Sedona 07 - Day 3

After coffee and banana bread provided by my thoughtful hosts -- some lucky artists get more than just a bed! -- I drove out at dawn toward Oak Creek to the Little Horse Trail for a hike. This trail winds through a small canyon and then up into the hills where you have views of Cathedral Rock, the Courthouse, Bell Rock and the dramatic Chapel of the Holy Cross. After my hike, I drove over to the day's preplanned painting spot, the Sedona Heritage Museum.

The Festival organizers, in an effort to make the painters accessible to the public, have asked the painters to work in certain spots during the week. Not only will this help educate the public about plein air painting, it will also help sales. (We have a Showcase Gallery currently running with both studio and older plein air work; at the week's end, for art made during the week, we'll have the Patron's Gala and the Public Sale.) The Sedona Heritage Museum was one such location, and the volunteers who run it made a nice lunch to lure the artists in.

Although I've been to Sedona several times, both as a painter and as a "civilian," I've not been to the Museum before. I was impressed by the grounds. The Museum is the old Jordan farm, complete with a farmhouse and apple barn, both built out of the local red rock, plus antique farm machinery, and of course, great views. It was good enough to spend the whole day there.

Once again, the wind was an issue. For my morning painting, I really liked the house's sunlit porch, but to get the view I wanted, I had to paint in probably the windiest spot! Other painters enjoyed watching me paint with one hand and steady my tripod with the other. (I offered to pay $5 to have someone hold my umbrella for me, but I didn't get any takers.) Here's my 9x12 oil of the porch. By the way, all of these photos are taken with the painting still wet, so it's hard to avoid glare.
After lunch, I found a shaded and wind-free spot beside the apple barn with a view of the house and distant Mitten Ridge. More onlookers came by than in my morning session. I don't have a problem with this, since I give demonstrations regularly in my workshops. I like sharing what I've learned over the years about painting. Sometimes I think that talking while I paint, so long as the talk is about the process, actually helps me make a better painting. Here is the afternoon 9x12:

I was pretty beat by the time I finished this one. I packed up and headed home, where I had dinner with my hosts. (Some of us not only get a bed plus breakfast, but dinner, too!)

Wednesday will be a day in Jerome, 20 miles south of Sedona. Last year, several painters went to Jerome and returned with some good paintings of that historic mining town. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can catch!