An opportunity has come up for me to go painting at the Grand Canyon for a couple of days. Lucky me! They've had a bit of snow up there the last couple of days, so we should have some good snow scenery. The weather forecast is for sun and relatively warm days (50 degrees F.). I'll be going with painter M.L. Coleman, who'll be driving the RV.
Having not painted there before, I'll take the approach I recommend to students who come to Sedona or Campobello Island for the first time. That is, I won't go with the goal of creating finished, gallery-quality pieces. Instead, I'll just explore the area with brush and camera. I'll do some small sketches such as 5x7s and 9x12s, and you can bet I'll try to max out the 8-gigabyte chip in my camera! All this is with the goal of getting familiar with the landscape for the next time I go. Of course, it's possible I'll get lucky and come up with a piece I can frame, but I probably stand a better shot at getting struck by a meteorite! Going with the goal of creating a finished piece would be frustrating, I'm sure.
Before I go, I leave you with this small pastel. My intent was to explore the form of the rock and the shadow colors - exactly the kind of thing I'll be doing at the Grand Canyon.
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