Canyonlands After The Rain

Canyonlands After The Rain
18" x 24" Oil
$595.00 + 20. s/h

SOLD

Our first day in Utah was cold (39 degrees) and rainy.  Because of that the next day gave us Maynard Dixon clouds.

Canyonlands National Park is very appropriately named.  Around every bend in the road and across every vista is another incredible canyon.  Here are a few:

Plein Air Moab 2

Near Canyonlands
9" x 12" Oil
$195.00 + $10. s/h

This is the second plein air painting from my recent trip to Moab, Utah.  We stopped painting around 4:00  because we wanted to head further down the road to photograph the late afternoon shadows on the canyon walls.  At the time, I thought I'd come back and add more to the piece, but now, I'm not going to.  It works as is.

Here I am painting away...I know, my umbrella should be all white on the outside and gray on the inside.  But, my all white umbrellas is so large (it covers my easel, me, anyone who's looking) that I use it only in my back yard.  This one was left over from when the kids were small, and being my frugal self, I'm using it!

Here are some of the spectacular views in Canyonlands National Park:

We spent our 29th anniversary in Moab, and to celebrate went 4-wheeling.  We drove across the bottom of one layer of the canyon:

You can more or less see the 4wd road (going diagonally across.)  Then, we headed up the canyon:

Believe me...it was not pleasant going up!  I think that I deserve the what did you do on your anniversary award!

Owochomo Bridge

18" x 24" oil on stretched canvas
Please contact me if interested

This is another piece from our trip to Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.  Owachomo Bridge is the 3rd bridge while driving through the park (the road heads you in one direction.)  This was the easiest bridge to reach, just a short walk from the parking lot.  Owachomo means "rock mound" in Hopi.

As I've done for several of my recent large pieces, I started this w/ a value study in sketch and wash pencil.  

I then did a value study in oil using transparent oxide red w/ a little ultramarine blue for the darkest shadows.  I used these 2 studies, and several photos, for the final painting.  The hardest part of the final piece was the foreground.  In my studies, I just roughed this area in very loosely.  I should have paid a little more attention, as the foreground area is about 9" x 18", bigger than many of my whole paintings.
 

This is the start of the trail.  It may look like it goes off the edge, but it's really a gentle, short walk.

My painting is from the bottom, far-side of this bridge.

Canyonland Values

16" x 20" oil on stretched canvas
Please contact me if interested

This is another piece from Canyonlands National Park, Utah.  I would say that we've gotten our money's worth out of our annual National Park Pass.  My husband has used it 11 times; I've been to 7 parks this year.

I've really been working to be aware of values.   It's so easy to just darken the darks, and lighten the lights.  I used to tell my students that painting was like doing the laundry (darks and lights.)  But, then I realized that most middle school students didn't do their own laundry, so that didn't mean much to them.  Anyway, w/in the darks, there are lots of different colors in the same value range.  The same is true of the lights.  In this piece, I wanted the center of interest and focal point to be the canyon on the right, but I worked the most on the shadow values in the front.

The southwest is filled with pictographs and petroglyphs.  This wall of petroglyphs is Newspaper Rock, on the south side of the Park.

If you click on this picture you can read about the ancient rocks.

Deep Shadows

12" x 16" oil on stretched canvas
$395.00 + $10. s/h
please contact me if interested

I was drawn to the deep shadow that spread across the canyon bottom and the back of the valley.  Additionally, I thought about the cool, not quite melted snow on the shadowy side and the warm, sunny rocks and tips of the scrubby plants  in the light.  This piece gave me lots of landscape challenges: warms and cools, grays and earth tones, sun and shadow.

I tend to push my colors and really tried to stick with realistic notes in this piece.  As Kevin Macpherson says, I tried to "See it, mix it, put it down.  Be decisive."

Canyonlands V

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
Please contact me if interested

This is another small piece from our trip in November to Canyonlands National Park in Utah. With the holidays and both kids visiting, I'm just now getting it posted.

I had some daily paintings in a fall show at a local Nature Center. Several of them sold and this morning I decided it was time to update that part of my blog. I'm not sure why, but when I did this, emails went out each time I edited the past blogs. Maybe it was a senior moment on my part, maybe something's going on w/ blogger. I'm not sure, but sorry about that. Is anyone else having this problem? Did I do something wrong? And, thanks to those of you who emailed me about the sales.

Canyonlands IV

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

This is from our second day at Canyonlands National Park. We were in an area where you walked along the edge of this cliff. For those of you who know me well, you know I have a fear of heights. I had to really breath deeply, walk slowly, look across and not down, to conquer my phobia. I will admit, that where I stopped here, there was a guard rail!

When landscape painting, the lightest value is usually that of the sky. The second lightest value is the flat plane of the ground....except the ground at the bottom of a canyon appears to have a darker value than the horizontal plane near the top of a canyon. These canyon pieces have gotten me thinking about all the values in a landscape. I even got out my Carlson's guide to see if he talked about canyons.

Canyonlands III

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
please contact me if interested

This is another piece from our recent trip to Canyonlands National Park in Utah. I'm trying to be aware of color temperatures and values. Granted, snow is cold, and the temperature was in the 30's, but snow can be warm or cool depending on if it's in the sun or shade. The same is true of rocks, or anything in a landscape. I tried to make sure that in adjusting for the color temperatures, I'm keeping true to the values. It helps to do a value sketch first.

I was asked in a comment what colors I use to tone my canvases. Usually I use cad yellow deep, yellow ochre, or cad orange. Sometimes a combination of two. And, sometimes red. I'll often tone 6 - 10 canvases at the same time.

Canyonlands II

6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
please contact me if interested

This is another view of Canyonlands National Park and more snow. This snow went a little more toward violet, which is was. The shady side of the trails was pretty snowy, but with practically no one else hiking, there was plenty of room to stay on the sunny side.

Canyonlands is a showcase of geology. Until recently, which means 15 million years ago in geologic times, this area was near sea level. Uplifts and volcanic activity created folds and mountains, but then movement in the earh's crust caused the whole area to rise. Today, the average elevation is over 5,000 feet above sea level.

In this painting you're looking at a ridge, a plateau, a canyon top, and a mesa.

Canyonlands National Park

11" x 14" oil on stretched canvas
$295.00 + $10.00 s/h
SOLD

My husband and I just got back from a 14 day trip, 9 of those spent days driving to San Francisco to visit our daughter. On the way we stopped in Durango, Co to see our son, and visited 7 National and State Parks and Monuments. It was an absolutely wonderful trip. In several of the parks we say only 5-10 other cars/people all day. Talk about uncrowded!

Our first park was Canyonlands National Park between Moab and Monticello, Utah. We spent 1 1/2 days hiking and driving through as much as we could. Next time we're taking our SUV as there are 50 miles of 4 wheel drive roads that we didn't want to drive on w/ our daughter's car.

I took my paints and hoped to paint occasionally, but the temperature never got out of the 30's. That's great for hiking, but cold for painting. I think I've got the snow a little too blue, may go back and gray it a bit. This piece, and those below, are from the area around Needles Overlook.




"Canyonlands is a colorful geologic wonderland in the heart of the high desert of southeastern Utah-a masterpiece of nature's work."