Today is my last studio day here at the Grand Canyon.

Landscape is chaos barely reined in by systems. When we try to know the land via the order of systems, we find that they are so numerous we cannot account for them all. We cannot know the land in its totality, In fact we cannot even know if such a totality exists. So, it seems to me, the best thing to do is embrace the parts – and know that your perspective will always be small.

(Again, better pics will have to wait until I get back to Boston.)

Grand Canyon 79" x 55"

Again, not the best documentation. Professional photos will have to wait until I get back to Boston. But, hopefully, you get the idea. Not sure if this one is done yet.

Richard Yarde's show at Herter Art Gallery

In The Realm of The Senses: The Works of Richard Yarde

Follow this link for more info:
http://www.umass.edu/art/studio_arts.html

Grand Canyon 77" x 55"

It's not the best photo, but you get the idea.

Finally making a nice big mess of the studio.

Grand Canyon Drawings

The top two are 22" x 15", the bottom two are 11" x 7".

Small Drawing by the Colorado River, 11" x 7"

A little bit of Phil's Hill at the Grand Canyon

A few hours after I emerged from the Canyon my parents were here and snow was falling. My mother had been here once before - although almost a lifetime ago - my father had never been. We settled in for a cozy evening of listening to the wind blow and commenting on the white out that took away our view of the Canyon.
The next day, under a blue sky, my parents and I set out along the rim to explore. The freshly fallen snow made plain the wanderings of the mule deer that live in the area - a site more interesting than that of the canyon in the eyes of my father. The tracks drew him away from the rim, into the woods. He'd separate from my mother and I for stretches to pursue the deer. His efforts turned up fruitless. He could not find the deer that he knew to be lingering in the area. That is, until, with his attention drawn back to the canyon, a small herd walked across the trail right in front of him. For the next day and a half the deer were much less elusive. We saw tracks on the rocky cliffs below the rim and not long after saw the deer responsible for the hoof prints.
Funny, how my father seemed less interested in the vista than the details right around him. I didn't realize I had inherited that from him.

Richard

During his last two years teaching at UMass Amherst, I worked in Richard Yarde's classroom as his teaching assistant. Administrators were grateful that instead of teaching my own class, I was willing to take on this seemingly lesser role. What they saw as a concession, I saw as an incredible opportunity. In Richard's classroom I learned from a master watercolorist and a compassionate and thorough teacher. My artwork, my teaching career, my future students, and myself, are all in debt to the teaching of Richard Yarde. He was an amazing man.

http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-17/obituaries/30632292_1_paintings-kidney-failure-holland-cotter

Inner Canyon

These drawings were all made during my 5 day inner canyon hike. Along with my photographs, the drawings will serve as source material for my larger works on paper/paintings.
The hike was amazing. There are a lot of rocks down in that hole - big ones, little ones, hard ones, soft ones, red ones, black ones, white ones, rocks made out of other rocks, rocks made out of ocean sediment, volcanic rocks, and there was even silt down by the Colorado River. More rocks than you can shake a stick at, that's for sure. And they are all slowly making there way from the rim of the canyon down to the river. Some rocks perched on ledges look precarious when viewed from the rim - but when viewed from the inner canyon the better word is ominous. I'd love to see one of those great big rocks roll. Rain forecast for next week may give me that opportunity.

(hold shift down when clicking on images for largest view)

Grand Canyon

Both of these 7" x 11" drawings were made on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I have been here on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon since Thursday eve. It is amazing! The colors and shapes are constantly changing. The moon has been growing bigger each night. It rises opposite of the sunset, making twilight more magical than usual.

Tomorrow morning I journey over the edge of the rim to hike down to Indian Gardens. I will spend one night there before moving on to Phantom Ranch, which is just on the other side of the Colorado River from here (no worries, there is a bridge!). At Phantom Ranch I will have art supplies and diet coke waiting for me as I have hired a mule to cart my stuff down there. I feel so aristocratic hiring a mule! After 2 nights at Phantom Ranch I will again surrender my supplies to a mule before hiking back to Indian Gardens, for one last night below the rim.

Grand Canyon snapshots

Nice Shadows at the Grand Canyon

Today was my first day waking up at the Canyon. Still on Boston time, I woke up bright and early, watched the sun hit the canyon from my balcony, then set off to buy some groceries. These photos were taken on my way to the grocery store - the first 1/2 mile of the walk is along the rim of the canyon.