Hi all,
I just added my first four paintings to my website. I will add more as I complete them. If you wish, please join my monthly newsletter that I just launched to keep up with stuff. (You can click the link on my home page to join.)

I will be showing these on August 6th in Santa Fe at the Sage Creek Gallery.

Thanks,
Dennis

PS- I'll be at the National Oil Painters of America show in Scottsdale at the end of the month in case any of you are headed that way.

This Article came out today in the Salt Lake Tribune.
 http://www.sltrib.com/features/ci_14507028

Great coverage.

Zion Day 28: Departure

 

I got up early and did some last minute packing of my cooler and cleaning up of the Grotto, before my 8am check–out.

The weather was beautiful, with clear skies, making it somewhat difficult to leave. I noticed the moon was still up and the sun was hitting Lady Mountain, so I tried to get a shot but I don’t have the camera or the expertise to get the scene I was viewing. I tried but with very disappointing results.

Leslie was there right at 8am and I turned in my emergency radio which thankfully was used only once in a non-emergency situation (electricity went out in the canyon), my key to the Grotto and my “no waiting in line” gate key to get into the Park.

 I had the Grotto looking great and was very proud and then she looked in the microwave and asked if I had wiped it out? Dang!

I said” I don’t wipe it out at home, why would I do it here?” and then cleaned it out.

  Leslie in front of the Grotto.

I thanked Leslie for the amazing opportunity and experience, a once in a lifetime adventure, (unless I apply next year, however I think my odd’s would be very slim).

 

I was on the road by 8:30am, one last time through the tunnel and out the east side of the Park. As I said it was great sunshine, so I kept stopping to get a photo, severely affecting my average speed. My thought was, well it’ll be a while before I get back here so I might as well stop and get a shot.
 

  East Zion Rock Formation

 Arch in East Zion.

 
 Self explanitory.

I went back the same way I came in, down in front of the Vermillion Cliffs, and this time the light was much better so I got many more pics of this magnificent spectacle. 
 Horses in front of Vermillion Cliffs.

 
 This is to show the size of the Cliffs.

My destination was Santa Fe to meet with Sage Creek Gallery and discuss a show of all the my Zion paintings, and I had thought I would be there before 5pm to meet them and then head up to Taos for the evening with Randy and Sondra, margarita and chili. I have no idea why I thought I could get there in that amount of time, it is at least a 10 hour drive and I left way too late to make it before the gallery closed, especially since I was taking photos.

 

I drove through the Hopi reservation, up and over Mesa three, Mesa two and Mesa one on hi-way 264, a very narrow two-laner. They put the guard rails about an inch outside the white line, absolutely no shoulder. I would come to a curve and the road would get narrower as the guard-rails lined the sides of the road, it looked more like bobsled run than a road. I think they use the rails more as bumper-rails to keep you on the road, an “active” safety system instead of the passive one which actually lets you cross the white line before it prevents you from plummeting off the cliff.

I called the gallery at 3:30pm to let them know I was over three hours away and was not going to make it before they closed and went on up to Taos for the night.

 

The road to Taos goes through the small town of Espanola, on a Friday night. I think I saw more police activity in those five miles of road than I had the entire day. They had police cars at each end of town and several more had cars pulled over in-between, I guess the solitude of Zion National Park was over.

 

It was 9pm by the time I got to Taos, 12 and half hours on the road, one long day; however there was a margarita waiting for me and a hot bowl of chili. That sure makes the night cozy.

 

On Saturday I drove down to Sage Creek Gallery and met with Gary and showed them the work I had been doing the last month and we settled on an August 6 date for my show.

 

I drove back up to Taos and in time to meet Randy and Sondra and their neighbors Bob and Marilyn, to go snow-shoeing, an activity I had never done before. It is basically hiking on a snow-packed trail. You can work at it and get your heart rate up for a work-out or you can just stroll along and enjoy the wilderness, whatever you desire.

 

We had a feast of a dinner at Randy and Sondra’s house in which they invited some neighbors over for festivities; it was a wonderful evening with friends.

 

I head home on Sunday, another long day but it will be good to get home.

Zion Day 27

 

Well it is fitting that the weather is the same as when I arrived, rain mixed with snow.

 

I awoke this morning to what in my half conscious mind was, the sound of a barking little yappy dog. I realized that this was quite unusual since I had not heard that sound for over a month so I got up to investigate.

Apparently, a flock of twenty-three turkeys sounds similar to a Shih-Tzu about sixty yards away. I got dressed to go see what the commotion was about and it appears that it was two separate flocks, and the two Toms were trying to keep them from co-mingling, there was a lot of talking going on, I know that. I don’t speak Turkish, so I am only guessing at the conversation.

 

It was too dark to get a good photo so I am sorry I cannot show you the commotion.

 

This morning I went down to the Administration offices and said my good-byes to everyone I had met the past month, and met a few more people for the first time.

I met Don Sharlow whom worked at Big Bend National Park for 12 years before coming to Zion, so we visited about Big Bend for a bit, and he also came up to the Grotto to see my paintings this afternoon.

 

I used the opportunity or inclement weather to get everything dismantled and packed up.

The snow stopped mid-afternoon and I loaded the truck, so I am packed and ready to go.

   

  Some last views of my place, before it isn't.

Leslie will be at the Grotto tomorrow morning at 8am so I can turn in my keys and radio and make sure I haven’t destroyed the “new” Grotto or taken any of the 1970’s era park furniture. I assured her that my truck was full with just the stuff I brought and I couldn’t possibly squeeze anything else in. Plus, it really doesn’t fit the motif at home.

 

I will travel to Santa Fe to visit with Sage Creek Gallery about my show in August (mark those calendars folks)

I will end up tomorrow evening in Taos drinking a margarita and I have been told chili is on the menu for dinner.

I’ll post from the road of anything humorous or interesting I see, thank you for the companionship along this journey.

This will be my last post from here in the Park, and to celebrate I am going to have a steak here at the Lodge as my little celebratory meal. It has been a wonderful journey thus far and I look forward to see where it goes, for it has only just begun.

 

Zion Day 26

 

The Presentation last night at SUU went great. There were about 45 to 50 people in attendance and no one was injured so I consider it a success. I spoke for about an hour including a brief question and answer session. Since these were a lot of art students I focused a bit more on technique and materials, than I did at the Lodge in the Park.

I also talked about marketing art and getting your art out there in the public through entering competitions and joining art organizations, both of which have been very instrumental in my career path so far.

 

Today I had Lunch with Jock Whitworth the Park superintendent. He took me to lunch at the lodge after coming to visit the Grotto. He is a super nice guy and has a great job, right here in one of the prettiest Parks in the country. What an office.

 

The sunshine was abundant today with big puffy white clouds blowing through all day. I decided to seize what is probably the last opportunity to go see the Kolob Canyon region of the park. It is in the far northwest section of the park and about an hours drive from the Grotto because of those pesky little mountains.

  Kolob Canyon

It is gorgeous! It doesn’t get the press that the main canyon in Zion does but it is as equally impressive, very dramatic “fingers” of rock jutting up out of the earth, and the rock in much redder there.

Here is a sample of the 585 photos I took in about three and half hours this evening.





 I cropped the truck into this one to show how big the formation is.

 Sunset in Kolob Canyon, looking south.

 looking North

 Looking Northeast.

It is a great palce to see and would be an even better place to hike. They have trails up each of the "fingers" and along the river. The river trail leads to a great arch, which you can read about here. http://www.zionnational-park.com/kolob-arch.htm

I think they have photos of it also.
Tomorrow is likely to rain so I will probably start to pack things in anticipation of the journey home, I will most likely leave on Friday. I can hear Texas calling.

Zion Day 25

 

Tonight at 7pm I give my presentation at Southern Utah University. SUU is located in Cedar City which is northwest of here but we have to go west then north because of those pesky little mountains.

 

I spent the day inside the Grotto painting today. I wanted to get a bit more finished on my “Mountain of the Sun” painting, and it was slightly overcast so the lighting wasn’t optimal for photo-ops.

   

Time for the Time Lapse technology again, left,right..left, right, left ,right, like you're watching a tennis match or reading a teleprompter.


This is a short post because I don’t have any new photos from today, just some painting.

Also it is posted earlier than normal, because I don’t know how late I will be returning from SUU, plus it keeps my mother guessing as to when I will post. I know her computer is in the other room and the more time she goes in to check the computer, the more exercise she gets. Hi mom.

Zion Day 24

 

Bright sunshine, another day spent gathering images.

Today I went on a quest for a certain spot for a photo. I was going through one of the books on Zion and there were historical photos taken by Charles Roscoe Savage (1870) and John Hillers (1872), of a very distinctive large boulder in the river with the Court of Patriarchs in the background. I wanted to find the boulder and possibly do a painting of the scene as it is today.

I took my book and went on an expedition for a boulder the size of a small house, near a bend in the river, this shouldn’t take too long, there are only a couple of spots it could be. The trees will obviously be larger or different but the rock should be obvious. You would think.

I looked all over for that thing, I think I found it twice but it wasn’t in the same place as the photo and it was turned over against the bank. In the photo it was planted on the inside bend of the river, obviously not planted there but moved there by incredible forces.

  It's got to be around here somewhere.

I took some pleasant shots of the river with the same mountains behind the river in what I think is close to the same place but there’s no way for me to be certain.

In retrospect it seems obvious that a river with the force to carve a canyon a couple thousand feet deep, could probably move a little ol’ rock the size of my first house with relative ease, that rock could be in Vegas by now; in retrospect.

  Possibly the Rock? I can't tell.

My theme for the day was to get some river shots. Since I spent the day yesterday getting the view from above, I thought it appropriate to get the view from down low today.

The river runs a clear green when not flooding, which looks great against the red sandstone. In the sunshine it really has a nice color palette; it will be fun to paint.

  That is the Mountain of the Sun in the background.

I plan tomorrow to trace down a scene from a Howard Russell Butler painting with a very distinctive tree and possibly paint a scene from the same place, as it is today. (I know the tree is still there because I have photo of it) Unfortunately there is a parking lot around it today, and there are no leaves on the trees, so it may be a challenge to get a cohesive painting out of it, but the rock formation behind it is very interesting in itself.

 

It is sinking in that there are only a few more days of this experience here in the Park, I find myself trying to absorb the atmosphere here and soak it all in, and get as much reference material as possible. Each day is more valuable since the weather has been great I will spend much of my time out in the Park.

  Pretty bird, Pretty Bird.

I took this pic of this pretty little bird and I’m counting on Blair Currin to tell me what it is. (Blair and his wife are Birders)

Zion Day 23

 

Today was gorgeous and sunny so it was a photo day.

 


 Found a couple of these, man they are hard to dig out.

I started down at the lower end of the canyon around the West Temple as the clouds weaved in and around the Oak Creek Canyon. The color of the canyon seems to be slightly different every day, at least here in the winter. The moisture form the rain and snow darkens and mutes the contrast of the rock color.

Last Monday with all the snow it gave everything a very blue cast with the sky reflecting off the snow and upon the walls. 

Today without the snow-cover, the colors are much warmer, although the colors area bit darker from the moisture. As it dries out the contrast between the white, yellow and red sandstone intensifies.

 

I decided to hike today since I haven’t done much of that, and I have stayed low so I today I hiked up.

I had a quick sandwich for lunch and packed one for the hike, filled my camelback, got my emergency radio, put on a couple pairs of socks and some gloves and hit the trail up to Angels landing. I wasn’t going to the top of Angels, I wanted a view of Angels from the cliffs behind it. Halfway up to Scout’s Lookout I realized I forgotten my new, never-been-used, got them just for this hike, Yaktrax. These slip over your shoes and allow you to more easily maneuver icy trails, which I knew I had to do on this little excursion. My Yaktrax were safely packed in the closet back in the Grotto, great, I got my sandwich and plenty of water but forgot the safety equipment.

I knew that I had to traverse Walters Wiggles, a series of switchbacks that are the last part of the trail to Scouts Lookout, these are on the north side of a slender canyon they refer to as Refrigerator Canyon, and because it only gets a couple hours of sun  it stays cold.

  Trail up to Angels Landing.

 .

I talked to folks coming down and they said people were butt-sliding down the wiggles because it was iced over….greeeaaat. I approached with trepidation but was relieved that it was late enough in the day that the tips of the wiggles were getting their daily allotment

of sunshine and were “slushy” not solid ice, so I lucked out and my Yaktrax are still brand spankin’ new. I went up the Wiggles with no problem, if I had been any earlier though it would have been an ice slide.

 Angels Landing is up that snowy icy trail to the left.

Here is a better shot , All the way up to the left.

 A view straight down the canyon wall, The"certain death" route.

At the top of the wiggles I went left, up the West Rim trail to get a view I had not sen before. The trail up to Angels was still very snowy they have chains for you to hold on to when it’s dry, in the snow and ice, its really dicey. In honor of Robert Frost, I took the path less traveled, and it did make all the difference….who knew?

The West Rim actually goes higher than Angels and it faces south so it was mostly free of snow.
 Up on the West Rim Trail.

 Walters Wiggles from high above, the white zig-zag thingy. Refrigerator canyon is to the right of the wiggles.

 

I was taking a pic down into the bowl of the Big Bend and I heard a crack from across the canyon. I looked over and got to see a small rock/snow slide down the opposite canyon wall. I got these shots of it. It was pretty neat to see the canyon continue to “create” itself.

This happened a few times during my hike, it would sound like a small gunshot and then I’d here a crumble. I only saw the one slide but heard a few others.

     See the snow fall

I met a couple on the hike from Boston, Stephen and Serie(sp?) Riden, and they got photos of the same slide I did, plus they saw a bigger one in the Refrigerator canyon and actually got a bit of video of it. He said it was frightening, even though they were safely away from it, just extremely scary.

 

We ended up chatting awhile and he is originally from San Antonio and went to school in Boston ended up staying there.

I invited them for coffee at the Grotto after they finished their hike, by the time they finished it was five or so and they didn’t want coffee, so we finished a bottle of Riesling.

Now if I need a corporate Attorney in Boston, I know who to call.

  Great White Throne on the way down.

It was another great day, got 327 pics, did an awesome hike, drank some wine with new friends, and still had my coffee after they left. Just a dandy day.

Zion Day 22

 

I realized this morning, my total lack of experience with a Powerpoint presentation; when I tried to set up a simple slide show for my speaking engagement at the Lodge tonight.

 

I had this great thought to put up a few slides of my previous art and maybe a title slide and get on with some painting. Well after a couple of hours of fiddling with trying to scale photos, I was ready to just go low-tech and simplify my day without stressing about fancy title slides, or just chuck the computer out the window.

I called my emergency IT specialist and she talked me off the ledge. ViVi had me email her the images I desired; she put together the slide-show, and e-mailed it back. Problem solved, stress level reduced and I have my fancy title slide, all before noon. She’s awesome and even commented how patience is a virtue.

  Fancy title slide.

I painted all afternoon with very good results. I am painting on the “Mountain of the Sun” piece. It is an afternoon scene after a rain and the storm clouds are breaking up and the sun is gleaming off the rock face. The view is from the parking lot of the Lodge so I have become very familiar with the setting.

  "Mountain of the Sun"

The Presentation at the Lodge went very well. There were just four of us Leslie, James (her husband) and Jock (Park Superintendent) with about ten minutes before the scheduled start. Then right at 7:30pm everybody showed up. I didn’t do an exact count but there were about 15 people in attendance.

 

It was a informal presentation, I explained my background and the string of events that allowed brought me to be the Artist-in-Residence.

I also brought every visual aid (paintings) I had worked on throughout the three weeks.

The small works were dry enough to pass around, so people could look at them up close.

The larger ones were still wet so I left them on the easel.

 

After answering a few questions we just mingled as they came up and looked at the larger pieces. It was a great evening and I was very pleased with the turn-out on a rainy night. The auditorium had a maximum of 100 people and we didn’t have to turn anyone away.

 

Zion Day 21

 

Three weeks in, one to go, wow time flies.

The sun hit the top of Lady Mountain bright and full, but then a thin, almost invisible cloud layer muted the sun all day and it is supposed to rain/snow tonight or tomorrow.

 

I painted all day and got my East Temple painting to a completion point. At least to the point I need to set it aside and live with it for a while.

 

I looked up to the top of Angels Landing this morning and didn’t see the snowman, he must have lost his way in the dark, ………or jumped. I looked over at the base of Angels and there was snow scattered everywhere, but there were no recognizable parts. I don’t know what they’ll do, maybe do a water test, to notify next of kin. There was no I.C.E. number to be found, which you would think he, of anyone, would have.

 

Last night I went out and shot the canyon in moonlight. I took several shots, trying to get the major peaks while there were no clouds. I got some usable material, I think I can create a painting or two out of them.

Here are a couple of results from last night.

  West Temple, Oak Creek Canyon

 
 Behind the Grotto

 Mountain of the Sun,(at night)

I had a couple of different visitors today. A truck pulled right up to the Grotto and four guys got out and came to the door. Three of them were from Tennessee and one grew up around here ( he was acting as their tour guide) They were looking at the grotto because one man was seeking out old CCC camps and buildings from that era. He is 92, and worked for the CCC when in the 1930’s. He was a stone mason and they cut stone for different projects in Tennessee. He worked on a monument for Orville Wright and met him during the construction.

 

I told them about my little speaking engagement tomorrow at the Lodge and they said they would definitely be there….. that should be at least seven of us now, wo-hoo it’s a party.

 

Later in the afternoon a lady knocked on the door and asked “Are you Dennis? I was told to come see you.”

She was painting over at the base of Angels Landing and our four visitors stopped to talk to her and see what she was painting.

She said they looked at her painting and said” Oh…. you need to go see the artist over in that building and see him paint”

Not the best words of encouragement for her. However she did come over and we visited for a while. She was “attending” an Art Teachers Conference in St George and appears to have gotten lost, and found herself plein-air painting in Zion. I can understand how that can happen. I won’t give her name in case my mother or one of the other six folks here is affiliated with the conference, I’ll just give her website www.caroljohansen.com that way you can see her art without revealing her name.