

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above You can tell this is a tailgate doodle because it’s rife with small details. I would drive out of cell service, park my truck and cook dinner, and the evening would still have so much time to give. So I’d sit on my tailgate with a pullout desk and get lost in the little things.