Cathedral Rocks

Cathedral Rocks, 30x40

It's late in the day when I arrive at this site, one I've wanted to paint since before I arrived. I painted it years ago, and struggled, and have thought about it since. The painting I ended up with back then is a good painting, and I liked it, but it was a fight from start to finish. 

This time, it is easier, but still a big, overwhelming subject. It's easy to say, "I will not get lost in detail." It's easy to say, "I will paint the spirit and not worry so much about the particulars." It's far harder to actually do that. 

It is windy by the time I arrive, and the sun is already going down. This is what I want. I want those blue shadows, those deep red-orange colors. But hitting that light the way I want it means working very fast, and over a series of days, for a canvas this size. And one never knows what tomorrow will bring - in terms of sun, and clouds and wind and rain and weather, in addition to everything else. 

I find a good place to pull over, and I begin to set up, and in a couple minutes, a band of dogs comes rushing up the driveway near me, barking and barking. Somehow, I know these dogs are not going to attack me. They're barking, but that's it. They're telling me off, not trying to chase me away. In time, most of them wander off, but one stays there, barking, the entire two and a half hours that I paint. The next day, when I come back to finish the painting, the dogs come out again. They do some barking this second day, but they're not really into it. 

I paint in warm, pink sunsets both days. People come along in cars and talk to me. One woman tells me that the rocks I'm painting change every day. Some days, they change every hour, some days, she says, according to the light. It's like they are alive, she says, and I know what she means. One older woman tells me that when she was a girl, she used to climb up on those rocks to watch the stars, and her face softens and brightens with the memory. 

My painting in the landscape

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Scenes from the Area

Inexplicably, these plastic swans decorate a gully in front of my hotel in Gallup. 

Here's a nice-looking hogan I see near the rock wall I'm painting. 

These two cows are out in Window Rock one morning, grazing on the busiest corner in town, right by the stoplight where the road from Gallup and the road to Fort Defiance intersect. They stay there, munching away, until I have to move on. I'm the only person paying them any attention, as far as I can tell.

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Dog of the Day

Above, three of the four dogs who come rushing out of the driveway to bark at me. All four are Australian cattle dog-type dogs, and these three seem to be related, with their black ears and their spots. Below left, the fourth dog is brown, and seems to be some sort of an outcast. Below right, the indefatigable barker. He stands near me and barks at me for more than an hour and a half.