Grand Canyon Afternoon

C1502

“Afternoon Cloud Shadows”

(Grand Canyon, Arizona)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

3” x 4”

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And after finishing yesterday’s Oil Sketch it was time for lunch, hastily wolfed it down and began on the next one, above.  By now the light was a bit mellower, as a little afternoon haze softened the distance.  There was more Sun as the clouds had thinned and become those cumulous of oft remembered lazy days; but no lazing for me.  The slowly moving cloud shadows drifting across the sub-canyons & buttes within the greater chasm itself now became the reason to paint.  The colours of the landscape became a bit brighter than in the morning’s work, partly I think because of the more apparent contrast of the soft greens of the vegetation (grasses, sage?), with the earth reds of the Canyon walls. 

Again I chose a 3" x 4" panel, since Morning & Afternoon makes a natural pair; no matter that they might go to separate homes ... it's the painting exercise that matters.  I proceeded as with the earlier painting, with a brush drawing in Cobalt Blue, and again no imprimatura; the pigments used were the same as the morning, being Cobalt Blue, Venetian Red, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow (hue), Cadmium Red, and Titanium White.  The lovely quiet greens, were mixed from the blue and both yellows and the white; I’m always surprised with the various greens one can get with these subdued yellows. 

There is something singular about the perception of space and distance in the West.  I first began to feel this when first crossing the Cascade Range in Oregon from the Willamette Valley to the High Desert, and I realized that I could see where I’d been two hours before and sixty miles off in the distance.  Again and again his happens when travelling out here.  On Thanksgiving Day in 2012, and the day after, while heading east from Oregon to Oklahoma, this would happen again and again with even greater distances.  Here on the edge of the Grand Canyon one looks down thousands of feet and miles across to the opposite rim and, and as you come to terms with the actuality of those distances you realize how long it might take you to walk those distances.  I can well understand those first Spanish explorers with Coronado, who upon looking down from the South Rim for the first time, thought that the “little brook” a few hundreds of feet below could be easily stepped across; or so they thought until members of their party actually climbed down and confronted the Colorado River itself; then they had to climb back up!

Grand Canyon Morning

C1501

“Grand Canyon Morning”

(Morning Light)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

3” x 4”

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The Valley of the Gods in southern Utah was my first experience of the red rocks of the American Southwest, and I could have spent a couple weeks there painting the various formations from different directions and in different lights and weathers; of course that is what all Landscape Painting is about no matter where you are.  I’m going to jump ahead in the sequence of my travls from Oklahoma back to Oregon, and I hear you cry, “Why all the jumping around?!!”  It is simply that I am posting paintings that I have available to this blog, as many are in Galleries and thus not available … yet; there are always a lot of balls to juggle as a painter.

Eventually I reached the Grand Canyon for the first time in my life; what would it be like in reality; slightly bigger than Rocky Valley in North Cornwall, I expect.  I arrived at the Visitor Center Carpark on the south rim about mid-afternoon; it was quite crowded even though it was mid-October, but I expect that the re-opening after the Government shut-down might have had something to do with that; I’m glad it wasn’t mid-Summer.  I parked away from the Visitor Center, and as close to the rim as I could and followed likely looking suspects that seemed to be heading in the right direction.  Abruptly I came out of the pines and there it was beyond scores of tourists, both foreign & domestic.  I threaded my way through the throngs to the edge and as the astonishing view opened out, my first verbal reaction to those within earshot was, “Wot! Is that awl there is?  Oi  thot it wood be biggah!”  in my best North London accent (that should actually be Noaf Lahndon … apologies to my true North London friends and acquaintances).  I received the requisite laughs from those nearby who understood the language and blank stares from those who didn’t. 

But seriously, it is truly an astounding landscape, which keeps getting larger as one studies it for a time and begins to actually understand the scale involved.  Colours, cloud patterns and shadows, aerial perspective, all play a role in making this, what could be a painter’s paradise for a lifetime and there are those for who it is so.  I only had a few days.  The next day I managed three Oil sketches, partly by camping in the National Forest just outside the National Park boundary on a back road, and only a mile from the South Rim itself, and partly by staying in one spot the whole day.  The first sketch above depicts the morning Sunlight breaking through the early cloud cover and lighting up portions of the Canyon while more of it remains in early shadow.  Being contrary, I chose my smallest sketching panel of 3” x 4” thus setting myself a challenge to try and capture the immensity of the Canyon, in such a small format; perhaps I succeeded … or not … you decide.

I proceeded to draw directly in Cobalt Blue with the brush and no imprimatura; the pigments used are Cobalt Blue, Venetian Red, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow (hue), Cadmium Red, & Titanium White, all by Winsor & Newton.

In the Valley of the Gods #2

C1498

“Afternoon Light on the Keep”

(Valley of the Gods, Utah)

Oil Sketch on Centurion Oil Primed Linen Panel

5” x 7”

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In the afternoon, after painting Battleship Butte in the morning, I moved a few yards away turned 90 degrees towards the North and painted the afternoon light as it bounced and reflected between the rock formations.  I couldn’t find a name for this butte on my maps, so I’m calling it the Keep since it reminds me of many of those Norman castles I saw in England standing on their mottes, or mounds, especially from this direction.  After laying down an imprimatura of Venetian Red, I drew in the design with a brush using Cobalt Blue; I might have used Ultramarine to do this, but at this point I hadn’t decided that Ultramarine would be on the palette.  I laid in the sky with Cobalt Blue, mixing in a little Cerulean as I worked down towards the horizon; the pink in the lower reachs of the sky is the imprimatura affecting the thinly painted blues layered over it.  I am especially pleased with the complementary contrasts of the earth red pigments and the mixed greens of the Sage & Rabbit Brush.  For the greens I mostly mixed Cobalt and/or Cerulean Blues with Yellow Ochre; for some darker passages I added a touch of Ultramarine.  The red earth was a base of Venetian Red mixed with Naples Yellow (hue) or Yellow Ochre and Cremnitz White in the light values, and with Cobalt Blue in the darker passages; Cadmium Red Pale and Vermilion are also mixed in or applied in discreet touches where necessary to add a bit more heat and glow.

The imprimatura was Venetian Red; the palette consisted of Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red, Cobalt & Cerulean Blues [with Ultramarine playing a lesser role], Naples Yellow (hue), Cadmium Red Pale, Vermilion, and Cremnitz White; all by Winsor & Newton.  Naples Yellow (hue) is a convenience colour, which I find useful.  I also have Genuine Naples Yellow by Vasari, but it is a brighter pigment than the Naples Yellow (hue), and so I use that for different purposes.

In the Valley of the Gods

C1497

“Dawn at Battleship Butte”

(Valley of the Gods, Utah)

Oil Sketch on Centurion Oil Primed Linen Panel

5” x 7”

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On 14^th October, I heard that Utah had provided funds to open some of its National Parks, even though the majority in the country were still shut; it was time to head for the Red Rocks Country.  I passed by a tightly closed Mesa Verde (still in Colorado), but decided that I would return if I hadn’t travelled too far west by the time the Government shut-down ended.  And so on to Utah and spent the first night in Recapture Pocket.  There were a few distant lights, but only a few several miles away; there had been none from my first forest road campsite, nor in American Basin; I will return to Recapture Pocket in another post. 

Passing through Bluff, UT I proceeded down to Mexican Hat, topped up with petrol, and backtracked seven miles to the start of the Valley of the Gods loop.  Desert showers came past with the lowering Sun casting an eerie light, and about 10 miles into the Valley I chose my campsite.  A waxing gibbous Moon rose above the red cliffs, so different from the High Rockies only a couple days before; and no artificial lights to be seen!

There were rabbits here (surprising how they seem to be everywhere you go), and I saw tracks of smaller creatures in the sand, and a coyote scat near the rim of the small arroyo nearby.  The odd vulture wheeled overhead during the day, and Mr. Raven & his wife occasionally made a visit.  I was not sure what wildlife I might or might not see in this desert landscape.

Before dawn I arose and readied myself for the painting above; no sign of the showers that had greeted me the night before.  The faintest butte & chimney are in Monument Valley, in Arizona, scene of many a western film.  I wanted to capture the foreground still in the cool shadow with the butte bathed in the early morning light.  Ochres were the base, but this subject allowed Cadmium Red and Vermilion to make an entrance as well.  The greens or the most part were mixed greens, but I added a bit of Chromium Oxide Green to the palette as well. 

The imprimatura was Venetian Red, and the pigments used in the main painting were: Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red, Vermilion, Cadmium Red Pale, Naples Yellow (hue), Chromium Oxide Green, Cobalt & Cerulean Blues, Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.