Tusayan Field

Tusayan Field

Oil on canvas, 6x12

After painting the amazing scenes of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, it was reassuring and comfortable and fun to paint a small field at the side of the road in Tusayan, Arizona. 

As you all know by now, I am a sucker for the pale yellow grass that grows around here at certain elevations. I captured the pale color of the grass in this painting, but can't quite make that pale nearly white yellow come through on the computer. But it's close. 

This scene was just one of the lovely, quiet, small scenes that I love. The field that someone drives through to get home. The piece of land that no one notices, but which informs and enriches their day and their environment. 

Sometimes I make these paintings large, but there's something in my heart that speaks to the small painting, that you can put on a small wall between two doors, in the sunny corner of a small bedroom, in the space below the cupboards. These are paintings that become part of the environment of your home, in the way that the landscapes are part of the environment of your life. 

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Grand Canyon Morning, 20x20

I did paint the Grand Canyon again, on a crisp and very cold morning. It was again daunting and challenging - and I loved it! My painting in the landscape is below. 

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I saw this twisted tree on the road from the Grand Canyon to the mountains. Its bark is really fascinating. 

Just outside of the Grand Canyon, and in many spots on the road from the canyon to Monument Valley, there are these sort of open air shacks where Native Americans sell stuff. Many of these look as though they've been abandoned for years, but this one, just outside the Grand Canyon, was open and busy.

My friend Heather, visiting California this past week, needs some help! It's January - but there's no snow! How can it be January? Heather and her husband Joe are now back in Maine, where there's plenty of snow.

Randy Clough, a Navajo I met in Monument Valley, really wants a dog. But he says his grandmother told him Navajos can't pay for dogs. So he is waiting for the right dog to show up. I suggested he go to Best Friends in Utah and barter some money for a dog.

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Dog of the Day

Here's Heather's husband Joe, in sunny California with a beautiful Dog of the Day!
The dog's owner thought the dog and Joe resembled each other...

Afternoon in Madera Canyon

Afternoon in Madera Canyon
Oil on canvas, 10x10

I had never really thought of Arizona as being mountainous. When I had a picture of the state in my head, it was a picture of a flat place, with red rocks and sagebrush and cactis - not amazing, craggy mountains with ragged rocks and bald tops. 

So I have learned a lot. There are plenty of those big, flat open spaces - but at least down here, in southern Arizona, the mountains dominate. And they are gorgeous. 

They capture the light and shadows in wonderful, moving ways, and it is a challenge to paint them - especially on a small canvas! But I like a challenge, and have set out to try to get the feeling of mountains, their bulk and their presence, in my paintings, and especially into these smaller paintings. 

Madera Canyon is a mountainous area just north of here. I imagine it would be pretty spectacular for hiking, as it overlooks more mountains, and to the west, a broad, flat expanse covered with that beautiful yellow grass. 

I painted off the main road on a quite cul-de-sac with no cars whipping by, honking, spewing dust. When I drove up, two deer in the grass bounded away. The rest of the time, I painted undisturbed in the beautiful, warm Arizona afternoon. 

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Madera Canyon is a gorgeous place, with mountains and beautiful yellow grass and great long views. 

When I pulled in to paint, I saw two deer running across the field. 

Ocotillo, the long wavy plants here, get bright red blossoms at their tips in the spring. 

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Dad and I visited a friend of his who lives in the mountains. She's an excellent painter, and her studio looks over parts of her beautiful garden. 

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Dogs of the Day

George (left) and Zack are best of friends. They came to Tubac with their humans, Cynthia and Kevin. Zack and George were such great dogs that they deserve to be the Dogs of the Day.