I've been out of touch for about a week, as I was on a painting trip in Sedona. We stayed in a wonderful suite with a balcony with a 180 degree view of the gorgeous red rocks. Here, is that view, from the left view, the straight ahead view, and the view to the right. My favorite was Snoopy Rock, the straight on view - as he lies on his doghouse on his back:
These were each done at different times of the day, so the light was different on each. It took DAYS to get the hang of the red rocks. It was so magnificent. I kept looking and saying to myself "This is perfection - anything I do will be 'less'.." but still I had to try!
When I arrived, my friend Mary and I stopped at the Scottsdale Artists' School and picked up new, AWESOME plein air easels. Photo below:
And...well it was really, really, REALLY windy the first day out, and I had set up near the edge of a cliff (yes... I do now look back and ask myself "Why?") and the expected happened: a huge gust of wind picked up my easel and tossed it over the edge of the cliff - fortunately before I had opened my Gamsol container!!! See cliff below:
It's hard to see, I know, but this little ledge at the bottom was about 4 feet from the top level, and my palette broke away from the tripod and got caught on the rocks to the left of the dead tree which was hanging over the edge of the cliff, and the tripod and panel got jammed up in the tree. My brushes were jettisoned off the cliff entirely, landing like missiles on the bank of the creek below. Fortunately Carol had just had a dream about mountain climbing, and, instead of being mad that I almost impaled her, grabbed the brushes and bravely scaled the sheer side of the rock, and brought them back to me!
Note to self: Remember what you already knew about filling a bag with rocks and hooking it to the easel....
Sorry this is such a long post! It was such an EXcellent adventure!
