Petrified Forest Residency, Day 10, Oct. 5, 2010

After all that fussing about climbing down the wilderness trail, we woke up to rain. Not much, but a very cloudy sky and big fat drops. No wilderness trail hiking/painting for this cautious (or lazy) couple. We rescued paintings from the back patio, where we thought they were safe under shelter (not quite), did lots of computer catch-ups, and went a-touristing. We checked out several viewpoints we hadn’t seen before and took the “Triassic” tour at the south visitor’s center. We also bought a book or two, but we aren’t admitting that. We’ve already bought too many books from the two Visitors’ Centers.

Finally, at 2:30 it couldn’t be put off any longer. The wind was howling but the sky had sort of cleared and I needed to paint a biggish vertical. I had found my spot the day before, and it was on the way north to home. So Jer dropped me off and I painted, at a pull-in viewpoint called The Tepees.

The Tepees are  large cones of eroded Triassic clays and sandstones. They are vaguely shaped like classic tepees, and have fine colorful lines of different soils that run through them. The biggest one is luckily near the viewpoint. Jer  went home to lunch. I painted until 5:30.

The Tepees (Triassic age) and “The Triassic Tepee.”

I read somewhere that David Hockney (??) took photos like this after he finished a painting. I liked this one. The  masonite on which I painted is long and narrow, so only a bit of the fat Tepee cone would fit on it.  And of course, the real sky was much too bright for my camera to deal with, even though fifteen minutes later, when Jer showed up, it looked like quite wild and stormy.

The stretch of road along which I was painting was fairly deserted — this isn’t one of the favorite viewing spots for tourists. So about ten different sets of folks offered to take me “home.” One pair didn’t stay to look at the view — just pulled up alongside me and asked if I had plenty of water.

At some point, I realized that, given the wide vista and deserted nature of the spot, without a vehicle in sight, I must have been something of a strange vision — just me and the Tepees in a wide spot in the road. I was touched by the concern of those who inquired. I didn’t feel the least bit threatened by the seeming isolation — when no vehicles were around, it was gorgeously quiet except for a few birds and the wind.

Oh yes, the wind. It was quite a feat of engineering to get set up in the blowing gale, and a bigger feat to get the edge of my board and not its surface directly in the path of the wind. But, never fear, Fearless Underwood did not have a painting sail off into the forbidden desert soil; not even a bit of paper towel escaped, although it tried mightily. It helped that I set up in the corner of a low concrete wall, placing the most wind-happy items, like the big plastic box that I carry paintings in, in the corner with my foot planted against it. I felt thoroughly happy with my afternoon’s endeavors, and I now have one of two essential vertical 12 x 24″ paintings for my putative presentation.

A Triassic TePee, 12 x 24″, oil on masonite, 2010

Tomorrow (and Thursday and Friday) I’m scheduled to “demonstrate” painting at the Painted Desert Inn from 1–4. This mostly means chatting up the tourists while I play with color. I’ll be either inside or in a nice enclosed outside porch-like place.  I can take my finished pieces to the PDI and exhibit them. I am tempted to put “exhibit” in quote marks in that last sentence because I think they will mostly be leaning against the wall of the upstairs patio. Or perhaps laid out on the floor there. We’ll see. This is definitely a casual arrangement.

However, I don’t think I should attempt to climb down the wilderness trail and do another vertical painting tomorrow. maybe I’ll figure out a way to do one of the small ones that I still need. The Wilderness Trail will have to wait. –June