Plein Air Tuesday - 3/24/26 - Community Library Sedona

There she is, Sedona Schnebly, the iconic statue at the entrance to the library in Sedona.  Yet, I don't think any of us painted her.  Afraid, I guess, that we wouldn't do her justice.

I arrived there just as David was LEAVING.  

David

He said he wanted the early light -- so much for joining in on the camaraderie.  That's ok, there were others who pulled in shortly after me, Dona and Jimmie being one duo.

Dona

Sure was good to see her, I already missed Jim as he promptly started off for his walk as he usually does while Dona paints.

I looked around and found that Barbra, who thought she was going to be late, was the first person there with a prime spot under a tree for shade.

Barbra

And, here's this person who seems to be studying his options for a spot by wandering down the parking lot.

Mike

Guess he didn't want to waste any time once he left the parking lot in trying to find a spot.

The next person to come along was Janel, and this is a little funny - look at the next 2 pics of her

Janel

Doesn't she look like she's taking a drag on a cigarette in the first one and exhaling in the second.  I'm sure the poor girl is now horrified that I said such a thing.  But, what I suspect was really happening was that she was looking around and thinking "Oh dear, what am I going to paint???"  

Well, I'll give you a hint, it turns out there are MULTIPLE statues in that area, I honestly had no idea.  Always thought there was just the one.  Anyway, she decided on another one of the many out there.

Another person who joined us was Tecla and here she is sitting on a bench across from someone else who is sitting on a bench.  Oh, wait, never mind, that someone else is just another statue.  But they both look pretty comfortable.

Tecla

Let's see, our meetup time was 9:00 am, who else might still be coming as now it's 9:19:54 

Nita

Right, it's "Life Is Good" Nita, she could've sworn she left her house in time.   Well, let's face it, this post wouldn't have been complete without a timestamp.

Let's see what happened to Janel, what spot did she find.

Janel

She looks like she's thinking about ordering something from a menu.  Guess she was really just getting her paints set up.    I found a spot right near her, I may have even made use of the shade her umbrella gave.

Since the primary reason for selecting this location was because of the NAWS Library Show, we had a lot of visitors.   Also, a  well known artist was going to be set up and  painting right there at the library who would be willing and ready to answer all painting questions.   Who was this well known artist -- let's see if I can provide a pic.

Here she is:

Betty Carr

Betty had on display a painting done "in process".  Meaning she went through the effort of starting a painting, stopping, starting the same painting again but taking it a little further and so on.   A lot of work as each time she was showing you how a painting evolves and having to recreate what she had just painted.    She also has some workshops planned.

That's Betty, showing us the info on the upcoming workshop she's holding.  Oh, you can't read that -- well, perhaps I can help you out.

Sounds like a course well worth taking -- so those of you interested in learning more about working with watercolor or enhancing your skills, take note.  Here is a link to the Sedona Arts Center where the class is being held.

https://sedonaartscenter.org/product/watercolor-crash-course-26-0406c-bc/

Oh, I was going to tell you about some of the visitors we had stop by, I didn't get pics of all, but here are a few.

Linda

Do you all remember her, she used to paint with us.  In fact, she had a doppelgänger - sounding familiar?   Yes, it was Miley & Caden's grandma, they would join us a lot when we would go to the river in the Summer to paint.

Here's another one of those visitors who can be seen whizzing past -- she was in and around all the artists here, inside and out and was the primary organizer for the NAWS Library Show which caused us to paint there.

Denise

Ok, not the greatest or clearest picture of her.  But, in my defense, I did say she was whizzing around.

There were more visitors to us and the library and some of them you know since they do paint with us.  Don't have their pics, but they were Lauren & Eileen (separately).  And, strangers who kept coming over to see what we were doing, including someone from the newspaper who was there to take  photos of Betty I believe.  We all have become quite adept at talking to strangers, guess we look approachable.

You may have wondered if Tecla had that comfy spot all to herself, well here's the answer to that question.

(L to R) Linda, Tecla, Mike, Nita

As for my spot, as I mentioned earlier it was near Janel.  You'll see we were in clear viewing distance of Nita.

And, my friends, that brings us to the gallery.

And because some of them really need a closer look - here you go...

As usual, my watch was up to its old tricks.  This time, it said "the heck with getting her in the photo, I'm just going to take it without her, and it looks like the whole group went along with it.

It did a really good job too!

But, I couldn't let it get away with that, especially since it forgot to include Jim and Barbra.   So, here's my version:

Hiding in the Back - Jim
(L to R) Barbra, Me, Tecla, Janel, Mike, Dona, Nita

We all took a few minutes then to go and say hi to Betty, oh and one of those visitors I mentioned earlier was there too.

(L to R) Lauren, Betty, Sedona Schnebly, Nita, Mike

Well, that's it for our visit to the Library.   Hope to see you next time at another location!

Cecilia

Plein Air Tuesday - 3/17/26 - Lover's Knoll - Day 2

As you can see, it was a beautiful morning.  How fortunate to have been able to go once again to this spectacular location and enjoy it!

I arrived at the same time as Anna and as we walked towards the trail, we found an artist already set up and painting at its' base.  Turns out there was a reason for their selected spot.  But, first let's see who it is.

Barbra

It was Barbra!  Her reason for that choice in spots -- she forgot her easel but had that crate in her car (something apparently every good artist should travel with), so she was able to to cart it to that spot, but not quite practical for taking it elsewhere.  I'll show you exactly where she was in relation to the parking area further on down.

As I chatted with Barbra for a bit, Anna made her way up the hill with her stuff.

Anna

Looks like she had her hands full, let's see how she did.

Anna

She found her spot and is getting ready to set up all that stuff.   While I was looking for my spot, just down from Anna's spot I saw this person.

James

It was James.  I see he travels lighter as the ground seems to be his usual painting position, just like our other ground/rock sitter.  Speaking of which,  here she is.

Timestamp:  8:57:09 --- WOW, this is record setting, as this means she was early!!!!

Nita

Yes, can you believe it, it's Nita!  I know, you just never know what surprises can happen on St. Patrick's Day - it must be the leprechauns at play.

Oh for that other photo I promised just above about Barbra's spot's location - here it is.

That also gives you an idea of the little hill you have to climb, it's short though and well worth it for the views.

Oh here's a closer view of our Timestamp surprise.

Nita

She looks like she was determined to find me and show me that just how early she was.  By the way, she is the artists of "many names", not only is she "Timestamp Nita", she's also "Nita 1" and, of course, just Nita when she's the only Nita there.

Oh, who's that wandering through the shrubbery?

It's Mike

Of course, it was Mike, back to his old habits of painting under shrubs -- not sure where his spot was. But, it certainly gave him beautiful views based on his painting that you'll see in the gallery later.

Oh, here comes our fast walking artist, also not the best pic for identification purposes.  He was so fast that I couldn't quite get a pic where his face wasn't hidden by shrubs -- but, don't worry, you'll see him later.

Pete
Our Fast Walking Artist

Next, to my surprise, Tecla came along.  She'd never been to this location before and was surprised at how beautiful it was.

Tecla

Oh, here's that better photo I promised you of Pete.

Pete

While a lot of us were in the early stages of our paintings, James started wandering over to say his goodbyes because he had to go to work.  He was the only other person who I saw wearing GREEN.  When I commented on it, Pete quickly commented said "I'm painting with Green".   I laughed, but I'll let him have that one because, as every artists knows - Green is the hardest color to paint with!

James

Just after Pete's comment Nita also showed up and said she was wearing Green as she pointed to her hand.

Nita

She said she woke up to a clover on her hand - those leprechauns at play again I guess 💚.  Oh, from that pic it doesn't look too green, here's another.

Mike then came over to show the green he had been hiding.

Mike

So, it turns out a bunch of us got in the "wearing of the green" spirit.

Oh dear, I see I got ahead of myself.   There were spots to be seen.  Here's Tecla in her spot.

Tecla

That hat's so big it almost has her whole body covered in shade!  And, we can't forget to show you Nita's spot.

Nita

Well, since we've seen everyone was painting, guess it's time to build our gallery so we can all see what each other was up to.  I think we even managed to get James painting hung on the tree too.

I LOVE this location -- I hope that tree stands for several more years, it makes the BEST gallery!  Of course, only in Sedona would you find paintings growing on trees😉.

Let's not forget their closeups.

So, I set up my camera and it apparently got tired of waiting for us to stand still and smile on 2, because it started snapping (or shaking) away all on its own.  The good thing about the next few pics is that it proves it's really better if a person is in control -- you'll see why.

Uh huh, yep, looks like it took a great pic of Pete from the shoulders down with Mike and Tecla examining something on the ground.

Oh look, it took a pic with me in it - my back anyway

Alright, enough with giving the watch publicity.  On to the human controlled photos -- note, that there is a special one after the group shot.

Almost hidden in the back is Mike
Front (L to R) Me, Barbra, Nita, Anna, Tecla, Pete

And, for that one last photo -- here she is waving goodbye for the Summer.

Anna

Have a fun Summer, Anna, we'll miss you!

As for the rest of us, ... till next time!

Cecilia