Grand Canyon Painting Trip

"Late Afternoon"   Grand Canyon 9 x 12 oil on canvas

Patricia Rose Ford, Nita Harper and myself left Redlands at 4 am.   The sunset photo was coming into Needles, Ca.  on the 40 interstate on our way to the Grand Canyon.   As you recall in Sept. my friend Abbe Shaw and I stopped at the Grand Canyon so I could do a couple paintings.   When I told my friends about the great time we had, they decided they would like to go as well.   Pat painted painted the Grand Canyon  on her recent trip to Santa Fe and she indeed felt it was well worth another trip.  

This is our arrival, 7 hours later into the National Park.   The line was not near as long as it was in Sept. but there were a fair amount of people at the Park even for a cold winters day. 

I think it is always a lot of fun to bring people to the Grand Canyon that have never been there before.   It is great to see their eyes and their emotion as they take that first view.   Nita Harper on the right had never been here before.   I don't think the excitement ever goes away.  I have been there many times, even as a child and I still have that same gasp, when I see the canyon.   Every time you get out of the car to see another view it is amazing and the feeling is always there.     

"Looking Over the Edge" 9 x 12 oil on canvas.  

                                                     Terry painting "Looking Over the Edge".

This was my first painting from the trip.  Done in late afternoon, cool crisp weather but no wind.   The ledge if you can imagine is a direct drop off into the canyon.  People would come and stand there, take photos, kids jumping around and it would just make me weak in the knees. 

After our afternoon painting we left the sight and checked into our motel.  We stayed at the Best Western and it was wonderful.  Nice spacious rooms, free full breakfast and discounted dinners.   If you go to the Grand Canyon I highly recommend this place.    http://www.grandcanyonsquire.com/ 

The next morning we packed the car and headed out to find the perfect place to catch the morning light.   Upon arrival I spotted these beautiful rocks lit up from the morning light against the canyon if full shade.  It was beautiful and so exciting to paint.  

"Morning Light in the Canyon" 9 x 12 oil on canvas.

After our morning painting session we went out in search of our afternoon painting site.   As you can see from the photograph about that mid day the canyon is very flat because there are not very many shadows to make the beautiful formations.   We went to the Hopi Tower and had a picnic.   After eating and resting a bit we headed down the road to our afternoon site.

As above this was my late afternoon painting.   It is amazing how as the day goes by the canyon becomes more and more atmospheric.   I love this spot, I painted here the last time I was at the canyon. 

I took this photo as we were leaving.   Might have to do a studio painting of this, love the light on the couple enjoying the view.  

As we were leaving and heading to El Tovar for a nice dinner we saw a herd of deer.  

I thought it was very nice of them to stop and look at us, long enough for me to get my camera out and take a photo.  At El Tovar there were a couple more just grazing on the lawn.  I think they know they are protected and therefore are not afraid of us.   And they look very healthy. 

We got up early to get a head start on the day because we needed to leave by 3 pm in order to get home at a decent hour.    Oh boy were we surprised when it was 17 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy.   We bundled up and decided to give it our best shot.   Burrrrr was it cold.   

"Canyon Light"   6 x 12 oil on canvas.   

 This painting was a disaster.   I don't know if it was the wind or the cold or trying to hurry so I could fit in two paintings before leaving or what the problem was.  I finally scraped the paint off, put on some basic under painting and called it quits.  I finished it in my studio.  Guess I had enough info that it was very easy to complete.  

We went back to El Tovar for lunch.  I was dying for a Navajo Taco and boy was it good. 

  http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/el-tovar-409.html

"Midday"   9 x 12 oil on canvas.

I really don't like painting in the mid day.   This painting was also finished up in my studio.   As I stated before the light in the canyon is very flat at midday, but there was enough shadow in the foreground to give this painting a little depth.   It was cold and very windy so we hurried to get this second painting in and packed the car to head home.   But as we were leaving a beautiful herd of Elk came out to greet us.  I bet there were 30 of them.  Such a sight to see. 

Until next time, PLEASE ENJOY THE ART!     Terry d. Chacon

Prints and note cards are available from these 5 Grand Canyon paintings and 3 others are available on Fine Art America. 
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/terry-chacon.html