Plein Air Tuesday - 6/24/25 - TuziRAP - Day 2

Day 2 found 8 artists seeking shade and pretty scenes.  Happy to report that they found both.  While I wasn’t there for this fun outing, LeAnne was kind enough to supply most of the photos and Betty provided one of Dona who apparently had to leave early.

Speaking of Betty, here she is with Nita apparently caught chatting instead of painting.  I have to also make a guess that LeAnne just said something funny to make them laugh.

 A few others that LeAnne captured in their spots

Denise

That's Denise looking like she's doing a "Oh no!  Where's my hat???"  That's ok Denise, look down, it's on top of your stuff.

And, we have the barefoot diva

Cathy, the Barefoot Diva

And, here's Sophie, standing behind an alligator.  -- Oh, never mind, it's a downed tree!  She's safe!

Sophie

I know there were more artists about because they showed up for the final photo, but Joe nor Calista saw them either.

Joe, Calista

Oh, ok, guess they weren't at the paint out.  But, I have to tell you 2 things.  

1.    The yellow of Calista's eyes is absolutely incredible, pictures do not show what they really look like.  They're totally mesmerizing and the most beautiful yellow I've ever seen.  Wish the photo could show it.

and,

2.     Turns out that Owls have  the softest feathers of all birds (so said Joe), and I did get to pet her - she had her back to me and he tucked her head down.   The feathers did feel as though what Joe said has to be true.  

Here is Calista's story -- note:  it's a safe link to click on, just remember to come back here to finish seeing what the artists were up to.

https://libertywildlife.org/ambassador/great-horned-owl-callista/

Ok -- hope you checked out the link.   Now it's on to the Gallery.

Dona's painting made it into the top of the Gallery shots -- but because she had to leave early, it's not finished.   I know that sounds confusing, but sometimes magic happens.  She also made it into the group photo 😉 with thanks to Betty.  Here they are, all smiling on 2.

Back Row is Mike
LeAnne, Pat, Nita, Betty, Cathy, Denise, Dona

What a great job you guys did, thanks LeAnne for most of the photos and also thanks to Betty & Dona for providing Dona's part.

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 6/17/25 - TuziRAP - Day 1

 

Ever Changing!!

AND, here's the same spot a little over a year ago - 2/13/24 which is why no leaves.

Examine the trunks that cross and you can see it's the same location

Ok, now that we have that thoroughly analyzed, let's move on to the morning's happenings.

Although I arrived early,  around 8:15, I wasn't the first one there.  In fact, no where near.  Dona was unpacking her car and let me know that Betty had already wandered down to the water.  Plus, Suzette, pulled in right behind me.

Dona

Suzette

As we started down the well worn path we noticed something new on the side.  Check this out.

Life Jacket Loaners

Isn't that terrific, they have a stand there with life jackets for loan on it.  Super idea especially since there are so many children who do come here for a day at the water.

We then continued down the path.

Suzette, Betty

As you can see, someone had come through with something on wheels.   Hmmm, perhaps it was Betty.

So, we all pretty much gravitated toward a shady spot as we found where Betty picked her spot AND she was right near our returning southern AZ artist, Denise.

Dona, Denise, Suzette, Betty in the background

Yes, Denise is back for the Summer and this day she showed up in the correct location 👍 so we got to see her and not just her painting.

So, after catching up with Denise, Suzette decided to move on to some other spot.

Betty and that's Suzette moving on

But, see all the shade where Betty is, I too joined them in that spot as it was just the right temp!

Here's a better picture of Betty in her spot.

Betty

Denise

And there's Denise in her spot with her trusty chair behind her.  And, you can see that chair in the next photo that shows Dona in her spot.

Dona and Denise's Chair

I looked around, although I didn't travel far trying to find where it was Suzette went.  I didn't find her, however, I saw this artist sitting quite comfortably in her spot as she chatted with a couple of bikers, right there by those criss crossed trees (see the top photo too).

Kristen and some bikers

That was the first I knew of Kristen being there.  It turns out there were a few others too, but I didn't see them until they came looking for us when the time was up.

But, in the meantime, this guy flew in:

Great Blue Heron

Oh, you know what else you can see in this picture?  How about all the "cotton" from the cottonwood trees.  There were points during our short stay there this morning where it looked like a blizzard.  Poor Denise & Dona were working with oil and they had to keep blowing it off their palettes and paintings since the cotton would stick.  Hmmm, I wonder if that would make it "experimental".  At the very least,  I'm sure it provided texture.

And, here's when I learned that Tecla and Cathy were there.

Cathy, Tecla

It turns out they were painting over where Suzette was -- wherever that was.  I have to be honest, I didn't wander around a whole lot, mostly because I didn't want to get all that sand in my sneakers.  Knowing Cathy though, I bet she painted barefoot!

Tecla snuck around and got a really nice group shot with me in it -- Thanks Tecla!

Photo thanks to Tecla
Denise, Me (putting stuff away), Betty, Cathy
I'm going to got out on a limb here and guess that was Tecla's watercolor pad and bottle

I did have to do a little searching to find the right location to build our gallery.  I found a downed tree that served that purpose really well.  You might also recognize the tree that's behind it as I know it's been in many photos from our travels here in the past.

And in case you were wondering what's what, we have:
pastel, oil, oil, watercolor, pastel, watercolor, watercolor, watercolor
Ok, so watercolor was the preferred medium this day (as it is most days too)

Now, for their close ups 👏

Wow, they all really look great.  A group of people came by around then, a couple of adults and a few teens and younger.  I caught one teen who looked at the paintings and said "Oh wow, look at the paintings".  Hey coming from teens who we know can be quite picky, that's a nice compliment.

I failed to mention earlier that Jim once again joined Dona, although he wasn't seen until we were wrapping things up.  He likes to go exploring and knows our schedule, so always shows up right on time.

Here we all are, smiling on 2.

Back Row (L to R) Jim, Dona (peaking over Cathy's head)
Middle Row (L to R) Betty, Tecla, Denise, Suzette, Cathy, Kristen
Me - I should've stood next to Betty, didn't realize there was room

Well, that was it for this very pretty & fun morning.   Till next time!

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 6/10/25 - TAPCO - Day 1

 I wonder how many of you will be painting the above scene 🤔

I arrived there after Nita and Mike, both of them thought the meet up time was 8:00 -- so, once again I am reminded that people don't read my emails 😢, well at least they caught the change in location.

Here's my first view of Nita.

I bet you're impressed I knew who it was from that distance.   It's one of those "the object is closer than it appears" things.   Well, it didn't take long for others to pull in right behind me.

Betty and Kristen

Yes, Betty has returned from her very long and eventful vacation.  Just FYI, she had a wonderful time and didn't miss us at all because she was too busy touring and having fun.  It didn't take her long to scamper off  down the hill to find Nita who was already in the weeds.

Betty, Nita

Kristen found a  great place in the shade under several trees.

Kristen -- lower right is my shadow

Boy, does my shadow look weird -- what's with the alien hand???  I'm looking at it real time right now and  I still have 5 fingers and they're not pincer styled.  Cue the music from "The Twilight Zone".

Here's Betty looking for a spot while at the same time behind me we have more people arriving up top.

Betty

With everyone finding a different path to head down.  Here's Tecla:

Tecla

It always looks like she finds a flatter path, but the truth is it was just as steep up behind her.

Dona and Lisa trying to navigate this path

As you can see, they picked a rocky one as did Cathy.

Cathy

Carolyn showed up doing her gear balancing act.

Carolyn with all her "stuff" and Tecla

And in this next photo you can see the very spot where a pretty red cardinal just WAS.

Yup, they always fly off when I raise the camera

And, here's LeAnne, just showing up after doing the "Grand Tour" - don't worry I'll explain.

LeAnne

So folks, I give very specific directions for a reason -- it's so we'll all hopefully show up at the same location.  While LeAnne read the email, she decided she knew where she was going and then promptly drove to the wrong place😕.  But, once realizing her mistake, she found us thankfully.  So once she arrived, she quickly found her spot.

LeAnne in her spot

Several of us found spots near that picnic table where we once found a baseball  (anyone besides me remember that?)

Carolyn in her spot, Cathy on the ground and my green bag

Tecla in her spot

And, if you look to the right of Tecla you'll see that's really Cathy in her spot on the ground - she brought a beach towel to sit on.  Here's a better view of Cathy's spot.

Carolyn, Cathy (Barefootin)

I'd provide a link to that song, but I know most of you won't click on it.

Kristen hid in the trees for her spot

While Lisa roamed about and had at least 3 different spots.

Lisa in one of her spots

And, Dona in her spot.

Dona

We all saw the duo in the top photo -- well, here they are again -- what a good boy!  He looks like he's loving it!

Good boy!

By the time we were packing things up -- more people arrived to enjoy the water.

Strangers enjoying the water

Oh, and I wouldn't want you to think that there was only one raft out there.

Oh and look, there's Lisa in one of her many spots in the background and if you look amongst the trees, you'll see Dona in her spot.

Mike arrived from wherever his spot was, somewhere near Nita.

Mike

This was the gathering I saw when I returned from letting Betty know that we were winding up.  I did forget to get a pic of her spot, but have no fear, she had one!

Bunch of Artists
Mike in the shadow, Lisa bending over, Carolyn, LeAnne and Nita & Tecla talking

So, since we had gathered at the picnic table, that meant we had to do a bit of arranging and rearranging of stuff and paintings.  But, we got a gallery built just in time as Lisa had to run off.

and now a slightly better view of them

Oh, here's where I have to tell you I received a text when I got home from someone else who didn't read the directions - I'm sensing a pattern here ... 

From our Summertime Artist that comes up from down South -- Denise,  she did send me a photo of her painting though and here it is:

Pretty painting, looks like it'll be a pretty location for next week!

But, for now, we just have smiles from those who made it to the actual location, and here they are on "2".

Oh wait, but first I have to tell you about the Fake Photo.  So, I had to do a Fake Photo, but when I did it, I forgot that when I mount the phone for a photo it reverses right to left because it's using the front facing camera.  I also forgot that feet weren't included ... So, Carolyn and Lisa -- that's what happened to that photo

Fake Photo

It was a good looking photo though!!  But, instead this is what we have.

Back Row (L to R) Carolyn, Tecla, Mike, Cathy, Kristen, Dona, Nita, LeAnne, Betty
Front Row -- Me, Lisa

So, that's it for this location for the week. Hope to see you all next week, -- a different place this time even though it should've been Day 2.

Cecilia