Road to Needles

"Road to Needles", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board

This is another of my paintings from our trip to Utah in April. Painting is not a straight path to mastery and perfection--much of the journey is exploring the wilderness, both literally and metaphorically. These painting done in Utah, in retrospect, were a bit rough hewn, like the land I was painting.

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Canyonlands Shafer Trail

"Canyonlands Shafer Trail", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board.
We drove down a very steep switchback road into the canyon and I painted out in the wash, between rain bursts. The storm above Utah lasted the entire week we were there, swirling around with sun on minute and rain the next.

Gray Day Capitol Reef

"Gray Day Capitol Reef", 10 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board
Why am I so taken with Capitol Reef? Bryce and Zion get all the glory, but Capitol Reef, especially the back side, is a place with mystery and color. Every place has feel. The Waterpocket Fold defines Capitol Reef National Park. A nearly 100-mile-long warp in the earth's crust, the fold is a classic monocline: a regional fold with one very steep side in an area of otherwise nearly horizontal rock layers.

Capitol Reef Dome

"Capitol Reef Dome", 10 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board

According to the National Park website, (https://www.nps.gov/care/faqs.htm) Capitol Reef got its name this way:

"Early settlers noted that the white domes of Navajo Sandstone resemble the dome of the Capitol building in Washington, DC. Prospectors visiting the area (many with nautical backgrounds) referred to the Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long ridge in the earth's crust, as a reef, since it was a formidable barrier to transportation."

This painting is of one of the "domes" the first day I was there on the eastern side of the park. It was, like every other day that week, raining in between breaks in the clouds, a windy and dramatic day--lost my umbrella at one point.

Capitol Reef Stormy Day

"Capitol Reef Stormy Day", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board
I expected to go to Utah and find cloudless skies. Instead a storm swirled around Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks the entire week! No drizzle, like the Northwest, but black clouds followed by cerulean skies. On this first painting, the wind was fierce and my umbrella snapped in half, but oh well--minutes later the sun was shining. But you can tell--it was a fast painting!

Nisqually Marsh

"Nisqually Marsh", 10 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board
This is the third of the paintings I did at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge in March. In this peaceful expanse of tidal marsh, a tributary stream of a great glacier fed river from the ice of Mt. Rainier, not so many miles away, meets the the tidelands of Puget Sound. There is a beautiful variety in this river's journey.