Plein Air Tuesday - 4/18/23 -- End Of Verde Valley School Road - Day 2

We're to going to return to the End of Verde Valley School Rd just so we can give it yet another try.  It seems no matter how many times we go there, it's always good to go back.  So we'll be meeting at 8:30 am on 4/18/23.   You read that correctly -- 8:30 -- since we're now at the point where it is getting a lot hotter, it was decided it'd be best to move up the start time.

Directions are on the right.

This past week the location brought with it a lot of surprised faces.  You can actually hear the water rushing as you're walking down the road from the parking lot.  I arrived early and walked around for a bit and took this video that shows something I've never seen before on Oak Creek.

Oak Creek Rapids - Oh My!!

The first two people that I saw when I did get there at 9:00 though were Christine, who already was busy setting up and Suzette who had also just arrived and they were chatting.

Suzette in the pink hat and Christine in yellow

I went over to join them and as we were talking I was looking around and noticed this by Suzette's feet.

 

Yup, that's a shell -- right there sitting on the red rock.  Can't say that I ever saw one there before.   But, then later on as discussions were going on I did hear someone say that they'd been there around 7 am one morning and saw the herons flying about.  I suppose it's likely they deposited it there after they were finished eating.  

Ok, back to people, I am a bit out of sequence here as I actually saw Christine & Suzette BEFORE taking that video above.  When I had just finished taking that video though, Nancy came down that way to join me in scouting about for a spot.

Nancy

Here's a photo of the building that's across the creek.  Ok, you do have to look through the trees, shrubs, etc to see it.  Also, I'm not really sure what it is, interesting though.  Also, as I mentioned, no one will be crossing the creek any time soon.

This is where people would usually cross.

Suzette opted for a Spot on the rocks near Christine.

At this point more people started showing up:

Lisa, Nori, Betty (hiding behind Lisa) & Sandy

And, all of a sudden we had a lot of people gathering in one location

But that wasn't everyone yet, because we've got little miss Time Stamp worthy Nita who came along -- Time Stamp 9:53:48 -- hey, not too bad Nita, less than a 1/2 hour late.

Time Stamp Nita

But wait, there's more -- wow, someone was later than Nita, but only by 1 minute.  It's Robin & Hamilton

Robin and Hamilton's Stuff -- I think he's still in the car.

I forgot to take a photo of Hamilton. For those of you who don't know who he is, you'll see him in the group photo.  He'll be the one all in white except for the black button nose and black eyes.

Nori opted for a spot looking back at everyone who were actually facing her.  How nice for everyone to provide people for their paintings.

Nori

There was also another person whose photo I didn't take.  Sorry about this, but you will see her in the group shot.  Her name is Mary and she's new -- so everyone remember to say hi to Mary!!  She's a friend of Nori and discovered the challenge of painting plein air with acrylics.  Hopefully, she'll keep coming back!

And, here's what Nori was looking at

People in their Spots -- If you look way in the back, you can even see Nita in her spot and I was next to her (not in the pic though as I'm taking it)

And, another view of the Group.  At this point it was close to wrap up time and as you can see, some visiting was going on and if you look close you can even see Nita way in the background.  That red on the left is Hamilton's stuff.

Oh wait - here's a better one of Nita in her spot.

Nita

Point of note:  When she sat down there she pulled out her breakfast and promptly placed it down on the red rocks.  I pointed out to her that there were ants about - oh dear!! She changed her mind about that real quick and fortunately another stool was provided for her use.

So we got together and fortunately our usual shelf still existed for us to build our gallery on.  Not everyone was completely finished, but we all had enough photos to finish up if we wished at home in the shade.

We all smiled on 2 -- although a few shots were taken, we originally had a hider.  It was Nancy, the lady in black!  Hmmm, black cowboy hat, weren't they always the one that was the "outlaw", perhaps she was trying to hide from the law -- well, Sandy got her to show her face.

Front Row bending down - Betty & Me 
L to R everyone else - Nita, Suzette, Robin, Hamilton (told you black button nose), Lisa, Christine, Sandy,  Nancy (the Outlaw), Nori & Mary (new person)

Well, then we really did pack up all our stuff and headed on home.

Yes, it was a fun and painting challenged morning -- but plan on doing it all again next Tuesday!  Hope to see you there.

Cecilia