Fin.

(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.)

Monday, 30^th October_06^th December, 2017; Arches N.P., Utah.

C1646

“Fin”

(Arches National Park, Utah)

Oil on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this your Own

I was hiking the 7.2 mile long Dark Angel Primitive Trail, when I climbed onto the back of this sandstone Orca; or perhaps it was a Dolphin.  Arches National Park is full of these fins.  That is what makes this park what it is, for these are where the arches themselves are formed … all 2000 of them, by all accounts.

Dark Angel … the pillar of rock on the skyline.

Landscape Arch with Partition Arch on the upper right.

Partition Arch; this and Landscape Arch
are in the same fin.

Back in the Paleozoic times this area was a shallow sea almost surrounded by land, and went through many evaporation cycles building up layers of salt thousands of feet deep.  These were later covered by layers of sediments, and dunes turning to sandstones.  Salt is ductile at low temperatures, and as the layers of rock above exerted pressure, the salt began to migrate upwards forming salt walls 2000 feet thick in places.  As these walls approached the surface, they were leached out which caused the above layers to collapse into the spaces previously occupied by the salt walls.  Salt Valley, where I am currently encamped outside Arches National Park, is one of these collapsed areas.  As the collapse took place the layers of sandstone on the periphery were bent over and the rocks split into series of parallel fractures, which over the eons have been eroded into the ‘fins’ seen today.  And that is the geology of Arches in a nutshell.  There is more of course, and a geologist will no doubt explain it better, and no doubt quibble with my layman’s account, but hey!  I’m an Artist.

Fins on the homeward stretch of the Primitive Trail;
Book Cliffs, beyond I-70 are in the far distance.

East out of Arches NP.

Primitive Trail view of Landscape Arch.

‘Finscape’ near Tower Arch.

Delicate Arch, which I posted my painting of last time, is both an arch and the last remnants of a fin, which in my book makes it all the more interesting.  I did go on the Delicate Arch Trail again on Saturday the 2^nd, and observed the Moonrise, as I intimated I would.  At this time of the year it rises much further north so there is not a chance of getting it in the same photo with the arch from the usual viewpoints, but it was still a fine view.  I made it back down the trail completely by Moonlight, even though I remembered to bring my headlamp this time … I wanted to see if I could do it … and so I did.

Two ‘pothole’ arches across the canyon from Delicate Arch …
they are within the niches in the canyon all.

At the rising of the Moon.

And not forgetting the Tech-heads ... the Pigments used in the painting were,

Imprimatura & Drawing: Rublev Ercolano Red;

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

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Lead White #1.

Arches National Park.

(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.)

Monday, 30^th October_30^th November, 2017; Arches N.P., Utah.

C1645

“Late Afternoon at Delicate Arch”

(Arches National Park, Utah)

Oil on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this your Own

Of course when I trekked in to Moab the day after Thanksgiving to make this posting, I found the library closed for the whole weekend, unlike my local Oregon library which would have been open.  And so almost a week later I finally have a chance to do so.  After barreling past the entrance to Arches National Park over several days, and gazing up in awe at the façade of red rock cliffs up which the entrance road switchbacks high above the Moab Valley, I finally made my entry into the park, past the formation known as the Three Penguins, and up onto the rising plateau beyond.  I am not going to relate a blow by blow or sequential account of my extended time here at Arches, as there is too much to relate in that format.  I will say that I have been here so much longer than I expected, but it has been a most informative time as I have learned about and familiarized myself with this amazing geology hereabouts.  I am hoping that what I have been learning about the geology here will help those endeavors as I proceed through the red rock country of the Four Corners area.

I have walked almost all the major footpaths in the Park, even those that I originally thought I would do only sections of, and have done several more than once.  I haven’t been doing this the entire time I’ve been here, as there have been necessary maintenance and recovery days spent in camp on the Willow Springs Road, and outside the Park boundary near Klondike Bluffs.

Delicate Arch … to get down past the arch, to where the little people are,
is much steeper than it looks from this angle … it put me off.

Yep… steeper than you think, but the rock is grippy,
although I understand not o much in wet weather.

The hike to the viewpoint for my painting of Delicate Arch was a bit strenuous, as it is uphill most of the way.  It was a very windy day, and there were real fears of being blown off a ledge, but there were many others making the trek, so I pressed boldly onwards.  It was the evening of the last full Moon, and on a Friday night, when the Park is open 24/7 … there is road resurfacing going on so Arches as been closed after 7 PM except for Fridays and Saturdays … thus the crowds.  The Sunset was not the most spectacular, but since I was there I remained to see what it would do, but I had neglected to bring my headlamp, so did not await the rising of the Moon; perhaps the one in a couple of days.  There was enough afterglow, as well as moonlight, that I made it down the hill with no problems, but it might have been problematic if I had left it later.  The mountains in the distance in my painting are the La Sal Mountains.

Delicate Arch with the La Sals in the distance.

The Organ from Park Avenue.

Earlier in the day I had hiked up Park Avenue from the bottom end, and that direction is highly recommended as once you turn around to head back to your car, it is downhill all the way.  Park Avenue is the first major point of interest and footpath after you enter the Park, and is a canyon between tall walls of Entrada Sandstone upon a base of Dewey Bridge formation and capped in spots with lighter Moab formation sandstone; the canyon is floored with Navajo sandstone, which was laid down as sand dunes in times past.  Those interested in these rocks will no doubt go on line and find out more … I have a book of Utah geology.  Park Avenue is named for the vague resemblance to the artificial canyon of the same name in New York City.  I prefer this one, with its tall walls of red rock, balanced rocks and interesting side canyons.  There will be more on Arches next time.

The Navajo Sandstone forms the pavement here in Park Avenue, and the Entrada Sandstone form the steep walls on the upper left; below the Entrada, slanting down behind the tree top, is the rounded Dewey Bridge Formation, and the cap-rock on the Tower of Babel (right of center in the distance) is made up of the Moab Formation.

In Park Avenue.

A side canyon of Park Avenue.

A nook in Park Avenue.

The Pigments used in the painting were,

Imprimatura & Drawing: Rublev Ercolano Red;

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

Rublev: Ercolano Red, Purple Ochre, Lead White #1.