Plein Air Tuesday - 11/28/23 - Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Day 2

The ponds almost didn't look real - super undisturbed reflections.  Bet they'll be hard to paint!

Ok, so this morning I donned my Mickey Mouse earrings, filled my Mickey Mouse glass with some water (both thanks to Carolyn 😘) and hoped that they would inspire me to write something that you'll all find enjoyable to read.  Ok, let's see what antics the artists were up to this day.

Suzette and I arrived early and found Betty waiting in her car.  She hopped out and Cathy and Lisa soon arrived.

Lisa. Betty, Cathy, Suzette
Note:  All have their hands covered and tucked

Yes, it was cold to start, of course, you'd never realize that by looking at Betty🥶.  After all, she did have sunglasses on.

Some more showed up - here's Mike & Mike's Mug (one of these days he's going to have to smile -- oh wait, I was referring to his coffee mug - never mind).

Mike, Mike's Mug

 Along came Tecla and look at the truck next to her -- it belongs to one of the workers that was there blowing the leaves in the parking lot.  I'll tell you a little something about him below.

Tecla, Truck for city worker

As we arrived we all started parking in a row next to one another near the edge of the path.  Apparently that was where they had been blowing the leaves.  We clearly weren't paying attention to that but as one more car pulled up to that area, he yelled "Awww, come on!!!".  We looked at him a little bewildered and then saw the big pile of leaves.  Well, we didn't harm them or disburse them any and when we returned later they were gone, so it must've worked out ok.  Guess he was just fearful that he wasn't going to have space to work and clearly expected the parking lot to be completely empty.  Well, he just didn't know about Plein Air Tuesday!

Kristen showed up, she's sort of the "New Girl".  Although she did paint with us once a long time ago during a summer month.  She came to us through Tecla and her Birding group which a few of the artists are all part of (not sure exactly who).  Oh, and then Bob came along smiling as always!

(L to R) Tecla, Kristen, Lisa, Suzette, Bob

So, in looking at a the photo it looks like Tecla and Kristen were comparing shoe sizes ?? and if you look close you'll see that Bob is smiling, of course, so was everyone else.

Look inside the car and you can see Carolyn leaning in

Carolyn was the last to arrive, at least at this parking lot anyway (gee, I wonder who might show up later, hmmm 🤔).

Ok, here's a little aside ... Took a break to go for a walk in the neighborhood and these 3 nosey neighbors were hanging out looking over the wall (from the inside mind you) in a neighbor's yard just staring at us as we walked past, they didn't even say hello!

Just checking out who's walking in the neighborhood

Aren't they funny!  Oh, and there were 4 more waiting to cross the street.

Ok, back to Plein Air Tuesday. 

We did pile into various pass holders' vehicles and headed down to Dead Horse Ranch.  Here's where you get to see a better picture of Carolyn who is once again carrying all her stuff separately.

(L to R) Tecla, Carolyn & her stuff, Kristen

As you saw above, the ponds were really showing off --  see, here's another one.

I swear the reflection is clearer and more vibrant than the actual!

We had people wandering all over the place. 

Lisa doing something on her phone

Carolyn - the great debate "what spot do I want"

We had a few crossing paths -- it does make the park look inviting doesn't it.  You also have to look in the far background on the left and you'll see someone who is already settled in.

(L to R) Kristen, Cathy, Tecla and then far background on the left is Mike

Mike is the one that's already set up in his spot.  Guess he showed up with a predetermined spot in mind.  In case you think I'm mistaken on who that might be, here's a closer look.  See same pile of stuff to his left.

Mike from a different angle

Betty's spot wasn't far from Mike

(L to R) Betty, across the pond are people, Ducks, Mike

Here's a close up of some of the occupants of the above photo.

You weren't expecting people were you?

Well, guess I should give you a better view of Betty too -- just realized I had one.

Betty

Oh, by the way -- they're noisy and they stayed near us the whole morning - that's the ducks, not Betty.  Guess they were thinking we had food in those bags we carry.

And, high on the hill ...

It was Carolyn and Cathy.

Carolyn, Cathy

So, it turns out that Cathy was busy showing Carolyn paintings that she's done in her studio of birds -- I believe that Cathy is one of the Birders.  The paintings were really amazing -- sorry, I don't have pictures of them, but you'll have to ask Cathy to show them to you herself next time you see her.

Here are Lisa & Suzette in their spots, each looking at different ponds.

(L to R) Some random guy who was walking a dog, Lisa, Suzette

We had a few bench sitters not too far from Carolyn.

(L to R) Tecla, Kristen

From this spot they heard a lot of birds and Kristen would call out the name of the type of bird while she painted.  I'm sure all the passers by thought that was umm, interesting??  Picture it, all of a sudden you hear someone shout out "Yellow Rumped Warbler" as you walk past - oh dear, well it did make the people pass by quickly looking just a bit worried, at least that meant they weren't in the way of their painting.

Then way down at the other side of the lower pond I spotted someone that looked like they were painting.

Someone hunched over (must be tall) painting

Bob in his spot

That's right, it was Bob - I had to hike to get that picture of him.

Oh, that leads me to that reference I made early on - you know the one where I said "Carolyn was the last to arrive, at least at this parking lot anyway" -- guess who I got a text from:

Text from Nita - note the time!

Yes, Nita arrived at a different location not far from where we were - timestamp:  9:39.

Before we knew it, finished or not, our time was up.  We used the same bench as last week and built our gallery.  Mike did some creative hanging!

Nita did come by as promised and we all stood around and chatted while studying everyone's paintings.  Questions were asked, positive comments were made and then we gathered together and smiled on 2.

Mike, Suzette, Kristen, Lisa, Carolyn, Tecla, Cathy, Betty, Nita, Bob, Me

What a happy group and while the park is a real pretty place, I'm going with my comment from above.  It's not an easy place to paint, but hey a challenge is always good, right?

Hope to see you next week!

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 11/21/23 - Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Day 1

 

Looks like Fall to me!  The crunchy stuff all over the ground are the leaves from those trees.  However, there were still a lot that were hanging on to theirs and they were showing off in beautiful color.

Another evidence of the changing temps can be seen in the picture below.

Betty (in her car) and Suzette

Ok, so first of all -- Betty is sitting in her car (evidence of trying to stay warm) BUT, the irrefutable evidence can be seen by looking closely at Suzette.  She's wearing GLOVES.  I guess we all just become wimps over the Summer because as Betty pointed out to me, we've been out in MUCH, much colder weather.

Of course, further evidence is the fact that Suzie and Sophie didn't leave the car as we waited in the parking lot by the ballfield for the others to arrive.

Suzie at the wheel and Sophie really is in back

A few more people arrived.,

Betty, Bob

 Uh oh, it's hat time!  Then Mike and his Mug appeared.

(L to R) Mike's Mug, Mike

I wanted to wait for Nori because I knew she was coming and she arrived as planned.

Nori

Then the weirdest thing happened.

Nita in her car

I was so shocked I didn't even think to take a picture of her when she got out.  The time was -- now wait for it -- are you ready??  8:55 - whoa... 5 minutes early.  But then, she got out, came over and said "she just wanted to let me know she was going to be late".  😮😊 Only Nita ... truly a special person.  She does make you smile though.  She had just finished her walk with Tecla and still had to take Sunny (you remember Sunshine, the blonde lab) home and feed her and herself and would meet us at the park.

Lisa then pulled in and right after her Pat.

Nori, Lisa - Lisa's open trunk

Pat

Ok, so we all piled into various cars of people with passes and headed over to the Park.  We entered and drove around to a pond.  Several of us all got out of our cars and enacted what looked like a chinese fire drill.  Honestly, it really was a bit comical, we all got out, walked around and then all quickly put everything back in the cars including ourselves and drove away.  We stopped at the wrong pond 🙄.  Finally finding the area that looked familiar we unloaded the vehicles once again.  Ok, so maybe my directions for this place were a bit lacking, even for myself.  But, we'll know better next week!

We all went off to find our spots.  It looks like Suzie decided pretty quickly.

(L to R) Sophie, Suzie

(L to R) Mike, Bob - both looking for a spot

Oh, as you can see, there are picnic tables and benches here and they also have a cover, so good for when it's hot out.

Now, this next one.  Hmmm, well, let's just put it this way.  It appears any sloped piece of land will do for this next artist and when she does this, it always looks quite comfy.

Betty in her spot

Sophie, ever wandering and looking for her spot

By the way, I think her spot finally wound up being in front of Suzie and over to her left just a bit.  Bob, however, was amongst the trees.

Bob

So, earlier I  told you that Nita surprised us at the meet up location only to say she'd be late.  But, then to top it all off, she was later than even she expected and to quote her she said "she had the best excuse yet".  Hmmm, if she didn't provide a picture as proof, I might of thought she really was making this one up.  See

Ok, Timestamp Nita of many excuses, we'll let you have this one.

But, she did make it there in plenty of time to join us and brought half her studio with her -- check it out.

Nita with multiple things

Ok, it's all little and fit into that little bag, but she has inks, pens, watercolor, and her never go anyplace without spritzer.  Plus multiple things to paint on and her stool - it's there in the background.  Geez, in thinking about it, no wonder she's always late - she has to make sure she brings so many things and then engineer the packing of it all into that itty bitty bag.

Nori had to leave early but she stopped by to say bye and show us her painting.  I was near Betty which was also not far from Nita.

Nori

I realized I needed to take some time to go find some artists.  Let's see where's Mike hiding.

Mike

Check it out -- can you believe he's sitting out in the open and not under some trees or shrubs.  No wonder I didn't see him right away, I was looking in all the wrong places.  Then I wandered up that little hill to the other pond and found 2 more artists.

Suzette

And, walking away from Suzette is actually Jette & her hubby (or at least I think that's who he was), anyway it turns out that while she didn't have time to join us to paint, she did come out to enjoy the day.

Not far from Suzette was this person who was also working on multiple paintings.

Lisa

Ok, I have to tell you about this next photo.  While talking with Lisa I noticed these grasses.  They're really the same as what you see all around the ponds in much much larger groupings.  But this set was all by itself and really putting on quite the colorful display.  Look at them!

They were so pretty with their color varying as it wound its way up the blade.  As Lisa put it, they looked like they were cheap fake plastic, something you'd see at Walmart and never give it a thought as to looking real.

Getting a closer look at those grasses now, I'll have to rethink trying to paint them again next week.  Clearly you need a multitude of colors.

Oh, a funny thing happened while Betty and I were painting.  This couple was walking past on the path and stopped.  They asked if we were the same group that was in Clarkdale last week.  What a riot.  Turns out they're really just here for a visit and we seem to be popping up wherever they go.

So we made use of one of those picnic tables in the shade, since the lighting was the best and minimal amount of funny shadows being cast for our gallery.

Oh look, Nori's painting made it into the gallery.  In case you're counting, we have a couple of very industrious artists who managed to put in more than one (Nita even in a shorter amount of time and Lisa)

As we stood there and admired everyones work, we wound up pretty much getting ourselves lined up for our photo - what a group, they're so organized and even all managed to smile on 2.

(Back to Front and L to R) Mike, Lisa, Suzie, Suzette, Bob
Pat, Sophie, Nita, Betty, Me

In case you were wondering, Lisa really isn't taller than Mike -guess some were just standing on a mound.

Well, it was fun and a pretty place.  Till next week!

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 11/14/23 - Clarkdale Town Park, Day 2

It was another really pretty morning at the park.  We've really been lucky with the weather lately.

I arrived and found a few people hanging out on the street near an open car.

Pink hat is Pat, Lisa, Bob, Mike & Mike's Mug

This time I even caught Mike taking a sip of his morning brew, also glad to see the Mug wasn't among the missing again, that's how I know for sure it's Mike 😉.

Everyone dispersed to various locations within that little town square, except for a few that decided to just hang out on street corners.  In fact, when I saw a person on a corner across the street from the park and facing downhill, I had to go over to see who it was.  I think it was Pat who said, Oh, I don't think that's one of us, really, it looks like they're painting.  

Well, I was right, it was one of our crew.

Betty

It was Betty and while it's not really obvious from this pic, what she is standing next to there is an old bumper car painted gray.  Remember them from the amusement parks.  The old gas station there has 2.

Bob had selected the corner across the street from Betty for his spot.

Bob

Bob said he managed to stay in the shade all morning.  That really was a smart move.  I, on the other hand, was cold when we arrived and wanted sun -- gee, no surprise here, it got hot in the sun.  Not to mention the added glare on my painting causing an additional challenge (seriously, what was I thinking??).

Who's this person walking over, oh wait, I think I recognize all the "stuff" she's carrying (still individually).

Carolyn and her "stuff"

Carolyn did wander around a little bit and here she is giving some serious thought to just what might make a good painting.

Carolyn

Carolyn then wound up winding her way over to Christine.  And, here is Christine shortly after she arrived and also Sophie looking for a spot.

(L to R) Sophie, Christine on the edge

So here's Christine in her spot.   (Ok, no comments about her choice of spots, clearly she wasn't paying attention to what she was standing in front of, but was preoccupied with the view of the building and hanging shades across the way.)  

(L to R) Gas Station prices, Trash Can, Christine

There are those bumper cars at the gas station again and check out the price of gas!!  Ok, obviously not a working gas station.  As Christine pointed out to me, the gas station building has copper plates on the front, so it's not that it's painted copper, how unique and interesting.

And here's the stripped down version.

Christine's clothes, Christine, hiding behind the tree is Carolyn

Sorry Christine, I only seemed to take pics of you from the back.   That was mostly because I didn't want to hang out in the middle of the street to get a front facing one.

Pat went back to almost the same spot she was in last week I think.

Pat

Left with few places to wander, Sophie hung out under a tree to paint another tree.

Sophie

Lisa's spot was over from mine, but in view of the Gazebo.

Lisa

Mike, as always, found a spot in the shade.

Mike

I seem to catch him dipping into that water a lot.  But then, he is a watercolorist.

I caught Pat in conversation with someone -- looked like maybe it was Tecla, see.

Pat with someone - maybe Tecla

Well, let's see...

Definitely Tecla

Well, I then learned from Tecla that she and Nita were there but near the old train depot.  Guess I'll have to take a walk to the train depot.  (Even on a day when it should've been super easy to find everyone, this group manages to make it a challenge for me!)

Ok, well, let me leave this spot

My spot in the SUN 🙄

and see if I can find the 2 missing artists who are waiting for a train at the depot.

Oh, there's one, sitting on a corner in Clarkdale, Arizona --  hmmm, remind anyone of a song, just the wrong town.  Actually, I guess this was a big day for hanging out on street corners, what is this group coming to??

Tecla's corner 

and, as I got closer off to my left I saw ...

Nita

Almost looks like Nita's sketching a parking lot - oh my, how exciting 😉.  Oh, I see she was just sketching "IN" the parking lot.

Nita and Violette's Bakery Cafe

So, Nita (by the way timestamp 9:30 per her own admission), was painting on the other side of the building from Tecla, see she wasn't just sitting on a street corner.

(L to R) My shadow, Tecla

It really is a charming building or old caboose.  Here is a pic where you can see the part where the train tickets were sold.

Under The curved Roof, the sign says "Tickets"

It's really an interesting location.  

So, we wrapped things up at 11:05 and used last week's bench for the gallery.  Hey, it worked last week, so why not.

Then we all stood there and everyone discussed all the paintings amongst each other.  A fellow came by and suggested we take a picture of ourselves with all our paintings.  He actually offered to take it for us, but then how would we know when to smile.  So we opted for the tripod and smiled on 2!

(Front to Back and Left to Right)
Lisa
Sophie, Christine, Nita, Betty, Pat, Carolyn, Me
Mike, Bob

So, before I took the picture I asked Bob if he was in it.  He said "well, if you're in it, I'm in it".  You see, what I really meant was "Bob, can we actually see more of you then just your hat and head".  Well, we can almost see his whole head and a little bit of his shirt - guess that's an accomplishment.  Be hard pressed to use that for some sort of identifying photo though, but he was in the pic.

Ok, well, it's off to someplace new next week.  But, it sure was a fun and pleasant Day 2 at the Park.

Cecilia