Utah: Snow Canyon

We managed to get from Sedona to Ivins, Utah, in advance of a predicted storm. While the wind whipped across southern Utah and the top of Arizona, we toured through some beautiful country: Glen Canyon and nearby Page, Kanab and the edge of Escalante National Monument, and finally right through the center of Zion National Park. The wet weather held off, but not long after we checked into our guest cottage, the rain rushed in on a gale. So, we hunkered down for the evening and studied our maps and guidebooks. (I say "we" because Trina helps immensely with this initial research.)

This part of Utah is new to us, and since I'm teaching a plein air workshop here in a little over a week, we've got research to do! Well, we've found many choices for painting spots. But how good are they? I'll have ten students, and that requires restrooms and plenty of parking. Also, I need to get a handle on "time of day" issues - how the shadows will work, and this requires me to do some advance painting. Morning dawned clear and cold, promising a good day to check out the closest and most obvious choice: Snow Canyon State Park. It's a rich location. One could easily bite off more geology than one can paint, so I decided to do just one morsel, an outcrop of Kayenta sandstone.

By the way, I am painting this week with some new alkyds. For the workshop, I'll switch back to traditional oils.

"Snow Canyon Sketch I" 5x7, oil