One of the great things about this location is the sound of all the birds singing, talking and other water critters splashing around. Nita 1 says it makes her feel like she's in a jungle someplace. It's truly enjoyable. There is one little duck-like swimmer that's always around. It's an American Coot.
So while it looks like a duck, it doesn't walk or quack like a duck. But neat to see him swimming around and diving into the water and all of a sudden its little head popping up and causing all these little ripples in the water.
Ok, onto our morning outing.
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| Carolyn, Betty, Mike & his Mug in front is my shadow |
They were there, bright and early along with Tecla, but she didn't make it into the photo. She was probably getting something out of the car.
As we stood there and talked, I learned that Bob was also there, he'd already been out scouting the place as he wasn't there last week.
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| Bob returning from scouting |
With Bob's arrival, discussion turned to NAWS workshops and it worked out well, as that gave time for Pat to show up.
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| Pat (on her phone), Bob leaning on the car |
We then all started walking towards the paths that are around the ponds. Betty stopped in the spot that I had been in last week.
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| Betty |
Although she didn't stay there, her spot wound up being someplace else. Though I don't know where, she definitely has marshland views as shown by the reeds in her painting.
I started walking with Tecla (still don't have a photo of her) and Carolyn and Pat started following behind us just chatting away, not even looking around, just following us.
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| Carolyn, Pat |
Here's Tecla at one point walking on ahead of me.
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| Tecla |
I caught up with her and she told me, having never been there before, she really just wanted to walk for a bit and see what the place was like. I joined her for a while. At one point she turned around for a quick look and then said to me "I wonder how long they'll keep following us".
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| Carolyn & Pat - still just following along and talking the whole time |
Yes, she meant Carolyn and Pat. They didn't know we were just out for a walk at this point, they were just following along thinking we were going to some particular point I guess and basically not paying attention as they were very engrossed in their conversation.
While on our stroll I saw this person, incognito once again.
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| Pam hidden behind a hat and sunglasses |
Soon after I turned around and decided to go find a spot back along where we came from, when I passed Carolyn and Pat, I let them know that Tecla was really just walking around and I was now going to find a spot. The surprised look on their faces was rather entertaining. I didn't get a picture of it, but I'm sure you can imagine their surprise, it did cause a laugh. They both then decided to head back a bit too and also find spots.
I found my spot and as I was setting up, a wanderer came along and while I didn't get a picture of their face, I did catch her walking past after stopping for a chat.
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| Sophie the Wanderer |
She must've been looking at some of the birds that were singing in the trees.
While I was setting up I looked across the pond to see Mike show up on the other side.
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| Mike on the other side |
Carolyn, found a spot right next to me.
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| Carolyn in her spot |
With thanks to Pam, I actually have a picture of me in my spot next to Carolyn.
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| Carolyn (seated) and me in my spot - Thanks Pam!! |
I looked up and you know that spot across the way where Mike had popped up -- look at this.
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| Nita 1 across the pond |
It must be a magic location, Artists just seem to appear from out of nowhere!
After waving hello, she continued the walk around and before I knew it, she was right in front of me.
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| Nita carrying a lot of gear (there's a story that goes with that) |
I'll show you her spot in a bit and will tell you the story that goes along with the gear, but first I have to see if I can find a few others in their spots.
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| Pam in her spot |
If you look at the ground and that little bench in the lookout area you'll see a bunch of Stuff. That's all Pam's stuff as she stands there sketching.
Ok, hard to see these next two, but I opted to not cross over to where they were as I still had to get back to my painting and see if I could find other artists in their spots.
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| Bob (standing) and Betty is seated |
I don't know if Betty decided to paint there from a photo she took, or if she had already completed her painting and was just hanging in the shade.
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| Nita 1 in her spot with her new gear |
Ok, the gear story. Nita 1 participated in Paint Arizona Day which was sponsored by Sedona Artist Market, at the end of the day the artists were able to quickly frame their paintings and present them for judging. They held a reception after and Nita was the winner and her prize was that really fantastic plein air setup. Not only that, but she learned that her painting sold as well, clearly it was a good day for Nita 1. You should see the setup in person, it's great! Here's a better picture of the setup.
Congratulations Nita 1 !! Well deserved and what a treat!
Ok, I didn't find Mike in his spot, nor Sophie but Mike said Sophie was right near him. I also didn't find Tecla's spot, but I'm guessing it was somewhere way out there as she had continued on walking.
Well, it didn't take long, before we all knew it, 2 hours had passed and it was time to build our gallery.
And while Betty did do a marshland painting, she also had a flip side. Mike wanted to know where that woman had been hiding as he didn't see her anyplace.
Pam was also busy as she did a painting and, as you all know, I caught her sketching that sign.
Nita 1, as always managed to do a multitude of paintings.
So that explains why the large number of paintings doesn't match the number of people in the group photo which is still to come.
Well, they all look great and some claim they weren't finished yet. However, they all certainly make for a very pretty gallery.
Here are a few close ups:
Conversations continued -- it seems we were a very talkative group this day. We were having so much fun, it was hard to get them together in one place. But, after tapping on some shoulders and pointing to a tree where several were already standing, we managed to line up and smile on 2!
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| Back Row (L to R) Pam Mike, Bob, Carolyn Middle Row (L to R) Nita 1, Pat, Betty, Tecla Front Row (L to R) Sophie, Me |
Well, that was fun and what a beautiful morning, it's a location we'll definitely return to whenever we can!! Hope to see you all next week someplace else.
Cecilia
