PleinAir Today/OutDoor Painter: Plein Air Magazines's Online Newsletter

I was thrilled the other day to wake up and see that a photo of me painting on the Colorado River during one of the Quick Draws at Plein Air Moab is in Plein Air Magazine's PleinAir Today "Outdoor Painter" Weekly Online Newsletter.  I've included a link to the article:

http://www.outdoorpainter.com/awards/plein-air-moab-utah-420.html

Plein Air Magazine provided each Plein air Moab participant with a recent magazine.  If you're not subscribing to PleinAir Today Online Newsletter , I highly recommend it.  After all, such great photos are included!  Who knows, one of you might be in it someday, too!

Distant Light

Distant Light
18" x 24"  Oil
$595.00 + $20. s/h

SOLD

I loved the way the distant canyon was lit up with the afternoon sun light.

While in Moab my husband and I hiked to Corona Arch (it is not in the National Parks.)  It was a fun, but challenging hike, and I took lots of photos.  And, here are some of them:

Much of the hike was across canyons.  There are cairns along the trail so you don't wander off the trail.

At one point we had to climb up this ladder to continue.  (It's bolted onto the top of the cliff.)

This is Corona Arch from about 1/2 mile away.  The little dots below and near it are people.

This arch is before Corona Arch.

Here's Corona Arch from very close.  I don't know how this girl could have rappelled 

from it!!  I plan on sticking to hiking and painting!

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Canyonlands After The Rain

Canyonlands After The Rain
18" x 24" Oil
$595.00 + 20. s/h

SOLD

Our first day in Utah was cold (39 degrees) and rainy.  Because of that the next day gave us Maynard Dixon clouds.

Canyonlands National Park is very appropriately named.  Around every bend in the road and across every vista is another incredible canyon.  Here are a few:

Plein Air Moab 2

Near Canyonlands
9" x 12" Oil
$195.00 + $10. s/h

This is the second plein air painting from my recent trip to Moab, Utah.  We stopped painting around 4:00  because we wanted to head further down the road to photograph the late afternoon shadows on the canyon walls.  At the time, I thought I'd come back and add more to the piece, but now, I'm not going to.  It works as is.

Here I am painting away...I know, my umbrella should be all white on the outside and gray on the inside.  But, my all white umbrellas is so large (it covers my easel, me, anyone who's looking) that I use it only in my back yard.  This one was left over from when the kids were small, and being my frugal self, I'm using it!

Here are some of the spectacular views in Canyonlands National Park:

We spent our 29th anniversary in Moab, and to celebrate went 4-wheeling.  We drove across the bottom of one layer of the canyon:

You can more or less see the 4wd road (going diagonally across.)  Then, we headed up the canyon:

Believe me...it was not pleasant going up!  I think that I deserve the what did you do on your anniversary award!

Plein Air Moab

Late Afternoon On The Colorado
11" x 14" Oil
$295.00 + $10. s/h

I just got back from a 10 day trip to Moab, Utah.  It is an incredibly beautiful location and should be on every one's bucket list.  It's like Disneyland for the outdoorsman with 2 National Parks (Arches and Canyonlands), hiking, touring, mountain biking, river rafting, 4 wheeling, ATVing, OTVing, so many photo ops;  the list goes on and on.  

Moab is about 7 hours from Colorado Springs.  We took 1 1/2 days to travel each way stopping numerous times.  

While there I participated in part of the 2nd annual "Plein Air Moab."  It's a week long event where artists can paint within a 50 mile radius and be involved in 3 Quick Draw paint outs.  This was my location, and painting, for the first Quick Draw which was held at the Red Cliffs Lodge Winery which sits along the Colorado River. 

 The event was from 3:00 - 6:00.  At 2:45 there was a line to get your canvas stamped.  By 6 you had to be back in line with your painting framed.  When they said "quick" they were right!  When plein air painting you have to capture the light and shadow at a particular moment and not change it.  You don't want to chase the light.

Every where that you looked was a painting waiting to happen!

Owochomo Bridge

18" x 24" oil on stretched canvas
Please contact me if interested

This is another piece from our trip to Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.  Owachomo Bridge is the 3rd bridge while driving through the park (the road heads you in one direction.)  This was the easiest bridge to reach, just a short walk from the parking lot.  Owachomo means "rock mound" in Hopi.

As I've done for several of my recent large pieces, I started this w/ a value study in sketch and wash pencil.  

I then did a value study in oil using transparent oxide red w/ a little ultramarine blue for the darkest shadows.  I used these 2 studies, and several photos, for the final painting.  The hardest part of the final piece was the foreground.  In my studies, I just roughed this area in very loosely.  I should have paid a little more attention, as the foreground area is about 9" x 18", bigger than many of my whole paintings.
 

This is the start of the trail.  It may look like it goes off the edge, but it's really a gentle, short walk.

My painting is from the bottom, far-side of this bridge.

Kachina Bridge

8" x 10" oil on board
$195.00 + $10. s/h
please contact me if interested

This is another painting from Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah.

It was  about a 2 mile trail down to the bottom of the canyon.  Part of it was down these stairs built into the side of the cliff.  I was unable to make it down the Sipapu Bridge Trail.  It was not much longer, but much more challenging.  I made it along the trail that was precariously on the side of the cliff w/ no guard rails; I made it down the metallic stair case that was bolted into the side of the cliff; but, when it came to climbing down a two story ladder made of tree trunks, my fear of heights took over.  Yes, it was bolted into the cliff, but I couldn't get down it.  I've climbed up a 2 story ladder at Mesa Verde; but there was something about stepping over and down that held me back.  So, we hiked the other 2 trails instead.

To give some perspective to the size of these bridges, here I am!  Looking back at this photo I see I made the foreground a little more red/orange.  Maybe I'll warm it up a bit.

Natural Bridges National Monument

8" x 10" oil on gessoed masonite
$195.00 + $10. s/h
please contact me if interested

My husband and I recently visited Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.  As I've posted before, the National Parks in Utah are unbelievable.  There are so many of them; they're so large and scenic. If you want to just drive through them, or hike, or paint, or 4-wheel, or see the geology, or archeology, there really is something for everyone.   Utah should be on everyone's bucket list.  Anyway, Natural Bridges Park has 3 large bridges.  This is a view of Kachina Bridge from the bottom of the canyon.  Even though it is massive, it is considered the youngest of the 3 bridges because of the thickness of its span.

I did a quick value study of this with a "Sketch & Wash" pencil.   The graphite in these is "washable", so when done shading, you wash over it w/ water  to exaggerate the values.

It's hard to get the feel of how big these bridges really are.  These boulders resulted from a rock fall in 1992, when approximately 4,000 tons of rock broke off the bridge.

The bridge is named for the Kachina dancers that play a central role in Hopi religious tradition.

Canyonlands IV

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

This is from our second day at Canyonlands National Park. We were in an area where you walked along the edge of this cliff. For those of you who know me well, you know I have a fear of heights. I had to really breath deeply, walk slowly, look across and not down, to conquer my phobia. I will admit, that where I stopped here, there was a guard rail!

When landscape painting, the lightest value is usually that of the sky. The second lightest value is the flat plane of the ground....except the ground at the bottom of a canyon appears to have a darker value than the horizontal plane near the top of a canyon. These canyon pieces have gotten me thinking about all the values in a landscape. I even got out my Carlson's guide to see if he talked about canyons.

Canyonlands National Park

11" x 14" oil on stretched canvas
$295.00 + $10.00 s/h
SOLD

My husband and I just got back from a 14 day trip, 9 of those spent days driving to San Francisco to visit our daughter. On the way we stopped in Durango, Co to see our son, and visited 7 National and State Parks and Monuments. It was an absolutely wonderful trip. In several of the parks we say only 5-10 other cars/people all day. Talk about uncrowded!

Our first park was Canyonlands National Park between Moab and Monticello, Utah. We spent 1 1/2 days hiking and driving through as much as we could. Next time we're taking our SUV as there are 50 miles of 4 wheel drive roads that we didn't want to drive on w/ our daughter's car.

I took my paints and hoped to paint occasionally, but the temperature never got out of the 30's. That's great for hiking, but cold for painting. I think I've got the snow a little too blue, may go back and gray it a bit. This piece, and those below, are from the area around Needles Overlook.




"Canyonlands is a colorful geologic wonderland in the heart of the high desert of southeastern Utah-a masterpiece of nature's work."