To See The Tree

 I negotiated myself a two-night stay in the l-shaped Casita in order to watch the US Capitol Christmas tree come through, which they asked me to design the ornament for:

The parks requirements were that it be no larger than 12 in and waterproof. The theme was "Seven Rivers (the forest from whence the tree came), Many People, One tree." So I decided that the rivers of stone or sand or bentonite that make up the teepees where the many colorful Rivers, the petroglyphs of the people that live here were the many People, and the centerpiece with our cougar petroglyph logo is One (petrified) Tree! 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

From my understanding even the supervisor was pretty excited about it but they did have a few requests. They did specify it be sparkly. I used reflective beads that you put on roadways so that when the light hit it it was going to jump off the tree when people took photographs.

But there was a request for glittery so I brought down with me extra glitter paint in a violet and green tone and outlined all of the petroglyphs which are hard to see in photographs so they're not worth taking more.

As usual my colleague and I made the trip very safely and arrived around 11:00. I know I'm a very weird girl and I have strange things that make me happy but staying here is one. And getting a magnet that I can wear around and look like I'm part of the park is the other.

I had a very sad revelation. I am old. 4 years ago when I lived here I was in better shape had not sat on my butt during a 2-year pandemic and even then I was not the world's greatest hiker. After a 3-hour car trip with no stops, (I had a really great audiobook that let me drive straight through. I finally figured out how to download from my library so I listen to Desert Solitaire about a guy staying in arches National monument be moaning his knowledge that it would soon be developed in the 1960s 😥) when I picked up the ornament to do some touch-up I realized my hand was somewhat shaky, my knees were not working properly and my back hurt. Sleeping on memory foam is not good for me. I have a big butt. I admit it right now I need something that supports the arch in my back and memory foam, as the commercial says remembers things and seems grumpier than it should!

There have been many changes on the inside here. Number 77 used to be the spillover Casita I believe. The last time I was here they were working on my old AIR cabin, so I believe now the Artist in Residence were housed over here. Wisely they split the queen size bed into two twins. Instead of having a massively bizarre fold-out bed you just had extra sleeping space in case you had a guest. I checked all the screens, as the last time I stayed here my cat decided it wanted to escape through one. The three screens that were ugly that I took out of the windows because the frames were falling apart are now no longer even available to me. But the ones that were in the windows were in excellent shape. First thing I did when I got in here was open up the window and Thingy jumped right up.

We are here typing on the morning of my second day - well, after my first night - and as I'm looking out just after the sunrise, over my cute little car I noticed a solitary jogger. There are brave people here! She was lean and young looking and obviously worked in the Painted Desert area and was taking advantage of the amazing opportunity she had living here in the park. I will update you all as the day progresses but I just wanted you to know how happy I was to be home again.

Back again!

In October every year I head to Denver to help my brother out, babysitting his aged pets while they have an anniversary trip to Mexico.  (Due to a simple but tragic mis-reading of my schedule, I was ORIGINALLY assigned this month for my AIR, so I wondered if there were any gaps in the schedule that I might come back and do a little token residing) This year it snowed his first day out and I forgot about what I will return to ...Phoenix HEAT!
The trip down was via Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado and last time I went up that route a couple of years ago I was crying on the way down.  The beetle kill was so awful.  This time I left early in the long shadows of morning, to the west, so the sun did not blind me and NO TRUCKS stressed me out!  I really enjoyed it!  Then back through the mountains and on to the familiar flat Rez land on the way back to Arizona.
Kip did arrange a three night recovery for me, from the 12 hour trip.  I feel it a lot more coming home than driving up. Probably the depression of coming back to boring old home....
In to the Park, I was eyeball burned and aware that it was no longer Spring.  The deep autumn in the park brings rusts and gold to the rolling flat grasslands.  And the air was softer, whiter.  I found there was a lot of "controlled" burning going on in the area.  It was seriously changing the nature of the place.
Once I located my key and was settled in to cabin 77, the L-shaped one, I met my neighbors, a water colorist and her husband from Tubac.  They had arrived the night before and I gave them my brief park rundown. They also made me feel guilty that I was not up to the task of this place.... Relived that an artist was in the park to contribute to the experience, but again, not sure where I fit..
I had been turned down for another residency (and I should have held off for next year, as I an already hoarding the days I can talk someone in to giving me precious hours here) but I had thought I might work on a sample of my project if I can apply it to another park... I have my eyes set on Mesa Verde as I had a short email chat with someone there and they MAY allow the cat! 
I wanted to do what I do best - humans.  The project, which really was an offshoot of the ill-fated model release I never ended up using, was to meet and immortalize at least one visitor a day, probably from another country, with a brief interview and a lot of photos.  To show how really valuable the park is to US.  The humans who revitalize ourselves, who often only get to experience actual nature in these parks. 
Now with the impending doubling of fees, I think it is even more necessary to show that access by EVERYONE is necessary!  We own these places and we need them to STAY human.

I packed for Denver and found myself lacking some necessities for the Park.  I have all (oh, I am nearing another good 500 if not more photos from the Denver Zoo and Rocky Mountain Arsenal wildlife snapshots) my photos in the camera, but forgot to bring the card reader for to put them into the computer to use when I am connected by wifi in the few areas of the park that I can connect!
I did learn that my phone can transfer a few photos, so we are lacking the beautiful shots and back to being a tourist!!!
Here is the Thing, settling in at his home away from home:

I left for about an hour and came home to tail-less corpse of a three inch lizard that he had already murdered.  

I understand there is a small chewing creature next door, and as this is our third stay, I am grateful that my traveling companion has earned his keep... of course the lizards are NOT an issue, but he is always on patrol!

Driving Home - Art

It is a long hot summer!
I have been stuck in my house for the last couple of months, looking at my photos and tweaking my presentations for art groups in Phoenix Area.
I did a nice presentation for the Teme Artists League in September and I will be showing for the Mavericks group of quilters and fabric artists this month. There have been some amazing fiber artists who were AIR in the Park!
Recently, the amazing Rebecca Mezoff did some truly stunning work! and Bill Meed and Denny Peterson were recent quilt artists as well.  I am hoping to let them know that the program welcomes ANY artist that needs, can profit from and give something back from the opportunity
So that proceeds. I  am going to present in Mesa in November and Peoria in January.  They are great fun and I get to meet old friends as I have been a member of many of these groups during my life!

So...

I am close to giving up on landscape.
I tried another of my super strong images that evoked so much emotion to ME from my loads of pictures in the park.
I tried a tonalist style on it and was defeated at every turn....
Here is the work as it progressed and pretty well stopped.
Sketched in, I was trying to get the curve of the road and echos of the wonderful wind blown falling sky in the distance...  Lots of impending rain and at that time of the year, very little wet!
sketch...paint.....

Final version....well, lets stay, where I stopped.

It was actually supposed to be about the lines in the road and tail lights, but I settled for the tail lights...

My little casita is just over the rise, across the road from the Painted Desert Inn.   When I was AiR, there was so little weather, but for the constant breezes, I have hundreds of photos of clouds.  

It is a good thing to do in 100° Phoenix weather, to reminisce about the cooler days...

One More Piece! One More Presentation!

It was a tense day.
I had applied for a second AIR. It is rarely done but I have such a great idea.... so it will have to wait.
I can do it in another Park, but this was inspired by the month I spent there.  I am going to talk to Kip later about a different plan, but no PEFO for me in 2018... Stay tuned, I am branching out.

And I have not updated, but I do have another presentation tomorrow at the Tempe Artist Guild in Friendship Villiage, 2645 E. Southern Ave, Tempe AZ.   I will be running the artist critique at 5:30, with the business meeting at 6:30 and ME at 7:30 to 8:30!
So there you are!

While waiting for good or bad news, I did another piece.  Many of these will be entries in the Mountain Oyster Club in Tucson in November.  What a lot of exciting reference I have!!

Little Visitors on the Flagstone

It is hot here in Scottsdale.
It is sweaty and the air never cools, but we did have a monsoon rain last night and I left the door open!!
That is all my excitement.

I have been working on  another one of my birch panels.  This is two little ground squirrels, snacking in the shade of a scrub brush, right outside the kitchen, when I returned in June.  It is only 10" square and I am feeling like it may need something.... later.

I am going to do another presentation on August 17 at the Tempe Artist Guild.  I will probably do some editing on the slide show and, of course, we have a few new paintings.

With a week to go, who knows what else will show up!

Will post the details in the next blog.

Captive of my Computer

I may have complained by not having wifi, but I do feel as though I am a prisoner of technology today!
I am learning OpenOffice Impress which is the freebie PowerPoint program that I can use on my laptop for the presentation at the Scottsdale Artist League on July 11.  I had it pictured that I would just go through my 3000 snapshots and run them like I do on the computer.... keeping in mind I tried to show them to some friends the other day and after two hours, we were only up to May 15.

It is a great way to organize my thoughts but it is also a great way to pretty much stay right where I am.  I do need to figure out my future and which of the 30 or so paintings in my head will escape to canvas.

I also have another project...... I am going to apply for next year.

The Artist in Residence program may or may not be around long, the way things are going and very few parks will let my cabin mate join me.  Aside from trying to find cat-sitters for shorter possible residences, I DO have a STRONG concept for the next residency.  This trip was so overwhelming I am having a hard time winnowing it to a single vision.

I am also drooling over possibly learning what happens in the season changes in the park.  Thinking of snow on my teepees is actually exciting.  Not learning to drive in slush or closing the windows and trying to keep warm, as it is the ONLY time to be happy living down in the valley, but I see WHY I need another month.

EVEN BETTER, four or more one week visits through the year to build an intimate knowledge of the place.  I feel like I belong there....sort of like it belongs to me...

Makes me feel even more cabin fever looking at the photos over and over again...

 Queen of the Battleship