Solo Hike

A little piece of Paradise that is not easy to find

Thanks to Jim and Gayle, we found Red Cliffs recreation area.  We have been coming to SW Utah for
close to 30 years and we never knew about this place.  There are very few signs so you must know where you
are going before hand.  And we hardly ever know where we are going. :-)

Once you find the correct interstate exit and the access road,  there are two small tunnels to negotiate

Goldie had to "suck it in"

A picturesque campground with just 12 sites
sits at the base of the cliffs

Mark wanted to work on his blog post, so I did a solo hike up Quail Creek on the Red Reef Trail

It was not always a trail

An oasis in the desert

This part looked interesting

Coming up was easy 

I soon ran into a tangle of boulders and vegetation blocking my way

Going back down was spooky.
A pleasant afternoon of exploration 

Ode to the Cottonwood

Fremont Cottonwood in Horseshoe Canyon

I love Cottonwood trees, they are like old friends, sheltering, steadfast, adaptable.  They may start out smooth and pale, but with age comes deepening furrows and darker complexions.

curvy

Groovy

Adaptable

This cottonwood had a large limb that stretched out from the trunk.  The limb reached the rock and started sending out tentacle like smaller limbs to find the way around the rock .  See another view below...

tenacious

"Rockin" Art

Great Gallery

Anthropologists and Archeologists tell us that these incredible pictographs (paintings on canyon
walls) were created by the Fremont culture of native Americans sometime between 700 and 1200AD
These particular pictographs are found in Horseshoe Canyon, part of the Maze District of Canyonlands
National Park

I put the hiker in this photo for scale purposes

The longer you sit and stare at these marvelous paintings, the more intricacies and details you discover

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Petroglyphs (above and below) in Capitol Reef National Park
Petroglyphs are chiseled in the rock as opposed to being painted on the rock

On The Road

Goldie fits right in

It has been a busy week getting ready to head out for our first trip in "Goldie."  So,  I had no chance to do any painting.
Mark has been working hard to remodel and update the old gal,
and we are pleased with how she looks, now we hope everything works. We left Friday afternoon and made our way over the pass to Moab.  I followed in the Subaru as Mark drove Goldie.
She responded well so we were pleased and relieved.

Biking in Canyonlands
After finding an easy to access boondock spot off the Long Canyon Road, we settled in for our first night.  The bed over the cab proved to be a little tight mostly because there is not much  head room, but the bed itself is comfortable.
Saturday dawned clear and was perfect for biking.

The Shafer Trail
We stayed mostly on pavement since it has been awhile since either of us has been trail biking.  The shoulder is wide enough
to give bikers room and not feel threatened by motor vehicles.

Green River Overlook and White Rim Trail
We traveled about 35 miles round trip and were certainly ready to get back "home" to enjoy dinner and a comfortable evening.
We love the canyons of Utah and never tire of the amazing vistas.

Old Timer

Great old Aspen along the trail to Twin Peaks

Using the top photo as my reference, I sketched my composition,
then used masking fluid to save some white trunks in the mid ground and
some light on the cliffs in the distance.  After wetting the old Aspen tree,
I dropped in my darks, using indigo with a few other colors for variation

Working from top to bottom, wet in wet,  the sky is mostly a light wash of cobalt,
Permanent rose and ultramarine were used for the distant cliffs,  then I just had
fun with the fall foliage colors behind the old aspen.

Next, I used a small natural sponge dipped in various darker colors to add
a little detail to my foliage.  Light washes of the fall colors were used on the
old tree as the white bark of the aspen will reflect the colors around it

After removing the masking, I added detail to the other trunks, and then darkened
the gnarly places on the old timer.

Old Timer (along the Twin Peaks trail)

Red Mountain Autumn

Red Mountain Autumn

Here is my sketch,  I have used masking fluid on the trees.
Cerulean blue colors the sky and some of the spaces amongst the leaves

I used a wet in wet technique to color the top leaves and mountain peaks,
aureolin, cad orange, Q. gold, and Q violet were the pigments I chose

Continuing with wet in wet using sap green, june bug and ultramarine blue,
I created the evergreen forest on the mountains.
The mid-ground aspen forest at the lower portion of the painting is a mixture of greens
yellows, reds and orange, dropping in color and allowing them to mingle on the damp paper

The evergreen trees that are closer is a mixture of the same colors that are in
the farther trees, but using more pigment to get the darker hues
The leaves on the foreground trees were created by wetting the paper carefully
going around the spaces within the shapes, then dropping in the colors
At times I felt like I was painting a jigsaw puzzle

The masking has been removed and details have been added.
I have attempted to give the aspen leaves the appearance of groups of leaves by
painting "holes" of whatever is behind them, instead of trying to paint
individuals leaves 

Aspen trunks, being mostly white, reflect colors near them, so do not
be afraid to use color.  To get the rounded appearance
you must decide where your light is coming from and shade the trunks
accordingly