Jeep Jamboree

Last Saturday Bob and I took part in our first Jeep Jamboree. What fun! In July I traded in my beloved 2001 BMW Z3 for a Jeep Sahara. Z3's just aren't quite cut out for some of the driving to get to the best painting sites. I needed 4WD and a vehicle with more space for the materials needed for plein air painting. Now I LOVE my Jeep! They are quite a bit more sophisticated these days. The Sahara is designed for commuting and off-roading as opposed to the Rubicon which is focused on off-road. I have electric windows, locks, cruise control, etc. and a wonderful sound system that includes a GPS, hard drive to store music, pictures, etc. All the bells and whistles!

The dealership we purchased through, Airpark Chrysler Jeep in Scottsdale, sponsors an annual Jeep Jamboree. We signed up with very little idea of how the day would go! The Jamboree is run like a poker run with challenges for extra prizes at the 5 stops. We arrived at the dealership a little after 8 am. We signed in and received the directions to the various challenge points. We got an offical hat and a bag of snacks and headed out to the parking lot for the first challenge and first draw for our poker hands. The first challenge was a race to put down and back up the soft top on a Jeep. Bob and I decided to pass as we have a hardtop and have no idea the steps involved. We decided to just draw our cards. My first card was the queen of clubs. Bob's was a 2 of hearts. Off we go to the next challenge point. What a sight to see a huge line of jeeps of various years, colors and shapes all headed down the road!

Soon we were in the outback of the Tonto National Forest bumping over rocks and negotiating gullies. We went up a steep hill with an even steeper and rockier downside, certainly the steepest I have done so far. One couldn't begin to see over the Jeeps' hood to see where we were going as we headed down. Ah, the adventure!! A short distance further our little caravan came to a stop. We had made a wrong turn! Back up and down the hill and back on track. No wonder it was such a steep hill....we were not on the main road!

Our little caravan soon hooked up with the line of Jeeps that had not gotten lost. However, it wasn't long before the long line of Jeeps came to a halt. Soon the word came back that we had made another wrong turn! What fun to watch about 60 Jeeps turning around on a 2 track in the middle of the desert! We soon made it to the second challenge point where the challenge was horseshoe throwing. Here I got the jack of hearts. Bob got another low card. Off we go through the desert to the next point. We actually made it without getting lost this time. The third challenge had the deck of cards tacked to a piece of plywood face down. You shot at the cards using a paint gun. Whichever card you hit was your draw. My aim is not so good with a gun....but the third try I hit a card....the 9 of hearts. Boo. Bob continued to draw low cards that were not related to each other....although it only took him one shot.

Our next leg was predominantly down the river bed of Camp Wash which when wet feeds into the Verde River. Wow! Talk about some beautiful scenary between towering cliffs on each side. Definitely will be back to paint there! This fourth challenge was Bob's favorite. The driver....me...puts a bag over their head and the pilot...Bob....verbally guides the driver through a figure 8 around cones. Other than the fact I started feeling a little nauseous under the bag turning the circles, I did great! Here I drew a Joker which meant I could tell them what I wanted so I took another queen to give me a pair of queens.

The final challenge was a steep hill....up and down. We had to wait in line for our turn on the hill. Unfortunately the large number of jeeps was blocking the entrance to the campground along the river. Just when it came my turn they announced they had to cancel the challenge. The forest rangers were not happy we were blocking the road and were ready to ticket the dealer reps. Oops! I did have to go down the final hill section to leave which is about an 80 degree decline. I was praying we did not turn over when we finally got front wheels beginning to level back out! The hitch even scraped as we levels out! Yes...I would say it was steep!

Back at the dealership we got our final draw and I got another Joker. I chose another queen....but even 3 queens did not win the $1000 prize. Oh well! We did greatly enjoy the BBQ that awaited us along with the live music.

The Jeep Jamboree showed Bob some of the beautiful territory I have been out painting. He really enjoyed the day. I greatly enjoyed the day as well....and have several spots that I plan to return to and paint.......if I can find them again!!!

Sedona Plein Air

Today I went up to Sedona where the 2009 Sedona Plein Air Festival is taking place this week. My objective was to meet artist, Michael Chesley Johnson, and observe him paint. Michael is one of the artists invited to participate again this year and was scheduled to do a demo from 11:00 to 1:00 at the Sedona Art Center. As with many pastel artists Michael paints in both oil and pastel. Although the demo today was in oil my interest was to get a feel for Michael as a teacher. Michael and his wife are from Campobello Island in the Canadian Maritimes, but plan to spend January through March in Sedona. During that time Michael will be holding weeklong mentoring workshops for intermediate to advanced painters in pastel and/or oil. The workshop is plein air, but the mentoring includes career goals, strategies, etc. as well as painting. This aspect is something of great interest to me as an emerging artist.

I found Michael to not only be a great painter, but able to describe the hows and whys of what he was doing as he painted. The session was informal in nature with participants invited to ask questions. I greatly enjoyed the session and learned a few things about oil painting. Michael made an interesting statement regarding oil and pastel painting that really resonated for me. Many pastelists also paint in oil and I have frequently heard them say that increasing their skills with oil results in better pastel painting and vice versa. However, Michael pointed out another advantage of painting with both media. He stated that painting in pastels builds knowledge of values because pastel sets typically include a range of values of each hue or chroma. On the other hand, oils builds knowledge of color as one must understand color theory to mix the color in the correct value, temperature, etc. for the piece being painted. As with most master artists, Michael goes first for value, second for temperature and a distant third for hue or chroma. Here is a picture of the painting Michael completed during the demonstration:

It was a beautiful and informative day in Sedona that was finished off with visits to a few galleries I have not visited in a while before heading back down to the valley!

Reflecting on plein air painting

I have had time this week to further reflect on my week in Pinetop participating in the Paint the Aspens Plein Air Event. Although I paint plein air at least once a week here in Scottsdale, last week was the first time I spent an entire week just painting in the great outdoors. As I reflected several points coalesced in my mind:

1. Painting is even more stimulating and enjoyable when you have no other commitments pulling you back home by a certain time. Knowing your only time constraint was the changing light was very refreshing.
2. I have always loved being in the great outdoors. I loved trailriding with my horse for the same reason. I realize that I loved riding my horse across the state of Michigan for the same reasons that I so enjoyed last week...total immersion in doing something I love in the great outdoors.
3. Painting consistently through the week I realized that I was figuring things out that I may not have discovered with a short one time session. For example...making aspens look more like aspens without painting every leaf.
4. I found myself looking at my work and thinking about values.....values in the desert scenes I have been painting as opposed to values in mountain pines and aspens.
5. I love when a painting comes together as a final product...but I love the process of painting even more.
6. Spending a week with fellow artists talking art for hours was stimulating.
7. Watching other artists work and discussing their strategies and decisions allowed me to learn more than I have learned in many formal workshops I have taken.

These are just some of the thoughts that have been circling in my mind and I needed to write them down.

Life is good!!

Paint the Aspens

Last week I participated in a week long plein air event called Paint the Aspens. The event is co-sponsored by Gwen Pentecost, owner of The Joyous Gallery in Pinetop, Arizona, and the Arizona Plein Air Painters Association. Painters arrived in Pinetop beginning Saturday, October 4th. Canvasses or paper supports artists paint on must be stamped at the gallery prior to their creating a work to be eligible for the event competition. I arrived in Pinetop Sunday afternoon and checked into the Best Western motel. After unpacking I drove to the gallery to have my pastel paper stamped. I had 8 sheets stamped as I had no idea how many paintings I would create before the Friday noon deadline.

My timing appeared to be perfect. The weather on Sunday on my arrival was cold and windy with rain, hail and even snow in the higher altitudes! However, the five days that I was painting beginning with Monday were gorgeously sunny. Monday was quite chilly. As you can see, I had on two sweatshirts, my painting apron and still felt the chill even though I was in the sun.


However, despite the chill, the aspens were showing their fall brilliance in contrast to the Sunrise Ski Resort ski runs that were white with the snow that fell on Sunday. The cold produced magic in regards to the aspens coloration. Over the week the aspen color more than doubled while the temperatures warmed and the snow on the ski runs slowly disappeared. By Wednesday I was painting in just a t-shirt by the afternoon. Check out these sample photos I took:


What a week! I heard elk bugling, had to stop in the road for herds of horses, deer and cattle to cross. Fresh air, rustling leaves and pine needles, and painting all day long in Mother Nature at her best with kindred souls!

I painted seven paintings during the week. Two were accepted into the month long Paint the Aspens Gallery Show at the Joyous Lake Gallery in Pinetop. Here they are:

I will add the other pieces that I painted to my website as I put the finishing touches on them at home here in my studio. Now my fingers are crossed that one or both of the pieces sell during the next month!

I can't wait until next year to participate again. However.....there is much to do to prepare paintings for the upcoming Arizona Art Alliance Show and to hopefully be juried into the Arizona Art Guild Show, both of which are in early November.

Onward!!!