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| "Evening Cliffs" 9x12 Oil - Available |
In my last post, I whined about the mud and snow here in northern New Mexico. Well, to take a little break from it all, Trina, Raku and I headed over to Sedona, Arizona, for a few days of R&R. Hiking, mostly. Sedona is a little lower elevation (5000 feet or less), compared to our 7000 feet, and drier, so any snow there long ago sublimated into another dimension. It was good to get out on the trails. Most of my trips to Sedona these days involve teaching a workshop, so I don't get to hike as much as I'd like.
Although Sedona's streets and sidewalks are more crowded than ever these days, thanks to an over-muscled Chamber of Commerce and city leadership, the trails are still quiet. Especially if you get out before the cyclists start touring. If we finish a hike before noon, we rarely encounter any. And if we make sure to hike into the designated wilderness areas, we never see any at all—they're not allowed. Although some of the cyclists respect the “rules of the road,” announcing themselves and giving way to hikers, many do not. We've had some close moments, especially where on a narrow trail the choice was to either get run down by a herd of cyclists or dive into an acre of prickly pears. Multi-use trails, in my mind, are a poor compromise. My advice—hike early or head for the wilderness.
But it wasn't a trip without a little painting. My Sedona painting friend, M.L. Coleman, invited me to go painting one afternoon. Joining us would be one of his other friends, Larry Pirnie. I'd never met Larry before, but he's an artist well-known for paintings of cowboys and other Western themes. He's been an artist all his life, and it was Norman Rockwell who advised him to attend the Pratt Institute. “But my recommendation won't mean anything,” Rockwell told him. “They think I'm just an illustrator.” From Montana, he's come down every year to Sedona to paint for a spell. This year he wanted to focus more on the natural landscape.
We headed out to the eastern side of town, over by Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock. There's not much to say about the afternoon except that the weather was warm, the company pleasant, and the painting superb. Oh, and no mud. Life doesn't get any better.
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| Me, M.L. Coleman and Larry Pirnie. And Raku. That's Larry's painting on the easel. |
