Outside of Sedona - and Heading Home

Outside of Sedona

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Yes, I am headed home. Home! 

While part of me is sad that this trip is over, more of me is just missing home so deeply, I can taste it. Missing my husband, missing our dogs, missing my friends, missing my house and my studio and my beautiful little town. 

But I have had adventures, and wonderful pleasures, and I have seen amazing things and met wonderful, fascinating people. It has been the trip of a lifetime. 

This is one of the paintings I haven't posted yet - and there are a few more, which I will post once I reach Wachapreague. These are long, long driving days, with iffy internet connections at night... But lI'll get all the remaining paintings up on our Facebook page, on the blog, and on the California Calling page on the Jacobson Arts website. 

Meantime, I loved going through Colorado, which I haven't seen since I skied there as a kid. It was thrilling to see antelope, and huge, craggy snow-covered mountains, and to drive along at 7,000 feet, close, close, close to the clouds. 

It was not quite as wonderful to drive during a gale (60-mph gusts!) through Kansas, watching 18-wheelers sway and tip so dramatically, I got scared and got off the road early. 

But today, the wind was gone, and Kansas, with its rolling hills (yes, hills!) and huge, open spaces invited my mind to wander, and think, and imagine and dream. I loved Missouri, with beautiful farms and lots of good-looking cows. And Illinois, I saw in the evening dusk, warmed and sweetened by a soft, gentle sunset. 

 

Halfway through Missouri today, the land began to look like the East. Along the highway, deciduous trees grew, their wintry branches just starting to turn red at the tips. Houses were made of wood, with barns and horses and plowed fields. Lawns were grass, not gravel and cactus. It is the landscape I grew up with, the landscape I know. I've been away from it for two months, and it looks different and somehow new again. 

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Winter caught up to me in Colorado, with a blizzarding snowstorm that blew in on an amazing wind. The gale lasted long after the snow stopped falling - if you can call a horizontal path "falling." 

Can you imagine going to school out here? I think I was in Pecos Valley, NM. 

Here's me with hair as red as when I was a kid.

A farm in New Mexico, demanding to be painted. 

And yes, more dinos! These are outside of Santa Fe. 

Gorgeous sunrise in Colorado.

And crossing into Colorado. 

I am somehow not surprised that there are no services in Bovina. Bet there are lots of cows, though. 

Colorado mountains in the bright morning light. 

Wouldn't you take your dog here to be groomed? I know I would! 

I had a pretty good show in Albuquerque. The best part was meeting Juanita and Bill Williams, who had the booth across the aisle from me. We became fast friends, and I feel lucky to have met them.

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Dog of the Day

This stuffed dog was near a booth at the Rio Grande show in Albuquerque, and it looked so real, it startled me nearly every time I saw it. 

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. 

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...

Grand Canyon Morning

Grand Canyon Morning

Oil on canvas, 18x18

I wanted to try the Grand Canyon again, so I went back, on my way south from Monument Valley. 

The morning I set out to paint, it was 16 degrees when I woke up. It had climbed to 24 when I started this painting - and by the time I finished, I was hot. 

Yes, I did end up becoming a spectacle of sorts. Visitors came to this site in droves, and many of them sauntered over to watch me paint. 

I was struggling with perspective and distance and values, and I was getting lost in the layers and plateaus, and I don't really like struggling in public - but so it goes. 

And it was OK. Some people loved this painting, and others just turned away. 

One thing that has surprised me throughout this entire trip is how many of the visitors to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley are not Americans. Foreigners come in droves to these places! So I implore you again to get out there and see them. 

Here's my painting in the vast landscape: 

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A GAS STATION outside of the Grand Canyon had a few really interesting displays, designed, I'm sure, to make drivers stop and look - and then buy something. And guess what? It worked! 

Here's a collection of beautiful older cars. My favorite is the police car.

And here are some statues outside the very same gas station: 

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 Some of the beautiful land just outside of the Grand Canyon. Love that twisted tree!

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On the road from the Grand Canyon to Monument Valley, you'll see lots of these Native American outdoor stores. They are mostly just shade frames with some tables, and many look like they haven't been used for years. This one, selling jewelry and jerky - buffalo jerky was all over their advertising boards - was pretty busy. 

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 My friend Heather was in California when this photo was taken. She's from Maine, and was totally flummoxed by February on the West Coast. No snow? What should she do????

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Randy Clough, who is Navajo, works at Goulding's, where I stayed in Monument Valley. He told me he really wants a dog - a husky - but Navajo tradition says he can't pay for one. He is keeping his eye out for the right dog to wander into his life. I suggested he visit Best Friends animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, and see if he could barter money for a rescue dog. 

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Dog of the Day

Here's Heather's husband Joe, with  Francis. Heather and Joe met him in San Clemente, Calif. Francis's owner thought he and Joe looked very much alike....

On the High Road to Patagonia - and in the Town, Too

On the High Road to Patagonia

Oil on canvas, 10x10

What a great day I had on Monday! I was set to go to Tucson to get my Arizona tax ID number (somehow my application got lost... ) - and then I remembered it was Martin Luther King Day, and all the government offices were closed. 

So instead, I painted. I headed to the Patagonia/Sonoita area, a hilly region with mountains in the background, and in the foreground, the amazing yellow grass that I love so very much. 

Also, my dad and Paula and their hiking group were out in the Sonoita hills, so we made plans to meet at a restaurant in the cool little town of Patagonia. 

If Peter and I lived out here, Patagonia is where we'd live. There are about 900 people there - a metropolis by Wachapreague standards!  There are two galleries - one is a community-centered gallery with tons of programs. There are a number of shops, two grocery stores (looks like one is an organic/coop kind of place), at least two restaurants and a hotel. There's a post office, a police station, a radio station, a yoga place, a bakery and what looks like a building being renovated, with room for studios and shops and the like. There's a school, a bird sanctuary, and heaven knows what else. 

As I waited for my dad and Paula and the group, a feisty Chihuaha - an unneutered male - pranced up the sidewalk. People were calling to him, and reaching out for him, but he eluded all of them. And eluded me and my camera. A couple of kids came by and said his name was JoJo, and that he gets out all the time. Eventually, the dog catcher came by, asking if anyone had seen JoJo. 

A while later, a guy drove by on a four-wheeler, holding a white dog in his lap. They both looked pretty happy. 

I had a great time painting, taking photos and meeting the friends of my dad and Paula. Today, I head to Tucson, and tomorrow, California! 

Here's my painting in the landscape

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THANK YOU, EVERYONE, for weighing in on the Instant Claim idea. Some of you liked it, but more of you wanted to see all the paintings before choosing. So we will stick with the original plan! Next time, maybe, we'll try the instant claiming. 

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 Best Gas Station Ever! It's in Patagonia. 

 Here's the walkway in front of the Gathering Ground in Patagonia, where I met 

Dad and Paula's hiking friends. 

More Patagonia

Beautiful cliffs and gnarly trees on the way to Patagonia

Here's some of that gorgeous yellow grass. Look for this one to become a painting some day.

A house in Sonoita 

More of the mountains and grasslands near Patagonia

He's waiting for someone inside...

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Dogs of the Day

 

He's Bandito, though his owners call him "Bandit" when the Border Patrol is around! He's about 4, and was born and raised right in Patagonia. And he was a great dog!