Canyon de Chelly, Part 1.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018_Saturday, 17^th February; Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

C1662

“Winter Canyonlight”

(Canyon de Chelly, Arizona)

Oil Sketch on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this Your Own

Note that I have added a paragraph about seeing the Zodiacal Light for the first time towards the bottom of my last post about Chaco Canyon.

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Whereas Chaco Canyon, Hovenweep and even Mesa Verde are all about the architectural ruins, Canyon de Chelly is all about the landscape.  Oh there are Ancestral Puebloan ruins such as the White House, alright, but they are almost incidental to the grandeur of the landscape.  I was not prepared for this, even though I had seen photographs, and even paintings of these canyons, the reality was much more astonishing!  I came expecting more ruins, but what I got was magnificent canyonscapes!!  And the low slanting light of Winter brings out the colours of these thousand foot canyon walls to the fore.  Even though you are seeing these canyons from the many viewpoints along the rim, these views are stupendous.

Canyon del Muerto … the north rim of
Canyon de Chelly, National Monument.

Close up of Antelope House.

I believe that is Black Mesa on the horizon.

Mummy House Ruin, Canyon del Muerto.

A closer view.

I arrived at the campground late in the day, with rain in the offing, and just managed to settle in for the night before the wind and rain really came on.  The next day the rain was off to the east, but it looked like the overcast was going to make for a bland light in which to take in the Canyon; I was still thinking in terms of light and shadows on ruins.  As it turned out, with the cloud came the sunlight trying to break through, and this made for wonderful lighting effects all day long.  The Canyon is so large that there was always something to view and/or photograph without having to wait for clouds to move … I only had one twenty minute waiting period, for the Sun to appear, all day.

Living on the Edge.

Sadly, a guided jeep, or horseback tour along the Canyon floor, was beyond my budget ... perhaps some future visit.  It would be nice to see these canyon walls from below, like I got a taste of when hiking to the White House.  I would also have to choose a sunny day, for the right lighting … Autumn would be ideal, when the Cottonwoods were glowing golden.  Part 2 of Canyon de Chelly will continue after an interlude in the Ponderosas, in the next posting of the blog.

Near Spider Rock.

Spider Rock ... the farthest point
on the south rim of Canyon de Chelly.

The White House is in the alcove
in the center of the photo.

A closer view of the White House
from the same vantage point.

The Pigments used in the painting:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red & Rublev Ercolano Red;

Drawing: W&N Ultramarine Deep Blue & Rublev Purple Ochre;

Pigments: W&N: Cerulean, Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmium Orange;

Blockx: Ivory Black;

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Orange Molybdate & Lead White #2.

Chaco Canyon, Part 2.

Sunday, February 4, 2018_Friday, 9^th February; Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

C1661

“The Great Kiva of Chetro Ketl”

(Chaco Canyon, New Mexico)

Oil Study on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this Your Own

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

This is an Oil Study not only in light and shade, but also between the complementary colours of yellow and violet, a combination I rarely use.  In this case the base pigments used are yellow and purple ochers.  I was struck by the massive structure of the Great Kiva at Chetro Ketl, silhouetted dark against the light from this angle, and with the yellow grass silhouetted against that dark mass.  The obvious choice for me was to use earth colours for this study, partly because it seemed apt to use natural materials, much as the builders of this place, and also because I love the earth pigments.  It is such a surprise sometimes to see what you can do with what are essentially coloured muds.

The Pigments used in the painting:

Imprimatura: Rublev Ercolano Red;

Drawing: W&N Ultramarine Deep;

Pigments: W&N Cerulean, Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues;

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Orange Molybdate & Lead White #2.

The Great Kiva of Casa Rinconada.

The ruins of Kin Kletso from the ckiffs.

Another view.

These are casts of Burrowing Shrimp
from the Cretaceous Period, I believe.

Fossil Clams, anyone?  Get ‘em while their fresh!

I stayed in the National Monument Campground here, and my neighbor, Pat from eastern New Mexico, a couple of empty campsites away, had a teardrop trailer, so I got to have a good look at these nifty little camping abodes on wheels.  They probably are not for me, as at present I can get to many places, that I couldn’t safely haul one of these.  Also I would get even worse mileage than I already do with my gas-guzzler.  It was nice to see one close to, however. Pat was good company, and it was nice to be a bit social for a change.  Speaking of which, there were also several very social birds around the campground, which I identified as Canyon Towhees.  They act similarly to the Rufous-sided Towhees I am used to in Oregon, in that they spend their days, scrabbling under the Black-brush, much as the Oregon birds do in their forests.  I believe that under normal circumstances, they would be as secretive as their cousins in Oregon, but they have been acclimatized to campground life, so much so that they would pop into Pat’s teardrop, if he left the door open, as one did my SUV, when I left the door ajar.  Perhaps these vehicles were considered as just some sort of metallic shrubbery to them.  I found them highly amusing.

The Jackson Stairway. 
This was one of the Chacoan stairways to the clifftops.

Closer view.

Chetro Ketl.

The footpath down off the clifftops
goes down the trough the dark slot,
center left … a desperate descent!

A note about the night sky here … brilliant stars in very dark skies.  I also scored a first here … I saw the zodiacal light two nights running.  I have been aware of it since I first became interested in Astronomy at age 12, but never spotted it early on, and so stopped looking for it.  It is like the soft glow in the west long after sunset, but instead of being along the horizon, it is more parabolic in shape extending up from the horizon, along the plane of the ecliptic.  I was looking at the night sky, in the cold, before turning in, when I saw its glow, and realized it was too late in the evening for the last remnants of sunset, and it was not along the horizon.  I wonder if I’ve seen it before and it’s not registered with me … I kind of doubt it.  If memory serves me, I believe I recollect that it is the faint glow of the sunlight reflecting off dust particles way out along the ecliptic.  Always interesting to see new things.

Evening glow on Fajada Butte.

Looking back towards Chaco Canyon,
upon the road south;
Fajada Butte can be seen center right.

Chaco Canyon, Part 1.

Sunday, February 4, 2018_Friday, 9^th February; Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

C1660

“Autumn Stormlight”

(Pueblo Arroyo, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Panel

5” x 7”

Sold

I meant to get this posted on the 16th, but it was President's Day, and the library was closed, and I also dropped over the Mogollon Rim, to lower ground to avoid a blizzard ... in Arizona of all places!

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Chaco Canyon is a bit overwhelming.  Just the number and size of the ruins within the canyon and surrounding area makes it so.  This is not surprising when one considers that this was the center of the Ancestral Puebloan world.  Hovenweep was an outlier of this culture, as were the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde, Lowry Ruin … I could go on.  In the literature, these people are also known as the Anasazi, which term has fallen out of favor, as it was a name given to them by their enemies, and which in fact means ‘enemy.’ 

Pueblo Arroyo with South Gap beyond.

Looking towards Pueblo Bonito from Chetro Ketl.

Another Kiva at Chetro Ketl.

Looking towards Fajada Butte.

These structures were built between 850-1200 AD, and were not primarily dwelling places, but part of a ritual and sacred landscape.  If they had been primarily used for dwellings, there would have been room for a large population, of tens of thousands, but it is thought that the population of the greater Canyon area, was at the most, two thousand people, some as caretakers of the large edifices, and the rest in the small villages that dot the canyon floor, as small mounds of rubble these days.  These latter would have been farming and perhaps supplying the caretakers.

Pueblo Bonito from the Clifftop.

Pueblo Bonito.

A Keyhole Kiva, Pueblo Bonito.

This corner door/window
may have had Astronomical significance.

Doorways within doorways.

Thousand year old ceiling.

Periodically, perhaps annually, thousands of people from throughout the Chacoan world would gather here and occupy much of the available rooms within these structures.  These gatherings were part religious festival, part trade fair and part social intercourse.  Many of today’s tribes trace their ancestral lineage to peoples who gathered here; kind of like a Chacoan World’s Fair, with different local customs and languages.  I suggest you Google up more info, at your leisure.  

Towards South Gap.

T-shaped doorway:
there may have been ritual significance.

As I said at the beginning, Chaco Canyon is a bit overwhelming, and this also applies when considering how to tackle this place in paint.  In one of the novels, of Michael & Katherine Gear, set in this Chacoan world, one of their characters says that the canyon landscape is grey.  I could see that; the canyon walls are made up of light yellow and red ochers, but with nowhere near the depth of colour that I got used to up in Utah’s canyon country.  The vegetation is also very greenish grey, so much of it being Black-brush, especially at this time of the year.  The various Great-houses also blend into the cliffs, when seen from any distance, their straight walls, entrances and windows being the only man-made give away.  So for me, I see that treating these ruins as part of the canyon landscape, such as in the painting at the top, or as an abstract compositions of light and shade of parts of the architecture, similar-ish to the Hovenweep painting in my last posting.  Colour does appear with the early morning or late afternoon light, glowing on the cliffs, and so when I saw the threatening skies, on one of my days in the Canyon, I decided that was the way to go.  I also noticed all the Winter Cottonwood trees in the wash, and gave their barren branches, leaves of Autumn gold, thus making it an autumnal scene, even though I am here in February.  Hey! I’m an Artist, not a photographer, so I can do this.  Well, there you are, then.

The Pigments used in the painting:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red & Rublev Ercolano Red;

Drawing: W&N Ultramarine Deep & Rublev Cyprus Raw Umber Deep;

Pigments: W&N Cerulean, Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Venetian Red;

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Orange Molybdate & Lead White #2.

Hovenweep.

Tuesday, 30^th January_Friday, February 2, 2018; Hovenweep, Utah/Colorado.

C1659

“Afternoon … Hovenweep Castle”

(Hovenweep, Utah)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this Your Own

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

Besides the main unit of Hovenweep in Utah, the other units are to be found a few miles away into Colorado.  Two of these are down the first dirt track on your right after crossing the State line.  I went to the farthest one first, the Holly Unit, after my second circular walk at the main unit.  It has some interesting remains, including a tower on a boulder within the canyon, and one set on a rock which had tilted away from its original position, spilling most of it into the canyon, but the lower part of one of the walls still stands at an angle, testifying to the quality of its construction.  There are also petroglyphs a bit further on.

The leaning wall at Holly Ruin.

Note how the whole bolder top is filled by this tower.

Thousand year old beams.

Holly Ruin from the east.

There was no one about, so back at my car I had lunch, then stripped to the waist in the 50°F weather, and gave myself a haircut, beard trim, and a dry shave (ouch!), as I had no hot water in my thermos.  After this I still had time to stop at the other unit on the way back out to the blacktop.  This unit consists of the Horseshoe Tower and House, and farther on in the next canyon, the Hackberry House, so named for the several hackberry trees thereabouts.  At this latter there are the remains of a dam on the clifftop, hard by the ruin, which guided rainwater into the spring below the cliff.  I camped for the second night a few miles farther on and about a mile left down a dirt track.  Here I had caught a glimpse of the Super Blue-blood  eclipse of the Moon, that morning, before the cloud obscured it!

Horseshoe Tower.

Hackberry Ruin
with the remnants of the clifftop dam.

The most delightful setting of all these units of Hovenweep is that of Cutthroat Castle.  I must point out here that none of these buildings could really be thought of as a castle, nor to our knowledge did they fulfill the raison d’etre for one in the European sense.  But I have digressed.  The setting for this village is lovely, set into an intimate canyon, and surrounded on all sides by pinyon pines and junipers with a few Cottonwoods on the valley floor.  I expect that it was not like this when this village was thriving, but more cleared for the growing of their corn, beans and squash.  But in the present day it is quite wonderful.

Cutthroat Castle.

Note the wooded setting of Cutthroat Castle.

At the beginning of the mile long trail I came upon a gauze bag with a gold necklace with a pendant, tied with a lilac coloured ribbon.  I could see a price tag of $49.50 within; I expect it was gold plated at that price.  At first I thought someone had lost it, but then I spotted that it was within a circle of salt (I tasted it).  Then it became obvious that it was an intentional offering.  I have a pouch of good Danish tobacco, that I purchased in Iceland on my 16 hour layover there last February, so I took a good pipefull of that and left it next to the bag with the gold necklace.  I have never smoked per se, but occasionally I have smoked a pipe of good tobacco, while camping.  When I say occasional, I mean just that; I believe the last pipefull was in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota in 1993, or possibly it was 2000.  So far on this journey I have not had a campfire smoke, but I have left a few offerings here and there, out of respect for those who have come before.  I do not believe in spirits, but I do like the thought of the continuity of life, and acknowledging the past, even while we look forward to what is to come.

The Offering ...

... and the Ring of Salt.

From here I visited the Lowry ruin, easily accessible from Cortez, CO, twenty miles away, and then down to the Sand Canyon Pueblo, within the Canyons of the Ancients.  Both of these are outliers of the Chaco Canyon culture, down in New Mexico.  I spent the night on a ridge west of the Pueblo by a few miles, and next morning resupplied in Cortez, and stopped by the library to set up the last few postings, and then on to Chaco Canyon, where I am, in fact, writing this post.

Lowry Ruin.

In the Kiva.

The Pigments used in the painting:

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red & Rublev Ercolano Red;

Drawing: As Above;

Pigments: W&N Cerulean, Cobalt and Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Venetian Red;

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Orange Molybdate & Lead White #2.