Light and Shadows, Fort Defiance

Light and Shadows, Fort Defiance / 10x10

On one of my final days in Fort Defiance, I return to the spot where I painted "Snow in the Shadows." The nights have been cold, cold, cold, and I imagine that the patches of snow I painted will still be there, frozen and crusty on the shaded hillside. 

But the warm days, and the rising arc of the sun has found those hidden, shady spots, and nearly all that snow is gone. But there's another scene in the opposite direction, this rock wall and small bluffs, shaded and bright in the early morning sun, and I have a great time painting it. 

It has been a challenge, during my time on the reservation, to paint the strength and muscle and power of these rock formations. Large canvas or small, it seems not to matter. I read somewhere that one artist said he tries to paint the forces that shaped these formations, rather than the formations themselves, and while I sort of understand that idea, it's hard to do in real life. Easier to do in philosophy. 

A dust-filled windstorm blows up out of nowhere on my final day in the area. In time, I find that this wind presages a series of nasty storms that begin as I drive east. The storms precede me, follow me, catch me, force me to hole up in hotels for two short stretches on my way across the country. I rue the extra days and extra expense, but I am safe and sound, and thankful. 

My painting in the landscape

I love the combination of this blue house, the green rocks and the red rocks in the background. 

A sponsor of this trip asked me to post some closer, larger pictures of the housing in the Fort Defiance area. Above, a string of townhouse-type structures. Below, a fairly typical house and yard, with multiple vehicles and multiple buildings. 

Throughout the region, there are houses with all kinds of junk and dead vehicles in the yard. This one is a bit more clutter-strewn than most. At one point, there was a horse in the middle of all this stuff.

One of the many wildly commercial enterprises on I-40, 

nestled in to one of the most beautiful rock formations in the area. 

Two hogans

On my last day in Fort Defiance, a big, swirly wind rises up, blowing dust and sand everywhere. 

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Dog of the Day

This nutty canine gets his kicks chasing cars on a little-traveled road near Morrilton, Arkansas. 

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Psssst..... If you've read all the way down to here, congratulations! I'll be posting the final painting giveaway tomorrow, March 10... sometime in the morning. 

Window Rock

Window Rock

Oil on canvas, 30x30

One of the most beautiful places near Fort Defiance is Window Rock - the actual rock. The town is OK, a quite typical reservation town, from what I've seen - but the actual rock that is Window Rock is amazing. 

The town of Window Rock is the capital and administrative center of the Navajo Nation. The council building, Navajo Nation Museum, tribal zoo and all sorts of other government and quasi-government buildings cluster at the base of the formation that contains Window Rock. 

The Navajo Nation covers 27,425 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. As of 2011, there were 300,048 enrolled tribal members. 

I decide to tackle Window Rock on Saturday. The government offices are closed, and so there's plenty of room for me to park, set up and paint. 

After I've gotten the painting started, Mike Sanderson and his dog Houdini

come along to see what I'm doing. 

Mike is a painter, and the great-grandson of Ira Hayes, a Navajo who is one of the Marines depicted in Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima. Mike doesn't have much time to paint, but he enjoys it, and has had great success at it. 

Here's my painting in the landscape

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Scenes from the Road

Greenery along the road into the Salt River Canyon.

Above and below are some of the amazing rock walls of the Salt River Canyon a 32-101-acre wilderness area in the Tonto National Forest. It is sort of like a small Grand Canyon, on the eastern side of Arizona. The road through is interesting, to say the least. The hills are steep and winding, the falls potentially precipitous, the scenery gorgeous. 

I don't often turn back to take photos, especially of signs, but this one was worth it. 

A store in the town of Snowflake, AZ. If it had been opened, I'd have gone in. How could you not? 

A thing I notice in Arizona is that families have adopted stretches of highway in memory of family members who have died. By the crosses left on or near these signs, it seems to me that the people who are being remembered died in crashes on or near the stretch of adopted roadway. 

Past Fort Defiance, there's a stretch of land where the ground in the hills is green! 

Our house has apparently been torn down, but it was very much like this one, according to my dad. 

 

The old Fort Defiance Hospital is empty and abandoned. 

A shiny new one has been built on the north side of town. 

 Here's Window Rock. One afternoon I came along and there were people up there, under the arch. 

Sunset, Holbrook, AZ

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Dog of the Day

 

There are a lot of homeless, hungry dogs around Fort Defiance, and I will write more about them soon. I fed this one, on the day I made the Window Rock painting.