Happy Thanksgiving from Big River California!

Here's some pics from the funky RV park we landed in late yesterday, on the California side of the Colorado River between Parker and Quartzsite Arizona.  Really tight spaces, not real nice, and the view out our 'office' window is certainly not like the delightful ones we've had most places!  However, it's a nice warm climate and right on the river.

We drove down to Quartzsite today and checked out the free BLM camp areas; they're wonderful and not at all crowded.  We move tomorrow morning and will grill our Thanksgiving dinner in the desert.

TWO BROTHERS TOTEM

Just finished this piece; it's the totem in the town of Jasper in Jasper National Park, Alberta Canada.
Here is a story that is associated with Two Brothers:

Long ago, two brothers from Haida Gwaii were possessed by a curiosity to see the mountains. They made the journey over the water to the mainland and then travelled inland for days until they came to the Rockies. Curiosity sated, one brother returned home, but the other brother decided to stay in the mountains.

Years passed, and the brother who had returned wondered about his brother who had stayed behind in the mountains. Deciding to look for him, the man journeyed back to the place where they had last been together, and there, in the exact spot where they had stood, was a house.

The man called out "Anyone home?" and a woman's voice answered, "Yes, come in."

The mountain brother had died, but standing there was his daughter, the Island brother's niece.

It's so much fun to have paintings of places we've visited & things we've seen, and it's wonderful to have some paintings that fit in the limited wall space in our 5th wheel!

AWESOME SUNSET

View from our trailer last night around 7:00 pm.

EXPLORING ZION

We're very close to Zion National Park and have enjoyed exploring places the 'tourists' don't generally see. In Zion, it's permissible to hike off-trail in many areas, most particularly the slick-rock and washes and that's what we prefer!  We've hiked some incredible places on the eastern side of the Park and along the Kolob Terrace on the western edge.  We also took a weekday to explore the main canyon along the Virgin River.  November is perfect, with highs in the 70s most days, trees are just now turning color -- it's much like Colorado in late September. 

These are a sampling of the mind-boggling scenery; I hope to produce a nice series of paintings to remember our great month in the Zion sun. 

RVart

People have asked about my trapezoidal-shaped paintings which are mounted on the slopes of our 5th-wheel walls.  RVs tend to have lots of storage, and ours has lots of window, therefore not much wall space for art.  The space above the living/dining area and the entertainment center/desk are slide-outs and the ceiling is sloped toward the back of the trailer.  Seemed like a great place for paintings and I like the idea of pieces shaped to match the slopes.  I'm calling these 'RVart'.
Here's the two I've done so far:

ANOTHER PAINTING DONE!

Yesterday I finished my painting "Talking Heads". It was inspired by the incredible hoodoo rock formations atop one of our favorite canyon rims, above Grand Gulch in south-central Utah. I trimmed it to fit the sloped wall above our entertainment center in the 5th wheel; we can enjoy it in the evenings when we're lounging in our favorite chairs with a good book. We both absolutely LOVE it.  It's so good to be back at my art . . .

PIP Progress

Found some time to work on my 'Talking Heads' PIP (Painting In Progress) yesterday and thought you'd like to see the progression.  With luck, I'll finish it today (but need to catch up on laundry, grocery shop, get ready to spend the weekend hiking).

I NEED YOUR HELP!

Here are 5 photos of narrow/slot canyons I'd like to paint for our trailer. The finished piece will be 20" h X 10"w. I'll paint the one that has the most votes, so vote/comment for your favorite (numbers at bottom of images). Voting ends when I'm ready to start on another painting. :-)

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NEW PIP!

I started on a new painting, this is of the delightful hoodoo rock formations on the canyon rim where we love to camp above Grand Gulch in SE Utah.  This piece will be trimmed to a trapezoidal shape and be mounted below the slanted ceiling of our 5th wheel, across the room from our favorite 'easy' chairs.  It will be titled 'Talking Heads'.

I've wanted to paint these formations for several years, in vibrant desert colors, and slightly stylized.  So far it's tons of fun and I'm happy with how it's going.  What do you think?

The photos are my reference, aka 'inspiration'.