Painting In Zion - A Spectacular Sight

I spent two days painting in Zion National Park this week with two artist friends. I had not been there for years and had forgotten what a spectacular sight the formations make at all times of day.

We painted hard on both days making three oil studies each day. Some were more successful than others and yet none of them are quite where I would call them finished. We spent around an hour and a half to two hours on each painting.

 I like how the sky and cliff face merge with my painting in this picture

Another (the first attempt of the trip after several months of not painting outdoors) was disappointing and I won't be showing it until it gets a major overhaul. I went for the big shapes and tried to capture the color and value. The details will have to wait as there was just too much to paint in limited time.

 

These are a couple of the views we painted complete with flaws. The light moved pretty quickly and it was tough to get a statement down before the light had completely changed. I tried to stick with my initial reactions but it is tough to not "chase the light". The second day we painted two views of the Virgin River as it rushed through the canyon. I'll show them in the next post.