Festivities

 I was up plenty early due to the cat deciding to drag race through the house. I am hoping that means he's chasing vermin! It still doesn't mean he hasn't found every single thing to knock off every single table but so far only one really scary centipede.

I made my coffee packed for chili weather, which means I overdressed and lo and behold they're in the Painted Desert Visitor Center  parking lot was a gigantic truck filled with Christmas tree.

I arrived plenty early as the festivities weren't scheduled until 9:00 but luckily I got there just as the organizers said they wanted the ornament that was given to the truck driver (mine) last night to hang on the tree... that red space there at the very very back has clear windows and you can see a lot of the ornaments that have been given as special treats. I do believe the bulk of the ornaments beat the trailer to Washington DC. Because I goofed and left my phone in the car all I had was my camera which I can't upload from when I'm on the road but I did get a picture of me handing it to the representative.

(Seriously forgive me as I had to take the photograph from the screen of the camera which was what I handed to the gentleman who is their official photographer. See I told you I overdressed and I'm sorry you can't really see the ornament that well 😯. I have other pictures that I can post later. This is just what I can do with my cell phone.)

Aside from the free hot chocolate (which I vigorously enjoyed, having just escaped the hundreds and now into the high 90°s in Phoenix) there was a presentation which included an honor guard. And a nice little walk-through display from six Rivers National Forest including this gigantic slab from the bottom of the tree in the Box showing how old it was. Apparently it's one year older than I am.

I had plans to come and get fry bread on my way back in the evening but that was before I realized that I had slightly low tire pressure. From 100° to 39°. I believe that would account for it but it might be a better idea to check in Holbrook on my way out.

I spent the rest of the day doing the sort of things you would hope to do on a single solitary day in a single solitary place. I made myself drive out to the teepees and sit. Half an hour to 45 minutes in one spot just watching the clouds play on the badlands. And then I walked up to Puerto Pueblo and actually spent some time looking at it. I had already gotten some petroglyph pictures on a previous joint but this time I was more careful I didn't devour them hungrily I took photographs put down my camera and then watch them with my own eyes. As usual Ravens were doing their thing everywhere! And I think when Ravens show the rest of the animals are a little bit more shy.

I will tell you right now that one of the good things about this trip was I specifically tried to not take as many photographs I tried my best to experience so y'all are out the massive quantity of photo references I usually have, but I will say there are a few that are the memory evokers ...basically, casita experiences. Cats in the windows and sunsets....

Of course it's early on Wednesday and I'm going to have to clean up the Casita and pack stop in Holbrook and check my tires drop off my keys and mystery items provided to me so I could be identified as one of us in the park. A raven just flew past my window and I did not check for spelling errors... But so I can begin my day I'm going to just publish it and edit it when I get home I hope you all enjoyed this little adventure of mine. I do so love the Petrified Forest.

...A Post Script:  I just found if you still have Facebook... 

The US Capitol Christmas Tree Page

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...

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.

Trooper

Pretty sure we are done.... if not, I am betting you won't notice the changes....
On to more and more things stuck in my head, needing to get out.
(PLEASE share or contact me if any of these strike your fancy.  They are all for sale.  I am doing my donation in October, so there will be PLENTY of pieces by then!)

Trooper, the Equine Ranger in Progress

So much that has nothing to do with anything has been happening, so a brief update.
I had my first presentation in Scottsdale at their art league and it went so well, another group asked for me.  The scheduling will probably end up in November or so, with the league's schedule and mine.
Tempe, which is very nearby also wants me and this time for AUGUST!  So we will put that on the agenda.  I figured out the issue I had been having with projectors.  You see my reliable little laptop does not have the proper hood up for almost EVERY available machine I can borrow or afford.  The new laptops don't tend to come with the plug either!  SO... I literally got and returned FOUR adapters before I finally found a small, rather old, but running win10 very slow and very old model REFURBISHED notebook that I will try to use ONLY for presentations.  If it wears out quickly, it was only $30 more than most of the adapters I exchanged.
I am breaking it in.

And I have been working on a portrait.
Still not done but here are a few progress shots....

 I knew what I wanted to do with Tooper, one of the horses that come (two days before I left) to stay in the park for the summer, but I was a bit unsure of what I wanted to do with the background.  So I drew him, sketched the background (which changed) and painted it all in black acrylic so I could do the background and still see the horse.

I finally decided on the scene and blocked it all in before I even began to paint the horse.  I called it eating my veggies before I had desert.  I am so bad at landscapes.  I love vignettes, but it is a bit nuts, to be around all that beauty and not use it at all in the paintings.  So this area was from a snapshot on the road.  I am pretty sure it is just around Kachina point, very near home... but I had blur in the thing and just loved all the stripes of color.

So,  90% done, horse near ready for the rest of the tack and I really did not like it.  Could not put my finger on it, but it did not do what I wanted, did not look like a place that was truly there.  I spent a lot of obsessive time trying to fit the time of day (noon and strong vertical light) with a scene that would make sense, and try as I might, I was not able to get that sense of abstraction I wanted behind his realism..

I asked some friends and tried him in other backgrounds (more complex and suited to my obsessive mind)  and there was a general consensus that ALL of my ideas were good.... which did not help, but a friend reminded me of something I LIKE TO SUGGEST to artists stuck like I am.... Put a piece of plastic over it and experiment.

I am sure she is aghast at the horrible plastic I used, but I just needed to decide what color and how far I needed to go.
So why is this in this blog?
I am aware of something that happened to me there.  I have become REALLY unhappy now that I am home.  I do not feel connected to much.  The heat keeps me in the house like a cage and I don't know what to paint, don't know if anyone will buy them, how much more I can fit in here, and I basically and to afraid to start anything for fear of failing.
This was a free pass!
I gave myself permission to let go.
I got in there and started by darkening and moving the sky a bit...

Not too dramatic but then I started darkening the space behind to show the shadows of the clouds and eventually stopped trying at all to match the reference, just started playing with the colors.  I put the purple in the shadows of the rocks close in , and dotted the background with glints of light and basically started playing.  It was more about me painting my OWN Painted Desert.

I know you all don't think there is much going on that is revolutionary about this, but to me, it was very freeing, with my house full of art, to risk it and come back from where it was not so safe!

I need to let it be.  

It is finally to a point where when I leave it and come back, it is pleasing me!!!

Next post will be the finish.  I might have my donation piece....

Landscapes Win...

I have literally nearly gone blind trying to figure out which of these 3000 photos to paint from. Most of the shots were part of an idea or just an amazing moment that had to be captured.

I know I will do some more wildlife but as many pix of the teepees as I have, I found myself haunted by them.  Finally I just gave up!  I have a feeling the general public might like some landscapes so I started..... I is pretty daunting.

So many artists are just plain so much better at this than I am, but as I finally dug in, I started enjoying it..  This was from last night.

This morning I had a cat that just was NOT up for staying away.  He was total hell and I finally brought his cage in.... I was sort of leaving it in the car in case we needed to go somewhere.  (Aside from spending too much time looking for a new place to live, I fantasized of lovely car trips and of course, moving into that great place my PATRON set me up in.... I have been succuming to the heat, so please ignore my rambling)      (Unless you are a patron that really wants to help by setting me up in a new studio/living space.......)  I have him in the studio and he is much calmer just watching me.   No biting and play-time with the brushes etc...

And with his cooperation, I am at what I call SITTING STAGE.
This is where I MIGHT call it done but there is a good reason to stop and ignore it for a while.   The reason is sloppy, gloopy paint.  Not much oil lately but I apparently have a lot of enthusiasm.
I will get in there and fix the nuts spots when it is dryer in a few days.

I may do another.

I brought a stack of 11x14 canvases with me.  I have so many ideas in my head, it might just be worth it to get a few out and work on my ideas for my donation.  I don't have room for big pieces in the place so these small pieces are just about right...

For Real. Last Day.....For June.....

Seriously this was as wonderful as the last last day I had here! I woke up fully intending to hike, but had a headache and my knees did not work from all that sitting yesterday, so although it was past Sunrise, I went driving into the park.

First absolute excitement was elk!



Elk makes sense in the mountains, but not on the plains out here. I saw two, and they were running and running and running. I believe it was easily 20 miles to 30 an hour I would race forward beyond them, try to set up where they would be being, wait for them to come at me and boom they were past. It was pretty damned exciting!!!










Finally, they got tired of racing me and just crossed the road...

A little farther down the road I saw more Pronghorn but this time I saw two guys, hanging out, butting heads! Like, practicing for the real thing, and I even got some video!




But that was not all.
I saw a solo guy, who apparently had itchy horns, as he was rubbing them in the bushes in a dry wash.  Odd indeed, and I asked Andy, the biologist and he said he would talk to the pronghorn guy!!1

And just round the end, I saw a family of one big guy and his girls...
They apparently had worn him out, as he just decided to enjoy the early morning sitting down!

Because the trip went farther than I had planned and I thought it would be a good idea to use the restrooms at the South, which was not open, I figured it would be a good time to go pick up more rocks.
I got a big handful, and came home and wash them, and wrote Holbrook on the side of all of them, because I want to make 100% absolutely sure no one thinks I'm taking them from in the park. I suppose I should have showed them to someone when I came in the first time, but it seemed kind of dumb...


Jorge told me there are usually coyotes over by the parking lot and the propane tanks. He said afternoon. I just came home from sweating and its 4:30, but he probably means evenings...
With no photos it doesn't really matter when I stop the blog, I will fix it all up when I get home. Biggest problem is I have a whopping 30 photos left to take on my photo card!

****
Turns out coyotes do not feel like they need to be in my portfolio, but it was a great, cloudless evening.  WAY windy, but there is an amazing NON sunset that happens on these nights.
And there was a pretty spectacular clear, bright moon... WISH I had a real camera.....

One more Sunrise - Redux

I got most of the cleaning and washing out of the way yesterday in the storm.
It was a kind of a sad day. I thought I'd have to leave today. But when I asked I was allowed to head off early in the morning tomorrow so I would have the sun at my back all the way down. If I leave when I say I will. I should pretty well make it way before noon.
So today is a "waste not want not" day!
I actually ran into the archaeologist, a gentleman that I had somehow managed not to bump into the whole trip. He was there with three other of the research types taking a crew of newbies around the park. I asked him where the best place would be to find pot shards on the ground. He told me I had been there. It was among the petroglyphs that I found. I was given permission to wander among them.....

It was amateur archaeologist died and gone to heaven!


I have to do all my reading again, but I believe I have culture spanning modern to archaic. I have all colors all shapes all sizes. And each one evoked an audible gasp!

The day was so perfect for it! Overcast threatening rain And cool. I was able to hike
along, oblivious to time, and spent about two and a half hours looking down, all by myself.

Exciting thing number one about not stealing the rocks: Taking pictures is not heavy at all!

I must say I was surprised to find I had taken less than 200 shots!

Not so exciting thing number one about not stealing the rocks:  Bending over in the dry weather with a few too many aspirin in your bloodstream can cause a nosebleed!

I had to pinch my nose and kick things with my feet.  Photo was to see what needed cleaning before going into public.

Undaunted I continued, although there is a small pile of potsherds with a little bit of bloody drips next to it... I ventured on.

The above cache was so amazingly diverse, ridiculously beautiful and laid out so as to produce heart-attacks to novices, I almost wondered if the archaeologists sort of mess with the new kids and do this now and then to blow their minds.  It certainly worked for me. THIS IS EXACTLY how I found them!  I started watching for beautiful, small colorful petrified wood flakes.  Not naturally occurring, and when I saw a LOT, almost without fail, there was pottery.
MY THEORY is that the manufacturing spots of points and such near petroglyphs were traditional and folks either used the same spot as dumps for the broken pots or the guys broke their dishwear at an unusually rapid rate!


I had originally thought of taking a walk from the teepees to Blue Mesa, but the sun has come out so it is warming up and the cat and I have had a very nice little snooze. His reward for being such a good guy was a little jaunt on the patio to scare off the birds who are nesting above us. I got to watch a cat who has no clue what outside is freaked out that the wind is blowing his fur.
It's midday, I have to go gas up the car because the plan is to go via the South Route tomorrow morning. That will let me have one long run through the park and out past some of those rocks that I coveted outside the park.
I seem to have bread, pickle relish and a can of tuna fish to pretty much show for all that's left of my groceries. Perfect timing and less to haul home.
 I'm going to post this now so I get something up today and tomorrow I will post from home 😖.
Things will be updated when I have a little more free Wi-Fi, but I have tried my best to keep you informed as I go.

Holiday Weekend Pt 2

EXHAUSTION.
Woke up with mysterious belly ailment.  I did not feel bad, but spent the day (happily unsurprised) waiting for a second explosion!
But I had worked so hard on a few duplicates and was ready with a new one and it did not work.  I forgot the demo... why?? I do this all the time!?!?!
I took forever drawing a new head to paint from scratch.
It was old 43 the ram, again.
I always say, don't demo unless you KNOW how it will turn out. I try to look like a genius in front of people, and do all my experiments at home.  Although this actually was the fourth try, one first day demo, the original big one, the sketch I left at home, then this, I always feel like I will fall on my face.  It was a little slower but actually there was a lot more spontaneity in the piece!
It happened.  It was good, but have very little to show for it.  I was talking a lot and meeting people.
I think I will look at the cars parking at the PDI and see if it gets busy.  I am not a 7 hour a day worker any more...

Just loading in tonight to keep myself on track.  I don't remember even taking photos... so you have none!... (well this:

If I cheer up, I may spend a little time tomorrow seeing if I forgot anything...
OH...Not only did  I meet the guy from Central City last weekend, TODAY I met a guy from Catalina! Another place nobody can possibly be from!!!
So that was cool...

DAWN! And Why You Should NOT Be Happy To Sleep In.

I figured it out.
Last night I was so exhausted that I pretty much shoved anything smaller than a boot into a closet.  I tried to sleep about 8, as I was falling asleep listening to podcasts and had a really good 7 or more hours of drawing in public to put toward my "debt" to the Park for this gift.
So, when 3:30 came around and the stars were still up, I threw some food at the cat and all was well.
What was odd was that there was no 4:30 wake up.
I saw the sky dark blue and lightening at the bottom through the window and took a few photos of the low clouds that were actually starting a sunrise.

As I called out, no answer from the cat.
Of course he would not have dropped dead but this was really wrong! He depends on trying to wake me up for his entertainment.  When I am up, and there is sun on the bed... he can sleep again.





So... I track him down.

He is transfixed at the door window panes.  He normally looks up and to the left to see the next of my House Finches, but this was the other direction.

Over the wall I see some brown moving and think it may be a coyote or something so I turned around and grabbed the camera.




Nope.

It was a gang of young elegant Mule Deer!!



The first shots were before the sun was up but I counted first two, then three and I got about 170 photos, but this was the shot of the morning.  Here they are with the young family from the nest above the door, so it is three of the deer and two birdies!

RIGHT over the wall around the patio.  That is the roof of the casita and I did not dare go out for fear of disturbing them.

This is how close.
Yeah, I had to shoot through the screen, but you can see the corner of the fridge out the north kitchen window:

I watched until they disappeared in the direction of the road with a panorama of the Painted Desert with 15 minutes of sunrise twilight.

NOW the magic happens.
NOW I wake up when he says to!

I took my run into Holbrook and it is a bit before 11 at the beautiful patio of my tolerant McDonalds, with reliable wifi and the ability to reload podcasts and even listening to some tv on the headset!

LIFE IS SO PERFECT HERE!!!

Day 13

I am writing this in real time.  It actually IS he 13th.

One of the problems with my blog idea is when and where I can upload it, so I am sitting with day 12 in the mini computer waiting for me to go to wifi capability, but not always able to do it in the earlier parts of the day.

I put the cat in the bathroom at 4 and managed to sleep through to 7!  This is somewhat of a milestone.  I am sure it was the exhausting day in Holbrook, and I do not have a voice anymore.  Having become a hermit in town, has made this so very easy, but I blossom when I do get out among folks. But I get raspier and raspier.  I did stay up working pretty late and was happy at the progress on my portrait, but figured to get busy with some bird or small things to demo for the weekend in honor of Mother's Day.

I was advised to get out and do a walk in honor of Migratory Bird day.  Hallie who is such a great voice for the park and in charge of the daily notes on the Facebook page, met lowly me at 9 as publicized, in the Puerco parking lot and we went to a few semi forbidden places, accompanied by more wind than the birds needed to migrate around us.

I know I am allowed to avail of the rangers, and volunteers as long as I don't interfere with work, but I still have nothing but questions.  Each new discovery leads to more to look for.
Who would have thought that her love of wildflowers would have lead me back to the casita, after an attempted and non-productive nap, to go sit in the wind on my patio.  The temperature was perfect.  The grasses were dancing and all I saw was wildflowers.  I just walked around snapping these microscopic little things.
The sound of the wind is perfect now.  Tomorrow it may be more scary, but just for now, it is so soothing, I am happier NOT to be asleep, just listening.

What exactly is expected of an artist in residence?  The more I ask, the more happy I become.  I am such a night owl... besides if the cat watches me in the evening, he is less inclined to be bored and keep me up all night.  I do more painting in the casita, even though I did enjoy both jaunts into the public venues, I would rather talk and snap photos.  I will easily have over 2000 photos when I am done.  I do wonder if I could be a professional former Artist in Residence!  I know there is work for me but I have GOT to find an audience.  I get funky thinking about how to sell it, and that is when I stop THINKING.

My statement that AiR fall into two main categories.  The very rich with plenty of time on their hands to drop out for a month and the very poor who have NOTHING else to do for a month.  Guess where I am.  I am choosing to regroup.  Not probably the wisest but the healthiest.  I want to just have all this visual stimulus pour into me.  Painting can come later.
......
 I had originally thought this might be a two-part post. But the rest of the day kind of finished out the way the first of it went.
It was a great recuperation​ day. The cat even wondered why I was napping.

I prepped up for the next day at the Painted Desert Inn, with all my I rocks and reproductions and a little bit of everything.
I actually went to bed 8:30!

Prepping

Friday is our demonstration at the Holbrook Historic Train Depot.

I got up very early and came into the PDVC to find a great connection, uploaded yesterday's blog and actually found I could download some podcasts!

Amazing.  Then I pulled out my watercolors, as the day was barely chilly and I could paint with my jacket on.

I got most of my birdy done but need some masking liquid to do right by the background, so I am putting it away.   But the people were great!

I met the couple who had parked in PDI for two nights while they camped.  I was worried.  Rarely do cars stay there with camping permits more than a day and the weather was pretty wet.  They were brave and skilled and having a great time!


I met a gentleman who was enamored of the feeling of the place.  He had a lovely boxer and took my card.  Thought my pet portraits were a GREAT bargain!!!



And I met my model for the demo tomorrow.  She said she was tired of being"from Pennsylvania"

 her white hair was tied up in a Navajo knot and you could feel the yearning for the desert.
I spent the better part of the afternoon throwing coffee grounds around.  I got the pencil lines started for the event.


Tomorrow I will be doing a bit of McDonald's while I try to update myself for a couple of hours before we all meet at 4.  I am hoping this time to have the actual list ready and buy what is on it!  Lots of cans, as I will be having to leave it in the car for a few hours during the demo or come back to the park late... oooOOOoo... Nope.  Not into it.




Tonight is inventorying the various things I will have on the display.  Also prep for the weekend.  I need a little practice on my decals!

And the sunsets (they are everywhere!!!) were quite lovely...

Day was perfect,  BUT cat needed to be in the bathroom.  Oh well, he can't be perfect all the time!