Plein Air Tuesday - 2/25/25 - Day One - Lover's Knoll

 

Lover's Knoll -- when you look this up you'll see a photo of a couple who just got married -- guess that's the place to go for a great wedding pic.  But artists think it's a great place to go to paint.  Which is exactly what our group did.  So here we are, starting to arrive.

Bob with David quickly walking back to drop off the vest

Oh Boy, I see I did a good job catching people just AFTER they looked at me - here's Betty.

Betty - bottom left is my shadow

Another person just walking away from me - hmmm, a person could develop a complex.

Suzette

Here's another very unidentifiable picture of Bob with his stuff, also walking away from me.

Bob and his stuff on his way over the hill to his spot

Once again, David is the first to pick a spot and set up.  Since his paintings always come out good, makes you think it's not the location but what you make of it - just another thing that makes you go "hmmmm!"

Dona (a new girl  - sort of) joined us and brought along a helper.

Dona and her "helper" Jimmy

Dona is still dealing with a broken wrist and will continue to be sporting that black thing around her wrist for several more weeks.  Guess she really does need a helper.

Suzette picked her spot facing that really great tree that's in the center of this pull out.

Suzette in her spot

I have to show you how she utilized the tree -- quite clever.

If I were to zoom in close enough, you'd see that the box she has hanging from the tree says "Dakota Pastels" - looks like it could be an advertisement for their Dakota Deluxe Travel small box.

And, as I said, Bob was heading Over the hill.   Oh dear, just realized that term could have multiple meanings beyond the literal sense which this was, literal that is.

Bob in his spot "Over the Hill"

Mike then showed up and I caught him talking to someone.  Once again, not a great picture and I don't think I have a better one of her.

Mike and Pam - another "New Girl"

Nori also joined us and so did, wait for it ... it'll be the second photo surprise.

(L to R) Nori, edge of Suzette's hat and the Surprise

Surprise!  It's Ed

Oh, wait, I just found a forward facing photo of Pam.

Pam

Of course, between the hat and sunglasses, you'd never recognize her anyplace.

And, we had an early arriver:

Nita 1

Yes, Nita 1 arrived "she claims" at 9:31, this photo was taken at 9:44 - which is still early and 9:31 really would put her at arriving on time.  Gee, I didn't even think that was possible!

Nita 1 was not the last person I found when I looked around - here's our short-timer in her spot.

Michelle

Check out what's on the ground behind her -- her mode of transportation.  Yes, she put on her backpack and biked on over.  I didn't even see her arrive, the next thing I knew, she was standing there painting.

Ed donned his pink & orange gloves and got to work too!  Interesting, I wonder if that's how you know the left from the right.

Ed

Mike must've felt lost, he was out in the open AND he even took a break from his painting to walk around and visit!

Mike in the open

Here's two who were fascinated by that tree -- it really is a great tree as you'll soon see.

(L to R) Nori, Suzette

And, before I forget (which I technically did as this is a pic of her packing up).  This is Nita 1's spot.

(L to R) Nita, Mike

Whew, it's a good thing we were all gathered in the same general area, otherwise I don't think I would've had time to find them all.

Ok, since this was a new location -- where should we build that Gallery, hmmmm!  Oh wait, there's the TREE!

Have no fear, I won't make you all go crazy trying to look at the paintings.  Here they are in a more viewable size.

We took our time looking at them all, everyone discussing all the positives about each and every one.  Thankfully, we were mostly all still there, although Pam had to leave early.  Gee, hope she comes back so I can get a better picture where she's a bit more identifiable.  But, for now it was just 11 of us who stayed to smile on 2.

We'll just do a zigzag here
Nori, Dona, Ed, Michelle, Nita 1, Bob, Betty, Mike, David, Me, Suzette

There we all are, standing in front of The TREE!  What a great morning!

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 2/18/25 - Day 2 - Secret Slickrock Trail

 

I had to do a detour to check out a possible plein air location, so I arrived after Mike & Bob

(L to R) Bob, Mike

The three of us stood/sat around talking for a while as it was only 9:15 when we were first all there.  We tried to decide on a spot for next week.  That decision wasn't made then.  But it wasn't long before the next person to show up who was a surprise, it was Nori.

Nori and Mike on the edge

Next to pull in was LeAnne.

(L to R) Nori, LeAnne

Have you ever seen that girl not smile, it makes everyone smile.  

Then another surprise, it was Nita 2.

Nita 2

Somewhere in between those arrivals I received a text and the text arrived almost exactly at the meet up time.  Guess who 😉

Well, for those of you new to the group, I'll help you out -- that was from Nita 1.  She's also known as Timestamp Nita.   She did arrive pretty close to that 10 o'clock mark --this pic was taken at 10:03, so she had to have arrived earlier than that.

(L to R) LeAnne, Nita 1, Nori

Nita 1 arrived all prepared.  She decided ahead of time just where her spot would be (fyi - it's down a very narrow trail and sits on the edge of the hill).  So, she adhered paper to her paper and gessoed some to start out with texture.  Needless to say, her end result was quite striking!  Ok, given she was probably working on that in the morning before leaving to meet us, I guess I'll give her a pass on the 10 am arrival.

Nori, our western gal, picked a pretty spot and got to things quickly.

Nori

LeAnne was across from her and also wasted no time setting up.

LeAnne

I set up in a spot near them, but got distracted by some visitors.  They were trying to get a photo of the family and while I'm sure it would've sort of worked, I made the offer to take it for them.  They, of course, were happy to agree.  After doing that I had seen another older man wandering around there and then he went up to them - turns out he was the grandpa. So I, of course, offered again.  He was kind of shy about it, saying "oh no, that's ok" but the Mom jumped in and said oh but we're all set up and handed me the phone again, so he agreed with a big smile on his face as he stood behind his two grandkids.

At around 11:00, Nita 2 came around to check out what everyone was doing - as she needed to step away from the painting for a minute, we all know what that's like and it does help.

(L to R) Nita 2, my spot, LeAnne

I was just heading off to see if I could find the rest and after that photo went off and found Mike, as usual obscured by some shrubs.

Mike

After checking in with Mike I inquired if he knew if Nita was further on down the way and she was.

Nita 1

Yes, just as I mentioned, sitting on the edge of a steep drop off and a very narrow trail -- it's her favorite spot whenever we come here.

I got back to my spot and found LeAnne kicking back and enjoying the scenery, guess her painting was done.

LeAnne

and well, Bob, he'd already left his spot and was waiting patiently or maybe not so  patiently with his arms crossed near where we'd be setting up our gallery.

Bob

Guess that was a sign -- we were done and it was time to wrap things up and build the gallery.

All lined up

Well, these were too good to miss, so I'll give you a better view.  I even think Nita 1 used pieces from the trail for her second one.

7 being an odd number, one had to stand alone.  Hope you enjoyed them as much as we did not only painting them but viewing them.  And here we all are with a smile on 2!

(L to R) Nita 1, Nori, Nita 2, LeAnne, Bob, Me, Mike

Hope you enjoyed!  See you next week.

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 2/11/25 - Secret Slickrock Trail

 

Well, it's been a cold month, but it was time we headed back out and this Tuesday morning proved to be quite pleasant.  I got out of my car and the sun was shining and feeling quite warm.  Looked like a very promising morning.

We all arrived a little early, closer to 9:15, but that worked out great.

Mike and his mug and David

Yes, as you can see, somethings never change - although his mug looks different, wonder if it's a new one.

Pat was actually there first, as she was finishing parking when I pulled in.

Pat

Doesn't she look happy, I almost see a small lift up on the sides of her mouth.  Of course, in all fairness it's hard to look happy when someone shoves the camera side of their phone in your face. Looks like there's another duo pulling in.

Gray hat Betty and Bob

Here they are with their stuff.

Betty

Bob

Of course, we all always start out wandering right in front of our cars as there are great views right off that little parking area.  Some of us decided to stay there.  As you can see,  David did his typical and wasted no time in selecting his spot.

David in his spot

He obviously is used to looking to the side to paint instead of straight ahead, that is unless his intent was to paint that twig that was staring back at him.  Others went off to see what they could see.

(L to R) Mike, Betty

These were not their spots -- I actually never found their spots.

But, that wasn't all of the arrivals -- a few more showed up and one is someone we haven't seen in quite some time.  I'll give you a hint - she rides in a pumpkin and has long blonde hair.

Chris

Yes, it was Chris who has come back from her travels about the west this past year.  But, the awful part is that she shared they will eventually be leaving the area for good, those grandkids win out every time!

Now, I'm mad at myself for this next pic, I didn't get a picture of her when she came up.  That means you probably wouldn't be able to make an identification by this photo.   But, she's new to the group and although she won't be with us for more than a few months, we're happy to have her join us.  Her name is Michelle.  I met her at an oil w/cold wax class.  Which I learned neither of us has used since.  But, I'm sure we will someday.

Michelle

She's actually working in gouache, which coincidentally Chris also decided to try out this day.

Ok, but wait, there's more...  Timestamp Nita, or Nita1 as she is also now known, arrived and it turns out she wasn't all that late.  

Nita1 - Time Stamp 9:39

9:39, that actually is quite impressive since the meet up time was really 9:30.

I also never found her spot.  You have to wonder what I was busy doing 🤔

Well, since I wasn't seeing everyone near me, I decided to wander across the road to the trail down to that big red rock area.   

As I wandered on down the trail I noticed the setup you see in the first photo at the top.   Scroll up to the top and take a peek.  That setup belonged to:

Pat

I expected to find a lot of the artists down at the large rock area.  I was mistaken as this is all I saw, besides the great beautiful views.

Chris

It was Chris sitting on her rock bench with it's own back - just perfect for our ground sitter.  She worked in gouache this day, but was all set to do another painting in watercolor when I showed up.  It was then too that the wind showed up.  I knew it had been predicted, but boy did it come in with a blast.  I wandered a little further to try and capture the great color on the tops of those trees -- but unfortunately, they didn't photograph all that well.

They really were pretty, honest!

So I headed back and Chris packed up.  On my way back though, I had to stop for a second to take a photo of probably the most famous rock in the area, just from a different viewpoint.

As we were gathering, Nita1 came along.  I happened to say to her, gee with all the extra time, you probably did 10 paintings -- well, I must've been wearing my psychic hat.  She laughed and said she probably did do 10 - note this stack doesn't include the paintings that she put in the gallery.

Nita1 and her many, many, MANY paintings

The girl is amazing!  Everyone else started to show up with Mike being the last to wander in.  But, it gave us all a chance to talk and admire everyone's work.  That's always a fun part.  At this point Chris mentioned that she had painted with a group in her travels for about a month and while they all met on Tuesday mornings, that was where the similarities ended.  She said at the end of the time, there was no little gallery to view what everyone did, they just all hurried off to their vehicles and waved goodbye.  But, not us -- we build a gallery!!

Quite the display -- gee, you'd never know we were all at the same location.  

Since the wind was making its presence known at this point, we gathered together so we could all smile on 2!  What a fun looking group!!

Back Row -- Mike, Michelle (now you can see her)
Middle Row -- Chris, Pat, Betty, Nita1, David, Bob
Front Row -- Me
Oh and Back Back Row -- The Clouds that blew in

What a great morning!  Thanks for being there everyone!

Cecilia