Near Salt River Canyon

 Near Salt River Canyon

Oil on canvas, 10x10

I left Tubac on Monday morning, a day later than I'd hoped. The delay came for an unusual reason. It rained! 

Dad and Paula say that a full day of rain is a very strange occurrence in Tubac - and it did rain, steadily and heavily - for the entire day. Mostly, the rain soaked into the ground; the river that runs through town also filled up a little. 

So I left on Monday, and drove north, spending most of the day on Route 77, and all of the day driving uphill. Up and up and up and up. The big van did great, but it was a slow day. 

I stopped to paint just outside of the Salt River Canyon - and while I love the painting I did, I sort of wish I'd waited for the canyons and deep, deep gorges. But I did spend a lot of time painting in the Grand Canyon. So I'll address Salt River when I get home. 

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That one day of rain made wildflowers bloom all around Tubac and Green Valley. 

And the rain brought an incredible clarity to the sky, as well. 

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Above is the Salt River Canyon, one of many photos I took and

 plan to paint over the course of the summer. 

The air was clear and the clouds dramatic over the high plains near Show Low, AZ, 

Here's me with my scary sunglasses... 

And here's a fun sculpture that I enjoyed seeing in downtown Tubac. 

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Dog of the Day

Here's Barkley again! He got loose and wandered over to see me as I was packing the van. He's been shaved for the summer, and was happy and wagging and full of love. 

Truly a Grand Grand Canyon

 Grand Canyon, South Rim

Oil on canvas, 10x10

"Grand" doesn't even begin to describe it. It is larger than Rhode Island. Yup, that's right. The Grand Canyon is 1,900 square miles; Rhode Island is 1,500. 

At the South Rim, near where I made this painting, the Canyon is a mile deep. 

The oldest rocks are 2,000 million years old, according to the National Parks Service. Along the course of the Colorado River, the Canyon is 277 miles long. 

You've seen photos, you've seen paintings, you've probably seen it in movies - but none of those begins to capture its amazing, astonishing, awesome beauty. 

If the only thing that comes from this trip is that I convince you to go see the Grand Canyon, the trip will have been a success. 

I stood at the rim, slack-jawed with wonder, and I stared and stared and stared and stared. It made me imagine the first Native Americans, camping and hunting in twilight along the river. It made me imagine the first white explorers to encounter it. It made me imagine the push and thrust of the Earth; the howling, twisting winds; the speed of the cutting river - the powers of the Earth that made this amazing place. 

It is that - it is so huge, so beautiful, so powerful that it transports you. And there is not much in this life that can do that. 

So go! Start making plans now! 

Here's my little painting in the giant landscape

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A hogan on the road from the Grand Canyon to the dinky town of Cameron.

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Look at the colors of the land! Amazing. 

I drove from the Grand Canyon to Monument Valley in an amazing dust storm. 

Elk sign and... elk! 

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These mules hike up and down the trails at the Grand Canyon every day.

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 The wind at the edge of the Grand Canyon has gnarled and stunted the trees there. 

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Tigers? 

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The hills on the way to Monument Valley were pink and yellow! 

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Dog of the Day

This serious-looking guy was working at the checkpoint near Tubac on the day I left to drive north. They look for illegal immigrants at the checkpoint, and, I imagine, drugs and who knows what else. I am not sure it's really legal  - but everyone stops, and this dog sniffs all the cars. 

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. 

Mountain Sunrise

Mountain Sunrise

Oil on canvas, 10x10

It's been great to have time to paint here - and to teach a couple workshops. 

I had three workshops scheduled, and for a while, it looked like lots of folks had signed up. But in the end, I taught, essentially, two private lessons with two lovely women who both wanted to learn to use the palette knife. And they both did great. 

I've been experimenting with color this week, and I am loving the life that these experiments are bringing to my paintings. At first glance, you might think that these Arizona landscapes are brown and brown and more brown. But when you look closely, you see there are tons of colors - in the earth, in the grasses, reflected from the sky, and in the sky itself. 

So I've been pushing myself to see more, and to let my paintings rise up with color. I like them, and hope you do, too. 

My painting in the landscape

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Here's Lois with her first palette knife painting. Lois, who lives in Green Valley, is a fan of the rodeo, especially of bull riding. She wanted to paint Bushwacker, who she says is one of the most famous bulls of all time - only successfully ridden one time. Bushwacker is retiring at the end of the year.

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This saguaro stands in the yard of the house across the street from my dad's. Birds nest in these cacti, in holes that they make - or that something makes. It takes a saguaro 15-25 years to grow its first arm. The cacti can live to be 70 years old!

Isn't this a lovely tree? I could see it from my booth in the Tubac Arts Festival, and I came to admire its shape, the lightness of its leaves, the pretty shadows at its heart. 

Here's Donna, who bought "Kathryn's Brothers." She has a great store in Tubac, and is a delightful person, with lots of energy and good spirit.

He's not the Dog of the Day, just a funny, goofy-looking dog I saw in Tubac. 

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On the final day of the show, one man brought his parrot. The bird didn't seem to mind 

the people or the art.

 

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 Kevin Ireton and I tried on hats while Cynthia Battista, 

his wife and my friend, tried on clothes. 

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Dog of the Day

Cynthia and Kevin stayed in a great place, just down the road in Tumacacari. The woman who owns the place has a gallery in town, and she makes and sells amazing mesquite furniture there and elsewhere. Apparently, there are often cracks and gaps in the grain in mesquite wood. She fills these with turquoise chips, or, if the gaps are wider, with river stones, then covers the whole piece with polyurethene. Jack lives at her place, and is about the sweetest dog you'd ever want to meet. 

Near Rio Rico - and It's Time to Paint!

Near Rio Rico

Oil on canvas, 10x10

The Tubac Arts Festival went on for five days, and I have to say, I am glad it's over. That's just tooooo looooong, at least for me. Someone said that it's a good two-day show that takes five days, and I'd have to agree. 

I sold three paintings during those five days, and I was happy to sell them. Also, I am now represented by a gallery in Tubac, Art Gallery H,  and this is very, very exciting. 

One thing I'm learning about my paintings and art shows is that I don't do well in places where there are lots of retirees. My stuff doesn't appeal to them, perhaps, or maybe it's that they just have enough art already. 

I do believe that if you fall in love with a piece, you'll make room for it no matter what - but first, you have to fall in love. My loud, heavily surfaced, bright pieces are not for everyone, and I know this - and perhaps retired folks are a large part of "everyone." 

A great thing about this show was that Cynthia Battista, my friend from New Milford, CT, had gotten in, and our tents were side by side. We shared a lot of laughs, a lot of gripes, a lot of too bads, too. Being next to a good friend truly does halve the pain and double the happiness. 

This week, I am painting around here. I've been invited to a show near Phoenix this weekend, and am considering it. This morning, I feel that if I never do another art show, that will be well and good. But by this afternoon, who knows. 

My little painting in the big Arizona landscape

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Sonoita Hills

Oil on canvas, 30x30

A number of you who have sponsored me for paintings larger than 10x10, and here's one of the ones I've done so far. It is 30x30, and I painted it standing on the side of the road in Sonoita. I love the yellow grass there, and the ragged mountains, and the feeling of the huge, arching sky. 

While I was painting, a local came along and told me I was painting The Biscuit - that rounded peak over on the right-hand side. 

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This lovely couple bought "Through the River," the lower painting on the wall behind them. 

They're going to repaint the room where it will hang, to make it stand out more. 

They were so nice, and so excited. I was, too.

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This is Charles, who belongs to a friend of my dad's and Paula's. The friend adopted Charles a few years ago at the Tubac Arts Festival. The local Humane Society brings adoptable dogs to the fair! I am not 100 percent convinced that this is a great idea, but it does seem to find homes for some of the dogs. I met a woman at the fair over the weekend who had just adopted a great dog. And Charles and his human are as happy as they could be. 

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Al Topping took my parking money every morning of the show, and made me laugh with his wry humor and dry good will. He was a cameraman for ABC news for 40 years, and told me that he was parking cars because his wife, who runs the Arts Center that received the parking money, was "a tall, mean brunette," and he didn't want  to cross her. 

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Here's my friend Cynthia Battista, a great jeweler, in her tent during the Tubac show. It was wonderful to have a good friend in the adjoining booth! 

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These horses were dragging a wagon that served as a free trolley during the show. I felt kind of sorry for them, but they seemed OK.

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Dog of the Day

I was about to pull into the driveway of my dad's house on the first night of the show when I saw a big, goofy-looking red dog walking up the road. I stopped the van and got out to see, and the dog came right up. 

A tag on his collar read "Barkley," and gave a phone number, so I called, got voice mail and left a message. Meantime, we were making friends. He was happy to see me, and wagged and leaned against me the way dogs do. I put him in the back of the van and started knocking on doors. Eventually, someone directed me to his home. By this time, Barkley had galumphed into the front seat. 

I couldn't rouse anyone at the house, so I left him in a gated front porch area. A voice mail when I got back to the car said that indeed, that was his right home. The family had adopted him a couple weeks earlier, and he was a runner. A young child in the home had left the entryway gate open.