Wednesday, February 19, 2025

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