Made it to the North Rim

GRAND CANYON! First time and it's as magnificent as I knew it would be.

Great drive from Escalante to Kanab.

Then the high meadows started with aspen and pine (?) trees. Purty!

Arrived and put up my smaller REI tent then followed a 1.5 mile hike on the rim in the forest and out to some crazy look out points.

Loved the hike, loved the canyon colors and view.... Even the wind was exciting.

Gorp and a a Lagunitas IPA for dinner and watching the sunset... Now ready for bed at 7:30 pm!

Glad I brought a bag of cold clothes, I'm totally layered up!

Demos

After a very stormy night, the day relaxed just enoki ugh for a morning painting demo by Doug Braithwaite. 

Our esthetic, approach and styles are vastly different, but I learned a lot. He almost draws in the beginning of his piece, removing paint with qtips and paper towels similar to Burt Silverman.

Interestingly, he works on MDF board that he primes 10x. He also works pretty wet and uses water color brushes.

He's able then to start with dark washes and block in major shapes and then pull out secondary shapes by lifting out pigment.

Color comes next, again in thin layers with liquid so he's able to retain brush strokes and layer colors.

He built his own pochade system and uses a strange soap he found called. 'Man Size' to goop onto dirty brushes and then just wipe that all clean the next time he paints.

Festival

It's today! Great start with a demo by J Brad Holt. He did a painting of this really cool brick heritage building. 

Voting took place for. 'Artists choice' and 'people's choice' - this we'll find out results tomorrow. This morning the official judges selected award winners, we'll find out more about those tomorrow too.

I've heard different numbers, but it sounds like 130 artists, 90 of which are oil painters. I worked the art booth for a couple hours today, a great way to meet other artists and chat about their art and paint festival experiences.

Last Painting Day

This was it. Last day to paint and also the day to submit your final selection for judging.

I started the day nice and relaxed: made coffee in my AeroPress and also made oatmeal with peanut butter and a banana with the extra water I boiled in my JetBoil.

I hadn't driven down the famous Hole-in-the-Rock Road yet, so I bumped along that dirt and rock road some 13.5 miles (!) until the Devil's Garden. Fantastic spires and fists and orbs of red and yellow sandstone, some 40ft above the desert floor.

After that I knew I needed to find just the right location for my final painting of the festival. I narrowed it down by wanting to paint red striped rocks again... So I knew I needed to head East on Hwy 12 between Kiva Koffeehouse and the a Escalante River. 

I made a uturn when the rocks turned more sand color and less red and was now back heading West. SUCCESS!

In a deep S curve by the River trail was a pull out big enough for my car and my painting set up... And SHADE!!

I had a glorious view if two towers of striped rock and they just inspired me to paint bold and convey their playful spirit. I love these.

Official Paint Out Day

Over 100 artists painted today along Hell's Backbone Rd. It's a loop actually and connects with Hwy 12 between Escalante and Boulder.

I'd driven the washboard road section of HBR and decided I'd rather go for a vista piece off the paved Hwy. 

I usually choose scenes that have a central or close subject, so to stand up overlooking an entire canyon just as daylight hits the upper peaks was a huge shift for me! 

From the start I was taken with these subtle colors on the light sandstone; lemon and melon and a beautiful salmon pink and violet! Gorgeous! Plus, all along the furthest range, called the Straights, were these ribbons of pale cool green and lavender. Yes! I can paint here!

Our finished piece had to be turned in between 3 & 5pm, I glued mine down to the floater frame, told them leave it flat on a table until the glue dries (!) at 3:30pm.

Food

After a morning of painting, and no breakfast, and NO COFFEE (again, Kiva Koffeehouse was CLOSED.)

I drove up Hwy 12 to Boulder in search if FOOD.

And I was rewarded.

Burr Trail Restaurant. Darn good. Amazing actually. I wasn't sure what to expect: the parking lot had about 25 Harley Davidson Motorcycles and inside was all the leather vests and bandanas you would expect would be accessories by their riders.

I was greeted immediately by a sous chef and told to sit anywhere I like. The waitress (who also owns the restaurant with her husband) was very sweet and attentive despite a packed place.

I ordered a burger, standard fair on Hwy 12 it seems, but they also had sweet potato and black bean burgers that sounded great. 

I ate half, it came with tangy fresh coleslaw... V Good!

I topped it off with a slice of their homemade pie: Ginger Berry. I adore all things ginger and am a pie snob. This was great.

Giddy! So happy! Great good and had the other half of my burger that night after doing another painting. 

IF you're headed through the canyons in Utah.... THIS is where you eat.

#burrtrail, #burrtrailrestaurant, #pie, #bestfoodyet

Aspens above Boulder

I'm loving Boulder! The combination of red rocks, yellow rocks, juniper, mountains, views and ASPEN!

Tried my first aspen painting this afternoon, fun! The really do shake- quake... Rustle! Noise makers!

I kept turning my head to see if someone was behind me. Took a dirt road with a sign "deer lake road " I was rewarded!