Plein Air Tuesday - 6/20/23 - TAPCO Verde River Access Point - Day 2

The reason why it's a "RAP"

On 6/20 we'll be heading back for a Day 2 at the Lower TAPCO Verde River Access Point, still meeting at 8:15 but, of course, there are artists who like to arrive earlier.  The directions are the same as last week and are on the Right.    NOTE:  If you use the directions on the right you'll be given the mileage from point to point.   If relying on your phone, however, I  had a few people tell me that they were using their map/driving software on their phone and it was taking them to the wrong location on the other side of the river.  So, you're better off using the directions on the right.

Ok, the big news about last week is (drum roll here ...) it was a Record Breaker.  In fact it broke a record that I didn't find out about until we were doing the final group photo.  

It all started with Suzette & I arriving to find Lisa setting up near the parking lot.

Suzette & Lisa

Lisa, Betty & Bob all arrived together before 8:00.   After wandering around, Lisa decided her spot would be up by the parking lot because down by the river it was too green.  Yes, well, green being every artist's favorite color 🙄 I do understand.  It's funny, we don't feel that way about purple or orange.

 Oh well, back to getting there, etc.  So,  I went down to see all the green and hoped to find Betty & Bob, and I did even though Bob was hiding in the trees.  He wasn't going to let the shade get away from him.

Betty

Bob in the trees

Tecla arrived next and someone new along with Cathy (as in Barefoot Cathy).

Tecla

Someone "New" is Kirstin and Cathy 

So, it turns out that Tecla, Cathy & Kirstin are all "birders", I didn't know that and probably wouldn't have found out if Kristin didn't mention it.  My, my, the secret lives of our artists!

Next I spotted a familiar lady in pink heading down the one of many hill trails down from the parking lot.  It was LeAnne.

LeAnne

I then found out what spot Suzette decided to claim.

Suzette

And, in still looking for my spot I found Denise in her spot.

Denise

I knew that Sandy had arrived, but I'd yet to see her, so while still scouting around I saw Mike arrive after wandering down one of the hilly paths from the parking lot.

Mike

Then Carolyn wandered on down.  Tecla had told me she was there, but I hadn't caught sight of her till  this picture.

Carolyn

While still no sign of Sandy (except I saw her car in the lot), I discovered that the other Cathy (as in NOT barefoot Cathy) had also arrived and quite quickly found a spot near the water's edge.

Cathy & gee look at that, behind her is barefoot Cathy (but with her shoes on)

I'm guessing that this next photo is LeAnne in her spot, although I can't be sure because I never did get a picture of her actually situated.

LeAnne in possibly her spot

Oh, look at that - it appears that Mike also liked that location because here he is in his spot amongst the Cathys and needless to say, tucked up against a tree and also behind a shrub, but I didn't see The Mug!

(L to R) Cathy, Cathy, Mike

Finally, here she is!

Sandy & Betty by the water

Yes, that is pretty much the spot Sandy selected and as you can see on the left edge was my spot.  But not long after that, yet another artist showed up.  This time it was Nori.

On the edge is Sandy and then Nori at the water

After Nori showed up all the people in the very first photo in this post showed up (I'm talking about the rafters), you probably need to scroll up to the top to see what I mean.

Well, it turns out that I spent too much time actually trying to paint and didn't get around to finding everyone's spots.  Some of the artists have helped me out though because they actually painted some of the artists in their spots.  Once I headed back up to the parking lot and the picnic benches that would provide a nice spot for our gallery, I discovered that Nita had arrived at some point.  Boy, this is starting to sound like a LOT of people (hmmmm, could this be it??  Could this be the Record Breaker?)

Nita waving & Suzette

Now, since I didn't see Nita until wrap up time, we're just going to have to take her word for her arrival time.  She said she arrived at the same time as Tecla, hmmm, or was it Carolyn??  Not sure which but it was someone whose car she recognized in the parking lot 😉.

So, that's it, that's what made it the Record Breaker.  There were 16 of us!!!  I honestly didn't realize there were that many even though I managed to get pictures of almost all their arrivals.  I just wasn't counting as I took them.  We were all spread out, but boy, put us all together and we were quite the group as was our paintings.  Trying to get the gallery set up so that everything could be seen did require quite a bit of shuffling, not to mention backpacks and large rocks.

After taking this photo, the great debate about where to line the people up started.  And, we decided it would be good to make use of the other bench since we needed multiple rows.  So leaving our gallery set up for a few minutes we all gathered around, shuffled about, laughed at some antics and smiled and/or laughed on 2.

Back to  Front & Left to Right
Mike, LeAnne, Sandy, Kirsten, Lisa, Bob
Cathy, Carolyn, Nita, Tecla, Denise, Nori, Betty
Cathy, Me, Suzette

Wow!  Well, we'll see who shows up next week.  Hopefully this will entice you to join us.  But for now, have a good week and, hopefully, see you next Tuesday!

Cecilia