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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Gray hat Betty and Bob |
Here they are with their stuff.
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| Betty |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| (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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!!
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!!
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| 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