Hello again painting fans.
This week I will starting a new painting. The photo that I will be using is seen directly below. I will be using my usual acrylics on an 10×10 gallery-wrapped canvas.
I took this picture a couple of weeks ago with my old iphone. We were fortunate to be able to stay right at the edge of the Grand Canyon for a couple of days. The Bright Angel Trail was only a short distance away from our room at the ancient El Tovar lodge. It was truly an unforgettable experience.
While there, I actually had an opportunity to paint a small canvas while sitting on the canyon’s edge. I had carried a brush, a few paints and the 4×5 inch canvas on our trip out from New York. I sat for about an hour and produced the image seen directly below.
Not my best work but it brings back that wonderful hour sitting in the sun. Unfortunately, with such a small canvas, I had to limit the elements of the painting. The result is a rather narrow view. That orange rock is a large peninsula of rock jutting out from the El Tovar. Past the rocky peninsula, the pinkish ledge behind can be seen and past that the far distance is seen in blue. It was done mostly on site with only a few minor changes made later on. Plein air painting is a difficult undertaking even under the best circumstances. The heat at the canyon made things even more difficult with paint drying time greatly reduced. I’ll try this again at some point.
Next week I will actually have some work done on the photo at the top. See you then.
Earlier paintings in this series can be seen here.
Paint me a picture of your thoughts.
I haven’t been to the Grand Canyon in over 20 years, but your painting brings back the feel of it for me.
You gotta take Finn when he’s a little older.
Whenever I’m somewhere with beautiful scenery, I make sure to take tons of photos. Back in the pre-digital age, that meant I went through many rolls of film. Was actually pretty decent with a 35mm camera at one point (and understood why it was worth the effort to learn to use the manual settings). Those were the days. One day, when money is a little less tight, I might spend a ton on a good state-of-the-art digital camera, and see what I can do with that (I’ve received some advice from a relative that I plan on taking faithfully). In the meantime, I am pretty amazed with what one can do these days with just a simple smart phone. 🙂
I would love to have a digital slr but realize that it’s just too much to carry around, especially while hiking. These days they all seem to have longer standard lenses, making for a rather large object. I likely wouldn’t get the use out of one for that reason. On our various hikes out west, I took most of my photos with my old Nikon point and shoot. So easy to carry and use.
boran2,
That`s all I ever use, my trusty little Nikon point & shoot.
That`s really all you need.
I can`t wait to follow this painting.
I`ve been out of touch for a bit but I`m striving to keep coming back more often.
Good to see you Knucklehead. Check out last week’s cycle to see how that service station came out.