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.

Hi Everybody,

My third installment is about a day in the life at the Grotto after an incredible snow. During my short stay over the weekend, we were blessed with a very unusual snow storm (two locals said they hadn’t seen anything like this for 15-30 years!) You can imagine how excited Dennis was to have this kind of visual opportunity. Here are a few shots of Dennis “gathering” material…

 Taking a few shots in front of the lodge

 Road shots just past Lady Mt.

  More Lady Mt. shots

 Court of the Patriarchs

 More Court of the Patriarchs

 The arch

 East side of park

 Detail of his shot

 Happy campers

All in all it was an absolutely incredible experience. Believe it or not, what is equally impressive to the scenery are the people that made this possible. These folks have worked hard to put this program into place and make it successful. It’s breathtaking to see the amount of support the arts receives in this tight knit community.  How fortunate we are to be a part of this.

Zion Day 20

 

Well as usual after a snowy day, the photo opportunities are good. This morning promised to be the same. I looked out and the mountains were clouded and I could not see the tops.

 

I looked out at 7:20 (when the sun hits the top of the mountain) and the cloud shrouding Lady Mountain was glowing a warm orange-ish gray, the sun was definitely shining above the low clouds.

 

I looked over towards Angels Landing and the bowl around it had a nice shaft of light creating some unusual effects. This mountain had this great little warm halo around it, and the clouds behind it were very blue-gray.

 

 Small roadblock. What a Turkey!

I painted all day on the “East Temple” painting, as you can see by the FX feature on the blog, it’s like you’re watching me paint. (for instructions on the time-lapse feature, see yesterday’s blog)

I feel confident I will get this finished for the Saturday presentation at the Lodge, and therefore have a bonafide visual-aid.

  

Tonight looks like the only opportunity I will have to shoot moonlight pics. It is very clear tonight and it’s supposed to rain/snow for the next couple of days. So, I will experiment tonight and let you see how it turns out.

 
This afternoon I stepped outside to take break and drink my coffee and looked to the top of Angels Landing. It had snowed last night so getting to the top would have proven difficult because the tricky part is on the north face and keeps it's snow a while. I looked up and saw a white pole at the top, which didn't used to be there. I took a pic and then zoomed in on the photo and lo and behold, it's a snowman! Somebody went to the top and built snowman atop Angels Landing , Awesome! 1500ft up. I'll keep track of how long he stays up there, or if he jumps, eeech, what a mess that would be.
 

I found out through the grapevine(e-mail) that my painting I entered into the Oil Painters of America National Show, was accepted and now I will be going to Scottsdale Arizona for the show. Yipppeeee!

James Tennison also made it in the show, so hopefully he will go out for the show (hint, hint, if you’re reading this James) and collect his prize money. (Prizes haven’t been awarded yet but James’ painting is flippin’ awesome.)

 

Now, off to shoot the moon!

Zion Day 19

 

Today started early and wasn’t going great, as far as quality painting goes. I mixed up the colors needed for the canvas #1, that I started over a week ago, and was painting on it but nothing was looking very good. Some days are like that, and this looked to be one.

 

However, by mid-morning I decided to trick myself and I switched canvases and worked on a different image. It went very well after that. I could “see” this one better today and so it turned out to be a good painting day.

  
Here is what I was working on, a time lapse.(to activate the "time-lapse" feature of the blog, move your eyes back and forth quickly between the two photos. It's almost like "Avatar")

It was overcast all day and by 2pm it started snowing again and is still snowing as I write this at 7pm. It has covered the ground in a nice little sprinkle of white. I don’t think it will be the six inch snow that dumped the other day but there is usually a good photo day that follows a snow. It seems to clear out the sky and is crystal clear. We’ll see what happens in the next couple of days.

 

I really want a clear night with all this snow so I can get some moonlight pics. I have been waiting all month and so far it has been cloudy the past two nights.

 

Each day I am here gets more precious, and I am trying to get at least one good bigger painting finished for my upcoming presentations. I have the trial run here in the Park at the Lodge this Saturday. Hopefully someone other than Leslie and her husband shows up.

 

Tuesday of next week is the big talk at Southern Utah University and that could be a lot of people, I think they force the students to attend and listen, I’m thinking of doing the entire talk as Carl from ”Slingblade”, I’m sure that would cut down on the questions from the audience.

 

Here are the other larger paintings I have gotten the under-painting finished, and I am waiting for them to dry. I should be able to get a lot done if things go smoothly. Like I said, each day here is more special as they dwindle down. I know once I go back home it will take a few days to get back to painting, just attending to “stuff” that has been neglected for a month. So it is extremely important to get as much done here as possible.

  These are all 24 x30, it's like HD eh?

Hi Everybody,

I’ve had several folks ask about the inside of the Grotto where Dennis paints so I thought I’d give you a “virtual tour” of the place. The Grotto is a one bed room/one bath cabin that has been lovingly restored by the park folks for the artist in residence program.  It was originally built in 1924 and was the museum for the park. They’ve just celebrated its restoration and reopening as a part of their Centennial celebration. Very cool!

Here is the bedroom complete with a nice sized closet and alarm clock

Bathroom

Kitchen (complete with coffee maker, microwave, stove, refrigerator, pots/pans – the works!)

˝ of the living room complete with a Dennis (no phone, TV, internet or cell service- he’s just looking at pictures)

Other ˝ of the living room where Dennis paints (they supplied the desk where his monitor sits, but he brought the easel, paint caddy, and outside pack stuff)

Here’s what his paint caddy looks like close up

Melvin, resident lizard and, as I understand it, the reason all the chocolate chip cookies Liz sent are missing

Dennis at "work"

I’ll write part three tomorrow. Aunt Judy, as to your question, the park is amazing after everyone is gone. There’s a little woodpecker that lets you know that industrious creatures are about to get off their “day shift”, but it seems like the mountains sleep at night. He’s right back at it at the crack of dawn… the woodland creatures sure don’t slack around here.

Hi Everyone,

I’m ViVi, Dennis’ wife. It’s very hard to put into words what a privilege it was to see Zion from the perspective of the artist in residence. I thought it might be best I just show you what Dennis sees outside his window every day…

I included the Grotto’s roofline in this last photo as a reminder of how close you are to everything staying there. What an amazing opportunity!

More later!

 Yesterday, at sunset. The Watchman.

 ViVi tests her new raincoat in a waterfall over the trail.

Today was a gorgeous but cold day. Lots of snow up high and most of it melted down here in the canyon.
I put on the underpainting from one of the scenes from yesterday. It was hard to choose an image because there were so many unusual. awesome scenes we got images of.
I will try to catch up tomorrow on the past weekend. I drove ViVi to Vegas for her flight back to DFW so that took six hours of the day.
Here are some views of today
. Lady Mountain this morning.

 Coming into the Park this evening, after Vegas.

ViVi is going to blog about her experience this weekend so she will have some photos she took.

It's been a busy couple of days and here are a few photos of the weather. I will fill in the details when I can sit down and write.
Yesterday was like this all day so I painted inside.



Today was like this so I took pics ALL day outside. Here is a sample.

Zion Day 15

 

ViVi and I stayed at the Stratosphere hotel in Vegas last night, it was a good thing we had booked a room because her flight was 2 ˝ hours late and it was 10pm before she finally got on the ground. That pretty much foiled our plans of a nice dinner, most the restaurants close up at 10:30pm so we were left with a pizza stand and overpriced pizza, 11 bucks for two slices; you really have to look for the bargains in Vegas anymore.

 

We didn’t spend much time in the city; I wanted to get some photos of a billboard project I worked on for Springs Preserve here in Sin City. We found it but it is just about impossible to get good shots of it because it sits on a wall of a major highway. We got these at 60 mph down the highway.

 

 I carved these out of Styrofoam and painted them. The Gila monster is 60 ft nose to tail. The roadrunner is 30 feet beak to tail, and there is fox I didn’t get a good shot of but he is 25 ft tall. 

I sculpted these with Jerry Small of Small Creations, who ironically creates very large 3D

Billboards for a living; he creates all the cows for the Chick-fil-a’ billboards. These are the only shots we could get since we never saw it put together and installed, they were too big to set up in his workshop.

 

On the return to Zion the clouds were clearing from a rainstorm and the sun was giving us a tremendous welcome on the cliffs as we neared the Park.

I hope to hike to the Top of Angels Landing tomorrow, but right now it’s raining, hopefully it will clear up.

PS- I've had quite a few comments from friends and family about their not being able to post comments. I have contacted the website folks and they've made a correction to the code. If you try again and have issues, can you please use the website contact feature to let me know? Thanks!

Zion Day 14

 

I went through my photos this morning and picked out the ones I thought are painting worthy and made a list. From that list I picked one I wanted to paint next and drew it onto a canvas board.

I cut the board down to a 19x30. This will make a decent size but I really wish it could be bigger. If it turns out nice, I may make a much bigger piece.

 

I left the canyon and headed down to St George, a town on the way to Vegas. I met Roland Lee at the Mission Gallery and he gave me a tour of the Galleries there in St. George as well as a show at the college and at a museum. It was a great art-filled day.

I was using the opportunity to see some art while on the way to pick up Vivi at the airport in Vegas. Unfortunately her flight was delayed for 2-1/2 hours out of DFW, so I have some time to kill. That’s where the Vegas shots come from.

 

Palazzo Hotel

 The Venetian

Inside the Venetian.

 Inside The Palazzo

What a contrast to where I just came from, total darkness and solitude in the canyon, to a blitz of neon and humanity. What a great country!

That’s all for today.

Zion Day 13

 

Wow, today was a wonderful day for me. It started simply enough with several of the deer grazing outside the Grotto
.

I painted on the detail of the “lady” mountain I have been working on. (I found out today the names of many of the peaks around here so I will try to call them by their proper titles.)

I was first visited by “Barry”, a hiker whom had just hiked up to Emerald Pools and returned via the Grotto trail, the same little hike I did last week. Barry was taking a pic of the Grotto and was looking at what I was painting, so I invited him in. It turns out he was an Olympic refugee, from British Columbia. He had skeedaddled out of Canada to escape the deluge of the Olympics. The Canadian army had invaded his little town some time ago and it had finally got too much for him so he left. (it used to be people went to Canada to flee the Army, my how times have changed)

Barry from BC

 He said the Army even brought in tanks for security, (who knew they even had tanks?)

and that helicopters were flying over head so much it was just a zoo. (He should have been here last Saturday.)

 

Shortly after Barry left, I was expecting Roland Lee, a tremendous watercolor artist that has been painting Zion for over thirty years. He was also a big inspiration for my blog, I had read travel sketchbook and it inspired me to do this for my little adventure.

See his website here www.rolandlee.com , you can get to his blog through there also.

He is also the Board Vice-Chairman of the Zion Natural History Association which is the Non-profit that works in conjunction with the park in merchandising , raising funds and awareness for the Parks in this region. I visited with Roland about the program and about art and his experiences and background here in Zion.

 

Roland went to get another person with the Zion Natural History Association, Lyman Hafen, whose title I am not sure of but I think he represents the ZNHA for the park and is the point person for their business side of things, because he has a corner office with a window overlooking the West Temple, The Altar of Sacrifice, and the Towers of the Virgin, I could just paint from there.

 Roland and Lyman, outside Lyman's office.

Roland and Lyman gave me a wealth of information on the history of the park and the program and the art in region, giving me further knowledge that adds depth to my experience here. They also took me to lunch, which for those who know me, I will work for food.

Leslie was bringing the students involved with the program and Reece Summers the Director of Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery to the Grotto shortly after 1pm to talk about my experience and if I had any thoughts to improve it. So far I can’t see much to improve on. I think just keep doing the residency program and let it grow naturally, because I think it will grow very, very quickly with the seven people now following along my blog. Thank you, Jon.

Next was another all important activity, laundry. Clean clothes were getting rare so it was good to hit “refresh”. I was able to use the washer /dryer the Park Emergencies Services Center have for their fire and emergency personnel.

 Waiting for the washer to finish,

I used the time while waiting to go to the Zion Visitors Center and bookstore and whoa-boy, I loaded up with some great books on the history, the art, the people, the geology, and the tunnel, of this awesome place. I ended up with ten new books today, a wealth of info I am pouring through as thoroughly and quickly as I can.

  Waiting for the dryer to finish.

As I said it was just a wonderful day, probably the most enriching of my time here. The visual imagery is just amazing, but when you add the layers of history and people and art and all the people who have had a part in me getting to be here, well it’s just overwhelming and very inspiring. Each day the magnitude of this opportunity is more evident, and the scale of responsibility comes into focus, the challenge is to live up to it artistically.

I can’t wait. This is what life is all about!  

Zion Day 12

 

Today was Media day.

 The guys from The Salt Lake Tribune, writer Brett Prettyman, and photographer Al Hartman, came to the Grotto to interview me for a story on the Artist-in- Residence program.

 Al is on the left, Brett on the right

Leslie Courtwright (Zion Museum and Gallery director) met me at the grotto at 8:30 am and Brett and Al shortly after. They interviewed Leslie about the program from her perspective and then she left to work.

 

I painted while they asked me questions most of the morning, we then went to lunch at Oscars in Springdale, very good burgers if you are looking for a good place to eat.

 

We then met with the Park Superintendent, Jock Whitworth and got his perspective on the program. I had briefly met Jock when I first arrived, but this was my first extended visit with him. He is very well traveled and experienced in the Park system. He has gps tracked Sea tortoise, and rounded up American Bison, neither an easy task. (not at the same time)

 

We then went back to the Grotto and I went out and painted outside to let them see that aspect of my life here in the canyon. I continued work on the plein-air panel I started yesterday.

 We didn’t stay out too long, because we wanted to drive up through the tunnel to the east side of the park, and see the different formations up there.

This is  a drainage tunnell under the road , about nine ft. tall

I took these shots to show how very different this part of the park is. The lower part probably looked this way a couple of millions years ago, or at least back in the 20’s.

 

This looks like the very tops of the canyon walls down near the Grotto,This is the view coming out of the tunnel.

Zion Day 11

I painted from the window this morning, working on an 11x14 panel of a detail of the cliff-face I see each morning. It is progressing but not as quickly as I would like. I am sort of combining the photo of the scene and comparing it to the actual scene outside. It is a good way to see the difference form painting from life and painting from photos. There are pluses and minuses to both.

 

I went out at 8:15 to get a reference shot, I noticed it yesterday but was too late for what I envisioned. Well as it turns out, I was too early this morning…and it was cold. Well not that cold but 40 and a wind from the north, standing in the shade for an hour a half waiting for the sun to creep down the canyon wall sort of cold.

I got what I was looking for but by that time, the Sistine Chapel wouldn’t have looked good till I warmed up a bit. Time for my new coffee!

  Brrrrrr!

I went down to Leslie’s office and she gave me a vacuum cleaner for the Grotto, which is much better than the broom/dustpan combo I had. One thing about Zion, lots of sand, the whole canyon floor is sand, duh! sandstone cliffs! It dries out very quickly after a rain, but like a beach, sand tends to find its way everywhere.

 

I actually painted outside this afternoon. I started two 9x12’s with dismal to moderate success, in that order. The first one was basically a scrape it off panel, because there are all kinds of pitfalls when jumping outside to paint. First, I picked too complicated a subject and the light changed very quickly, and since it was complicated, well let’s just say I picked better the second panel.

I chose a scene that the light would stay more consistent and a much simpler subject-matter, allowing me to focus and get something I can value out of the afternoon. I will try to go out tomorrow at the same time and finish it up.

Plein-air painting really forces you to simplify the subject. It takes me a bit to get used to it but I enjoy what is does for my studio paintings. I paint outside for training the eyes, I don’t use them as finished paintings.
     After I have painted plein-air for a bit, I notice my studio painting becomes very easy, and I “see” things better. It’s hard to quantify but it certainly is noticeable.

     
Here is the scene I am painting outside.  along with the painting I started, (my painting is on the right).

   Tomorrow a reporter and photographer from Salt Lake City are coming down to do an interview and a story about the Artist-in-Residence program. They will spend the day with me and see what I do, I hope they like watching paint dry.  Leslie said this blog is partly responsible for catching their attention to do the story, so thank you all for coming along and participating. I need to use the vacuum tonight.

Zion Day 10

 

Well today was very busy, and scattered, I did a bit of everything.  

Morning was a bit overcast to the east, so the usual sunshine kissing the mountain at 7am was non-existent. The sun broke through about 9am and lit up the canyon again so I got some shots of Angels Landing. 

I painted on a 9x12 panel I had started the other day and got it to a happy place. I would like to do some “night paintings” like this and am just waiting for the full moon late this month.

 
 Panel 6

Yesterday I did the same with the little panel that is the “sketch” for the 24x30 I am waiting to dry. I am happy with this one also, it will help me get to where I want to be on the big one.

 Panel 7

After lunch I took my mountain bike and rode over to a couple of spots I had made a mental note of to come back a 1:30 to photograph for a possible scene to paint. On the way over I stopped and talked to the rock climbers that were on the wall yesterday. They stayed on top of the cliff last night, and actually finished scaling the face in the dark. They rappelled down this morning and were packing their stuff up when I rode by.

They looked tired but had that perma-grin of self-accomplishment. It was well deserved too, what an exhilarating experience! What a view.

I got their e-mail and sent all the photos I took of them, it’s sort of hard to get pics of yourself doing something like that. “Ok the tripod is set up and I’ve set the timer for six hours, lets go.”

 

I went back to the Grotto for an afternoon coffee and that’s when disaster struck! The coffee grinder refused to work! Federal holiday I guess.

Whatever the reason you can imagine the predicament I was in. I contemplated using the Park radio they gave me for emergencies, but I knew since it was a holiday there was only “necessary personnel” working today, and they might not be able to spare a Park Ranger at this late hour.

I did the only thing I could think of, I drove down to the coffee shop outside the park and bought a pound of “ground” beans. I know, I know, but where am I going to find a grinder in Springdale? Pre-ground beans is better than no coffee in the morning, its all part of the sacrifices you make when “roughin’ it. Luckily I have plenty of raw sugar, cream and Redi-Whip or it would’ve been a federal disaster.

  the view from the coffee shop.

Tuesday should have less people in the Park, today was every bit as busy as Sunday, it reached 60 today I think.

I have all my plein-air stuff sitting by the door just begging me to take it out and paint outside, but I haven’t got out there yet. I’ve been scouting a location or two for the afternoon when it’s warmer. There are beautiful scenes every direction you look so it can be over-whelming to just pick a spot and paint. Hopefully tomorrow.

Zion Day 9

 

Another beautiful day in Paradise. It wasn’t quite as cold this morning so the temps didn’t have to rise much to get very comfy, somewhere in the high fifties by the afternoon, with bright sunshine.

I expected it to be a repeat of yesterday as far as the crowds go but I was pleasantly surprised with very manageable amounts of visitors today. I would guess it being Sunday and this is Morman country out here, it would have less people, although I can’t see how you could get any closer to god than being out here.

    I painted this morning on the little study of the larger painting I am doing in stages. I decided to work out a few decisions on the small one, before getting back to the big one.

 

I had a visitor stop by today, Janice Trane Jones, she was the first Artist-in-Residence from last year. We were able to compare experiences a bit. I t was great to talk to someone that has had a similar experience. She did not get the nice little Grotto like I do, because it was still being renovated. She stayed in a residence in the upper east side of the park, very private and quiet, she had coyotes outside her house that would yip so loud as to keep her up at night even with ear-plugs, she said she finally just went out and shushed them away. I haven’t seen any coyotes yet but I do see a fox every night down at the lodge, scavenging for food. I got a picture of him last night.

 

This afternoon I couldn’t resist the beautiful weather and I got my bike out of the truck.

I rode up to the end of the canyon and then back down to the entrance and back, about 16 miles.

There is probably no better way to see the park (other than on foot, up in the trails). On bicycle its like a convertible but you can stop anywhere and take a picture, stop, turn around with ease, and you can cover a lot of ground. It really let me see the park from a different perspective, and really gets the creative ideas flowing,
I can clear my mind out on the bike, just let it wander. That is until some shmo rides by me, at a pretty good clip, like he’s racin’ or something. Well……. we’ll have none of that. I shadowed him for about a mile, about 30 yds back he was motoring at 22 (slightly downhill) so I wasn’t closing, just holding distance, until the road rose just a tick and he slowed a bit and looked back and saw me and rode into a pull-out and let me ride past. (he was probably 30lbs heavier than me and there was a hill coming up)

I looked back and he pulled out after I went by, now I was the rabbit, what fun! I needed a workout. I put some distance on him with the small incline, and then it flattened out for a couple of miles, again slightly downhill but the wind was coming up the canyon in our face, I saw him about 30 yds back and I pushed up to 24 to see how he could do against a headwind, I looked back after a couple of minutes and he was waaaay back. Mission accomplished. Now I can gasp and wheeze without worrying about someone hearing me.

 

I took some shots from my ride like Liz said, so you can see some of the canyon but the photos don’t look that different, it was being on the bike that was the different experience.

It should be a great painting day tomorrow, I can feel itHappy Valentines Day ViVi, Miss You

Check out the rock climbers!

Zion Day 8

 

What do you get if you combine a 3-day holiday weekend with gorgeous weather and add it to a spectacular National Park?...............A ZOO!

 

It started calmly enough, with just one early riser at the Angels landing trailhead at 7:30am, a few more trickled in at 8am; a steady stream at 9am; by 10am the banks are full and I decide to get out of the canyon and go shopping for some groceries in town.

Because that’s what you’re supposed to do in a flash flood….get out of the canyon, whether the flood is storm run-off or in this case hordes of people.

   I left the park by 11am and it looked like going against rush hour in Dallas, a steady wave of cars heading into the Park. (Well maybe not Dallas, but probably like San Angelo, or maybe Wichita Falls rush hour)

 

Regardless, I decided it was a great time to stock up on some items while everyone else in Utah parks on my lawn.

 

Hurricane is the larger town where you can get a grocery store and gas station with reasonable prices.

 

It is a beautiful drive out of the canyon and the 20 miles to Hurricane, unfortunately I didn’t take any photos, (my bad) but it really was pretty, you should see it.

 

I passed several cyclists which is like the call of the wild to me. I itched to be riding in a group out there amongst that pretty view I just described.

 

I passed a small group of four cyclists(they were heading towards the Park) hitting the pace pretty hard and laboring, they were about a hundred yds in front of a group of about twenty and they were all dressed in similar club jerseys, so this was the Saturday club ride and these guys were putting the hammer down on the group(aka G.Phillips). Just past the bigger group, were some single stragglers all looking fatigued and fighting to catch the each other, this all looks very familiar for some reason. I soon found out what happened, I started down this looooong downhill. Not extremely steep but about three miles long and 6-7 percent. I knew exactly what split the group now and the call of the wild got really loud. We would have to go to Ft. Davis or Big Bend to get hills like this, and I’m sure every Saturday it happens like this.

I need to get my bike out of the truck.

 

I shopped and got gas and came back to the Park about 2:30pm and the banks were full and actually overflowed into my area around the Grotto, the nerve of these people.

People were picnicking and enjoying the weather and I went inside to paint.

Then, at 3pm, the tide shifted, the stream started flowing the other way. By 3:30pm there were parking spots available, by 4pm it was within the banks, 4:30pm just a trickle, at 5:30pm it’s empty. Awesomely quiet ,…. but you should see what they did to my lawn.

Tomorrow should be the same so I will photo the parking lot so you can see.

 

I realized at about 5pm that I did not have any photos for the blog and I know I would catch grief if there is no visual eye-candy. So I went out and took a couple of scenes to satisfy the six people following this blog. Thank you Mom.

 

Zion Day 7

 

Again it was a clear day and the sun usually starts to hit the mountain at about 7am or shortly after. I drink my coffee watching the sun creep down the face of the cliff.

Today the herd of Deer that live around this part of the canyon decided to graze in the meadow in front of the Grotto.

   

There are 13 in this little herd and there is definitely an “alpha buck”. He would stand and watch most of the time as the others grazed. They don’t seem to be jumpy, because a Park vehicle drove by within five feet of three of them and they didn’t even flinch.

 

I got some great shots of the group of them so I will see if I can put them in a painting.

 

Yesterday afternoon I took a break from the exhausting painting regimen to go for a walk in the park. I decided to go see the “Emerald Pools” since the trailhead is from the Lodge and I had never been on this trail.

 

The trail is very easy and it leads to three levels of pools that fall into each other, with the source of water being a waterfall from the top of the canyon. The sun was not shining on the pools because of the time of the year so I couldn’t see any emeralds in the water.

  This is the middle pool.

This is the source, above the upper pool.

It was a great little trek to gain some perspective of the Park. I had been traversing the bottom of the canyon, mostly in my truck, so it was a chance to see the Park from a higher viewpoint, away from the road, and to stretch my legs. It was like hitting “refresh” on the computer, reloading the scene and starting again. I started today with vigor. ViVi calls that “feeding the artist”, and I must say it certainly satisfies the appetite.

 

The painting I started yesterday is still a bit wet but I will fill in the sky and start the process moving. The paint is taking longer to dry than I am used to, I think it’s the double-primed linen, it isn’t absorbing the paint like the canvas I usually paint on.

 

I like to paint from front to back so I start with the sky. I like very smooth skies in my painting so this means lots of blending. The under-painting is still not dry so getting the sky as smooth as I want took a lot of gentle blending with a sable brush, a lot of blending. The blue is somewhat transparent also, so it will show any blemishes or thinness of paint, more blending, blending. No visible strokes. (that’s for you Cecilia and Darnell).

 Sky blended in.

I work dark to light also, I like to get my dark values down and somewhat dry and then paint the lighter values on top. Given that the paint is staying wet longer, I will lay in my darks over the entire painting and let them start drying, so they will be ready when I get to them.

  Darks layed in.

The electricity went out this afternoon. Evidently it was county-wide and they repaired it within thirty minutes. That would have been a chilly night.

It's supposed to be sunny for the next week so I should get some consistant light at the same time of day, each day. I will try to paint some outdoors.
G'nght.

Zion Day 6

Another beautiful day in paradise. Same old, same old….Ha!

 

I have been doing a bunch of little panels trying different things and really trying  to squeeze the most out of this opportunity. All the while the quote, I believe it was Tennison who said “they don’t all have to be good”, was running through my head. This is great advice because it relieves the pressure and allows me to relax and just paint.

I contacted Tennison yesterday, James Tennison, a friend of mine and great artist himself (see his work at www.jamestennison.com ) and he says to me “yes that’s true, they don’t all have to be good, but we do expect a couple of masterpieces from you”.

Sheesh! Make up your mind.

 

This all has dove-tailed into what I was realizing myself, I was itching to paint bigger, because that’s what I do. I like to paint big. I always remind people to do what you do best, so I am taking my own advice. (Mostly because there’s no one else here)

 

Last night I unpacked my 24x30 canvas’s and set one on the easel ready to go today. It felt great.

 

I will do something my neighbor Bruce Jordan has encouraged me to do, and echoed in some of the comments. I will photo my painting in stages as I complete them. This will show how I go about the process of producing a finished piece.

 

The first stage is pencil drawing to lay out the basic shapes of where everything will be. 

 

Then I will lay in my “color map” with transparent turpentine washes. This allows me to still see my drawing but gives me the local color and relative values throughout the painting.

I will let this dry and get back to it tomorrow. If I try to paint on it now or even today, the underpainting will muddy up the final paint, and we certainly don’t want that.

 

Zion Day 5

Well the forecast could not have been more wrong today, go figure. It was said to have rain and snow, however in its place was a bright blue sunshine-filled day. The snow from yesterday melted very quickly making everything soggy.

 
 

Last night I was painting and I heard a familiar sickening, double thump out where my truck was parked, near a cottonwood tree. It was familiar because we have a lot of trees at home and when it rains the weaker limbs attempt suicide and jump, without any regard for the safety of what may lie underneath. At home that would be our many dwarf maple trees which have no way of avoiding a distraught oak branch that decides to leave.

   Out here the cottonwoods have similar emotional uncertainty and it is my unsuspecting Tundra innocently sleeping beneath, that sits in harms way.

   I am certain if my truck had been awake he would have accelerated to safety on its own, which Toyotas are programmed to do. Alas I did not hear him accelerate, so it was with a nervous stomach I grabbed a flashlight and coat to investigate.

 Luckily my vehicle was physically fine, albeit shaking a bit. Just ten feet away was a rotted limb of a cottonwood broken into a couple of large pieces. The longest was about six feet in length and about ten inches in diameter, enough to really do some damage had it had better aim.

 The water bottle is for scale.

I moved my truck away from the tree and he seems fine just shaken up, although this morning I did have to clean out his bed-liner.

 

As I said it was sunny today and I did get out and photo some this morning, most of the day I spent inside painting.

I had started one yesterday and I worked on it most of the afternoon. I also started two others, I’ll let them dry a bit and paint on them again tomorrow. 

 
This is a combo of Edgar Payne and I mixed in a bit of Mian Situ and myself thrown in for good measure.

 
Thank you for following, and the comments are great to hear, lets me know there’s someone on the other end of the internet.

If you have any questions, please ask and I will do my best to give a serious response.

(no math please)

Zion Day 4

 

Just as predicted the weather was very gray all day today.

Perfect for painting inside, I have a wealth of images from yesterday so I painted sunshine on a cloudy day.

 

I finished panel 2 this morning, a snowy foggy scene from a couple of days ago. Here it is.

 Panel # 2

In today’s sunshine painting, I have painted in style more akin to Edgar Payne. I’ve been reading his book on landscape painting and want to incorporate some of his techniques into my work.

He painted much looser than I, and its fun to paint in this style. It works especially well for smaller works like this and for laying in compositions quickly.

 Panel #4

I looked out the window at about 3pm and saw a cloud swallowing up the entire mountain outside my window. Within a few minutes I couldn’t even see it, and it’s only 400 meters away, and 1500ft tall.

It started to snow tiny little flakes and within fifteen minutes the snowflakes were HUGE. I saw one knock a turkey unconscious. That lasted for about and hour and a half, and left a good inch of snow on the ground, even though it’s above freezing and is a slushy mess.

  This 1500 ft wall is only 50 yds out the back door of the cabin.

Amazing weather changes here, I am sure people out hiking were very surprised, a cold gray day, to white-out conditions in fifteen minutes.

 

Tomorrow claims to be more of the same, so I’ll be an art hermit again, just painting all day. Happy as a bug in a rug, I’ve got my coffee, some chili, and plenty of turkey sandwiches!

Zion Day 3

 

Today was a whole new day. The clouds have parted and the sunlit up the canyon like Las Vegas. It’s like someone turned on the HD Technicolor switch….. and it goes to eleven.

 

No painting today, it was a gather research while the sun is shining, and it’s supposed to rain the next couple of days, sort of day.

I also spent time here and there with some of the Park personnel, Earl stopped by and installed some items in the cabin that didn’t get finished before I arrived. (toilet paper holder, towel rack and coat rack, and toothbrush holder)

 

I  met with Leslie  to give feedback on the weekend and she assigned me a gate key and pink permit that allows me in and out of the park, also she brought to the Grotto, a park radio that I can use in emergencies, which I hope to not have to turn on.

 

So, not a productive art day as far as anything visible but the foundation for the next couple of days is set up to paint some sunshine days no matter what it’s doing outside. I guess there are “Mondays” even out here.  

 

Here is my first little painting, most of what I paint out here will be 9x12 panels to be used as reference for larger pieces later, and to just paint faster. I have some 24x30 panels that I can paint larger pieces, they are mounted on foam-core and I can trim them down to whatever size I need.  They are all linen double-primed,Thank you  Chase. www.chasealmond.com



Panel #1

Zion: Day 2

Last night it actually snowed a bit and I had some wet slushy snow on the truck.

    I dove up the canyon to the furthest point you can drive, the “Temple of Sinawava”.

I didn’t see a temple, the only thing there was a 1500 ft waterfall, that’s probably what they are referring to.

Still raining in the morning and I had planned to put the finishing touches on both the paintings I started yesterday, but then the sun teased me and lured me out of the grotto.

 I drove back up the canyon to get some sunshine shots, just maybe, oh please, oh please.

Nope, nothing to write home about at least……and yet here I am writing …irony.

 

I did go up to the “Weeping Rock”. A big undercut in the wall of the canyon that allows you to get behind the waterfall. It makes for a pretty view.

    On the trail to Weeping Rock its obvious there had been a little landslide, part of the trail was damaged, the trees were toppled, gashed on the upside, and there were very large boulders at the bottom. I played CSI to try and pinpoint where the slide came from..

 I looked up first, using gravity as my first clue. The debris field didn’t go up very high, so I spotted an exposed area of rock that was much lighter than the surrounding area and surmised this was where it all started. The bark on the trees left standing were gashed so you could see there was some violence during this little slide. It’s easy to see in person, hard to photograph, but I tried. There is no dramatic blue lighting or tight shirted beautiful detectives (budget constraints).

       
The lighter colored area of rock in the upper right, is where these boulders used to be.(photo 1 and 2)
Photo 2 shows the size compared to the people.
The scars on the trees show it's path down the mountain, and the damage to the cambien.(thats for, Roy,Keith and Scott) 
 
I feel pretty confident in my theory of what happened….now if I can figure out who had motive, and opportunity; were the boulders the target? or maybe the trees?

 

I did get some good photos of possible paintings and went back to the grotto to paint. I finished one and started another so I have three going now.

 
Finally a shot of my humble abode. Nice place eh?

The Superbowl was today , so I went to the lodge and watched in the bar area. The game started at 4:30 here MST, seems too early. I’m accustomed to CST , The West coast really starts early, you could watch it and make 8pm dinner reservations.

Spoiler Alert:

For those of you whom are only getting your news from this blog, New Orleans won.

 

Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny, which will make for difficult decisions, stay in and paint, go out and paint, hike or bike, or get tons more photo reference. Oh the stress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the little snow avalanche falling down the cliff-face. It fell in slow motion, and happened several times.

Zion Day 1:

Finally, I get to paint!

In preparing for this trip I have been unable to put brush to canvas for about two weeks.

I set up my studio here, with all the comforts of home. I brought my computer, my easel, paint supplies and my xm radio. 

 

It has rained pretty much all day, most of the time fairly hard, so it’s not been a good day for hiking or biking, or painting outside. I have a nice view from my window here though and I painted most of the day looking out the window  that I posted a picture of yesterday.

 

The painting is not quite complete so I will photo it tomorrow and post it so I can prove I’m doing what I came here for.

 

I started a second one from a photo I shot today, the same cliff formation but different lighting. The rain and clouds rolled in and gave a great hazy effect to the top of the canyon. I should finish that one tomorrow also.

 

The nice thing about a cloudy day is that the light doesn’t change much and you can paint all day on the same scene. On a sunny day or partly cloudy, the light changes quickly and you have at most a couple of hours before the shadows are totally different.

 

Pretty long day and but productive, its very nice to have nothing to do but paint or draw….somebody pinch me.

This is the Lodge where I get blazing fast WiFi service. The Grotto is about a half mile away.

Tuba City:

      I have looked around this morning for the cities namesake, nothing obvious yet and I don’t really want to ask. Perhaps it’s better as a mystery.

   
I did find this beautiful sky this morning as I was going to breakfast, notice the fine examples of modern American Architecture in the foreground.

      Sometimes things are put in front of you to slap sense into you. As I was leaving Tuba City I passed someone washing their van in a car wash, I hesitated just a moment and then pulled a uey and went back and washed all the red road grime off my truck, truck is happy now.

 

I drove to the Vermillion Cliffs and was somewhat disappointed that a large bank of clouds was keeping the sun from reaching the cliffs, severely limiting the Kodak-moments. I walked out onto the pedestrian bridge to look down into the canyon at the Colorado River. It’s amazing to know that this little river carved this canyon and the “Grand” little hole in the ground downstream from here.

 

 I waited for a little while to see if the clouds would move on, but they weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere, and I was. I pressed onward down the front of the cliffs towards a big patch of blue sky, I will just drive to sunshine, by golly.

It’s easy to see how they got their name, the patches of snow really contrast beautifully against the cliffs of vermillion.(or terra rosa for you Darnell)

 

 

Just north of Fredonia , as I turn onto hwy 9 at Mt Carmel, the clouds return and are spitting some snow/rain heading into the Park.

 Here it is though, a very welcome sign and pretty in any weather, Zion National Park.

I got a little giddy.

 

I met Leslie Courtright at the museum and she gave me a quick tour and introduced me to a half-dozen people that I will try to remember their names. I remember Earl and Ron, right now, I’ll have to study a bit on that.

 Leslie met me at the “Grotto”, my new home for the month and let me know I am the first Artist-in-Residence to get to stay here because they just finished with the renovations……..yesterday. Everyone loves a deadline.

I’ll show more of the Grotto later but to suffice it to say, everything is brand new inside, heater, fridge, sinks, stove, tub, tile, rugs. The windows are all restored and reglazed, and just look outside the window………..

 

Next to the red rock, a water spicket just twenty feet away but no hose......... luckily, I washed the truck this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up this morning in Taos and the weather gods were kind, we only got a dusting of additional snow, and the clouds are supposed to break and be sunny this afternoon.
I decide to wait a bit and go to breakfast with Randy and Sondra at the Taos Diner (sorry Greg, no Michaels this trip). By the time we we finished eating the sun had come out and the streets were already melting , so I decided to get on the road.
The plan : Drive to Tuba City AZ. and stay the night so I could get up and get some shots of the Vermillion Cliffs in the morning. They are about sixty miles northwest of  Tuba City. I love a plan!
This is what the truck looked like after the drive yesterday.


I got on the road by 10:30 and took 64 west towards Tres Piedras and over to Tierra Amarilla. This route goes up over 9000 ft but the snow plows had it cleared remarkably well. At the top though, it was in a cloud so visibility would drop to about to about 100 yards, and then the sun would peak through and light up the treeline.
I stopped and shot this.


The temp was 21 f. but the stuff they put on the roads was melting the ice, so it was slushy , not slick. Once down off the mountain the temp warmed above freezing and everything was dry.
I took 64 through Farmington, an oil/gas town and a HUGE speed-trap, everyone was sticking to the speed limit which at 45mph seemed excessively slow for such a wide road. There were several little towns there strung together and it seemed to be the longest part of the trip, starting at Bloomfield,through Farmington, Kirkland Fruitland and Waterflow, all 45 mph and slower. eck!
Just past this is Shiprock, a town named after a rock formation south of town,  which looks like this if you have not seen it.

Very dramatic, and it does look like a ship on the horizon. It's made more impressive by the fact that it sits out there by itself, it looks lonely.
Onward to the west. Hwy 64 turns into 160 just four miles south of Four Corners. I didn't go see it, it isn't high on the bucket list.
Heading west on 160 however, I can see the faint silhoette of a big bucket-list contender....Monument Valley.
Spontaneous Plan Change:
I have never been and here it was just north of Kayenta AZ.
I made a quick stop at the Holiday Inn to see how much a room goes for in Kayenta, $89reg, on special for $69.
I think it was the "empty motel" special.
Confident in securing a place to stay for the evening, I leave without booking because it was 4:30 and the light was fleeting. I drove north on 163 and finally got to see all those iconic rock formations towering  above the desert floor.
The light wasn't ideal but I got a few shots and a checkmark on my bucket-list. I'll have to come back and explore this area more extensively.

Driving back to Kayenta I review the change of plans and by the time I get back to 160 I have decided the march of the Tuba was back on!
72 miles of dry straight road and 30 minutes of faint light, and that much closer to the Vermillion Cliffs in the morning. No problem.
I land at the Dine' Inn Motel (pronounced din-eh, its Navajo) for.......drum roll please...fifty bucks a night, I love these "empty motel" specials.
Shiprock was obvious, Monument Valley easy to see how they named that, Tuba City........?  I arrived in the dark, so in the morning....... I'll look around. 

Childress TX.
I packed everything in the truck and was ready to go Feb 2nd(tues) so I could get up and be on the road by 4am. I almost made it, I left at 4:15 but had to come back because Vivi called and let me know I had forgotten my pillow, dang! now my schedule is off.
Pillow in hand I am back on the road by 4:25am.... not much traffic this time of morning.
I am headed to Santa Fe to drop off a couple of paintings at Sage Creek Gallery www.sagecreek.com  and end up in Taos tonight as a guest of Randy and Sondra Phillips, their home overlooks Taos Mountain.  (They have a wonderful Casita (freestanding house) available for vacation getaways)www.vrbo.com/284432

It is foggy but the temperature is 34 so it isn't slick, but it turns to rain by the time I get to Childress Tx. Fog and rain, oh great!
The rain turns to snow by the time I cross into NewMexico and it is starting to get slushy.  Now its becoming an adventure.
The divided highway(I-40) is basically down to one lane each way, the left hand lane is building up with slush and is extremely slick when you pass, .......which I can attest to from personal experience.
I exited I-40 on 285 to go to Santa Fe and the exit is totally snow covered, I guess the plows don't exit here. As I cautiously head north on this two-laner , I encounter a dually with a long goose-neck trailer on the opposite side ditch with his trailer jack-knifed and blocking the opposite lane. A tow truck was there pulling him out. 52 miles to Santa Fe....... adventure continues.
The drive on 285  turned out to be fairly calm, as there was not much traffic at all, so there wasn't that paranoid "someones going to run into me feeling"......until I got to Santa Fe.
Santa Fe had a lot more snow on top of the slush and  the temp was 26, so that slush was a nice little icey substrate with snow on top, and lots of cars. .............Here comes that feeling.
Bumper to bumper traffic and stoplights on inclines, never a good combination. I was stopped at a stoplight and pressed the brake a bit harder , and started sliding!  Slow and steady, just get me to the gallery and in a parking lot before someone slides into me.
Adventure pause and evaluate.

I drop off the paintings and study the radar weather to decide if I should get a room in Santa Fe or try to get to Taos, which is a bit higher than Santa Fe. I am leaning towards staying put, the thought of 72 miles of mountain driving with ice and snow in my precious Tundra (which as we have recently discovered, could just take off on its own at any time) doesn't seem prudent.
I consult with the "eyes on the ground" in Taos (Randy) who reports very little snow in Taos but the storm is heading that way and forecast to dump a lot of snow.If I was coming I should leave ASAP! I could be stuck for another day, wherever I am. Hmmm, a Travelodge in Santa Fe, or a beautiful adobe home overlooking Taos Mountain with friends,....start the truck.
Just as Randy had predicted, the worst was in Santa Fe and it was nervous nilly15mph bumper to bumper in slushy hills for about twenty miles till I got out on the road to Taos(68) and then it was dry almost all the way to Taos. Great decision!

I sit here after a couple of glasses of wine, a great home-made dinner,  next to a warm fire,  fighting to keep my eyes open, looking forward to seeing the Mountain covered in snow.........adventure sleep.


 
Just past Childress TX.                    On I-40
 On the Way to Taos (on 68)