New Paintings of Canyon de Chelly

Canyon Patterns 20x20 o/p

Tsegi Farm 18x18 o/p

These are two new paintings I've done of Canyon de Chelly. I've posted a couple of other paintings of this canyon (The Fall of Summer and Home of Spider Woman) but haven't commented much about it. Canyon de Chelly National Monument is located within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona. These amazing canyons were carved by streams that flow from the mountains east of the monument. "de Chelly" is a Spanish corruption of the Navajo word Tséyiʼ or Tsegi, which means "inside the rock" (tsé "rock" + -yiʼ "inside of, within"). The Spanish pronunciation of "de Chelly" was adapted into English and is now pronounced "deshay".

Aside from the obvious beauty of the canyon, one of the things that interests me about this area is the farming by the Navajo that is still taking place there. The geometric patterns created by these farms lie in conrtrast to the organic nature of the canyon walls and meandering streams. Other elements such as ruins, hogans (a circular style home built by the Navajo) , corrals and dirt roads also show up in the canyon. The possibilties for compositions are endless!

Upcoming Sedona Arts Festival and New Paintings

I've been doing a lot of painting for the upcoming Sedona Arts Festival this Oct. 4th & 5th. This is their 18th annual show and it promises to be a great event.

Canyon Poetry 30x30 o/p

Home of Spider Woman 20x24 o/p

These works, plus many others, will be in the show. I hope to see you there!

New Gallery News

Some exciting news - As of today I will be represented by the Grayleaf Galleria here in Prescott.

From their website, "Grayleaf Galleria is Prescott's newest contemporary and southwest art gallery. Find inspiring works of more than 20 artists, highlighted in a captivating setting." The gallery space is terrific and the building is located on a pleasant spot overlooking Granite Creek one block west of Prescott's historic downtown square. The owners have some good ideas and I like the idea of being in a new gallery (as a bonus the excellent Wild Iris coffee shop is right next door). Hope you can come by check out the art!

St. George and Maynard Dixon Country Art Exhibits

It's been a very busy month that included a trip through southwest Utah and a rock climbing trip to the Sierra Mts in California. The trip to Utah was to get to St. George and participate in the St. George Museum's Zion: A Century of Sanctuary exhibit (see post from March 17). The drive from Prescott took me through Zion NP where I camped one night and spent a couple of days plein air painting, hiking and taking photos. From there I headed west to St. George.

The St. George Museum did an excellent job putting together the exhibit and the well attended opening night (including beautiful piano music provided by Prescott's own Christina Robertson, who happens to be my daughter Sarah's piano teacher. So at least I knew one person there!). The museum itself is a great place for art and there was plenty there to see. Its two stories were filled with a variety of works depicting Zion NP. The first floor held the contemporary art selected for the show including my piece Far Summits seen at the bottom right in the photo here.

The second story had a collection of historic art from the likes of Maynard Dixon, LeConte Stewart and some very large works by Howard Russell Butler.

The next morning I drove 15 minutes out of the city to Snow Canyon State Park to paint before continuing on back east through Zion for the second half of the trip.
After leaving the east entrance of Zion behind me, I arrived at Mt. Carmel Jct. for the Maynard Dixon Country exhibit put on by the Bingham Gallery. The gallery lies adjacent to the historic Maynard Dixon home and studio. The show includes some of the best western landscape artists working today and it didn't disappoint. I missed the opening night because it was the same as the Zion show, but the evening I arrived they had a dinner planned for patrons and artists. Some of the artists I met at the Phippen Show in May were showing there, so I didn't feel too much like a party crasher. Pastel artsit D. LaRue Mahlke was kind enough to show me around and the next day she also showed me a wonderful canyon near the gallery where many artists go to paint. Southern Utah is an achingly beautiful place. Great scenery, art, food, company and music (incredible jazz provided by the owners daughter, Angela Bingham). All there in tiny Mt. Carmel Jct! The next day I drove back through Page, AZ and took the time to visit Horseshoe Bend and Wupatki National Monument.

I'll save the Sierra climbing trip for another post...

In the photo of me climbing I am about I'm midway up the face of the tallest peak in the bottom landscape photo.