Needles District, Canyonlands Utah

I left early last Thur. morning and headed to Canyon Lands Utah to meet some friends for some camping and hiking. I showed up before anyone else and had a few hours to myself to paint. I was able to get three done before anyone else showed up. All of the paintings were pretty much done right from camp. The formation in this painting is called six shooter.

We call this camp "Big Tree" This is about a third of the "Big Tree" which is a big cotton wood that has kind of laid down. I heard a quote about this place that goes: "Even the tree is relaxed here."

This was done in the evening. I felt like I was struggling getting the color right and I ended up getting a little crazy with the orange. At the time I didn't like it, but now when I look at it, I think it works, and may even help with the feeling of a low warm sun.

This is of the same formation but painted in the morning.

I really felt on this trip, I was struggling getting the desert colors just right. After our hike on Sat. I sat down with the intention of just working on colors and not making a painting. This is what I ended up with. Turned out to be a painting after all.

Sunday morning was spectacular, so I sat down with my morning coffee and whipped this one out before I hit the road for home.

Here are a few sketches I did while on hikes and sitting around camp.