34.Original Plein Air Drawing, "Plein Air, Grand Canyon, Mather Viewpoint, 3 Ravens, 2:55-3:40pm, 5.9.24”, graphite and ink, 9 x 12”, 2024

Location: Flagstaff, AZ

Event: ArtX Flagstaff

Before Art Tour 2024, I’d never seen the Grand Canyon. Honestly, I had been dismissive of the potential of the experience, even living for six months in Santa Fe, NM, and never making the trip. How wrong I was to ignore this potential. Rather than attempt to make a plein air watercolor painting from my first visit there (one of several during my time at ArtX Flagstaff), I decided to sketch the people crowding the rim at Mather Viewpoint, along with the ravens soaring the void between me and them. Graphite (pencil) and ink are fun to combine - the drawings, while often messy, walk a line betwee being graphic and being optical, between design and painting, which if I’m pressed for time, can allow me to sketch a place, to remember it clearly, without the trouble of a full-blown watercolor painting. Looking at this now, I can remember my feeling of inadequacy to render what I was experiencing in full-chroma watercolor. Upon the next visit - I’ll get the paints out - that’s a promise. While I sketched, many visitors came and told me their emotional stories with the canyon and the view, often repeating that in their childhood they had been given mere minutes to observe (usually by their in-a-hurry fathers), and now, 60 years later, they were free to take their time to take it all in. If you have not seen the Grand Canyon with your own eyes - it is a must - a life-changing experience.