Sedona - Day Four

Day Number Three, and we're hitting our stride. I was willing today to drive further for a painting, so I went all the way down to the Turkey Creek access, past the village of Oak Creek. But wouldn't you know it? I wasn't happy with anything I found there. The views were too distant. So, I headed back toward Sedona and stopped at the Cathedral Rock trail. I liked the rock I found, and it was cool and still too early for tourists. Just as I was finishing up, though, a bus load of Japanese tourists (30? 40? 10,000?) appeared out of nowhere in the distance. I thought they were going to come by me and disrupt my clean-up, but instead they took the steep trail UP Cathedral Rock! They looked like ants crawling up a wall from where I stood. (These photos are off a bit; there's a glare reflecting on the wet paint. I'll try to take better photos later in the week and repost.)

Still full of energy after that painting, I went to Bell Rock and one of the pull-offs there. Hurricane Paul's clouds were still around -- the hills closer to Sedona were still swathed in morning fog -- and now I was in the mood to paint a distant view that I wasn't in the mood for earlier. This one captures the atmosphere quite nicely.

I had dinner with the artists at Rene's at the Tlaquepaque, another event sponsor. Sorry, no photos of this one! But I do wish I had my camera with me, since a storm was rolling up as I went out. The colors were astounding -- rocks bright orange in the sunset against the bruised-purple clouds....