Petrified Forest, Sept 29, 2010
I painted at Tawa Point, near the apartment this morning, again rising at 5:30 to catch the early sun and avoid the later heat. Jer has access to a good internet connection, so he returned to the Park compound to work while I painted.
From Tawa Point, across a deep ravine, the historic Painted Desert Inn is visible. I painted it embedded in the desert, with a distant mountain range to offset it. The painting felt fine but banal. Paintings of adobe buildings abound, and even the landscape didn’t quite save this one from conventionality. But it was fun, and the light was right, neither washing out nor glaring.
The Painted Desert In from Tawa Point, 12 x 12″, oil on masonite, 2010
Jer was to return at 10:30, but it was only 8:30 when I finished (I was using a smaller board, 12 x 12 rather than 12 x 16″), so I decided to impress my impressions of the landscape at Tawa Point. I found a way to focus the scene, or at least make a triangular sense of the landscape, using the foreground foliage and the background reds of the Chinle Formation in a couple of triangular shapes. I wanted to reinforce the sense of the vertical foliage, very close to my painting spot, against the horizontals of the distant eroded landscape.
Landscape from Tawa Point, 12 x 12″, oil on masonite, 2010
Again I was using a slightly smaller board and so also slightly less detail, so I finished by 9:55.
At that point, I was getting hot and thirsty and tired and felt like playing rather than being serious. So I did a quick and dirty background with heavy mineral spirited color (it dries quickly in the desert) and on top of that painted the silver sage branches, dead and without foliage, that adorned the desert beside me. Jer arrived just at 10:30 when I was ready to quit.
Sage branches, Tawa Point, 12 x 16″, oil on masonite, 2010
Today’s profound observation: about 80% of tourists spend about the same amount of time looking at million year old landscapes as they do looking at 100-year-old art in museums — i.e. — 30 seconds. A few others take the short hikes when they are available; a few others take serious photographs, using good cameras and tripods and working at getting the precise location and viewpoint for optimal results. And some can be seen looking at research materials and speaking of the ages of the earth in front of them or the birds and foliage they see with knowledge and insight. And then there are the charming ones who photograph the artist at work, preferably from her best side — the back. Ah humanity.
We have been invited to have dinner with Sherry, a volunteer whom we have run into a number of times since coming to the Park. She lives in a tiny trailer, just down the road from us. Having done 3 paintings today, I’m taking the rest of the day off. And as you may have noticed, we’ve found a decent internet connection, so this may be a more regular posting:-)
Cheers, from our favorite internet spot in the Petrified Forest National Park–June
juneunderwood.com 
4 responses to “Petrified Forest Residency, Day 4, September 29, 2010”
June, the paintings you’ve created since your arrival all speak to me of something that I continually seek, sense of place. They all seem to only have been possible to make in that place, and each one adds another layer to the unique definition you’re capturing.
While I quite like them individually, I love them as a series.
Wow, that certainly sounds challenging, all those gorgeous colors constantly changing. I’m enjoying your paintings of the hoodoos, and I like your Painted Desert Inn, not banal at all, the sweep of the cliff against the sweep of the mountains gives it structure and motion. I’m waxing nostalgic about the crunch of desert soil under hiking boots.
Claude Monet said, “I am following Nature without being able to grasp her.” You seem to be quite successful in that endeavor. Desert landscapes seem to well suit your artistic eye and painting style.
This is some gorgeous work! I like all three pieces but I think my favorite is the middle one from Tawa Point. I can blur my eyes and almost see the actual images. Your colors are striking, I can only imagine the real thing.
Although if I started working at 5:30, I’d need a serious nap each day . . . your discipline is impressive.
Thanks, guys, you give me hope.
Tani, rest assured that when after rising at dawn and painting for five hours, I come home, have my coffee and oatmeal, and go directly to bed. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just get some more sleep. Then I get up and go paint some more. Except on this day, when I took two naps and went to dinner with friends, instead. But with three early paintings done, I figured I could take the afternoon off — and nap
But grasping this landscape is one of the more difficult tasks I’ve assigned myself. So I really appreciate each of your appreciations:-)