San Xavier - and Scenes from the West

San Xavier Mission

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Hi, everybody! Remember me? 

I'm in Arizona, painting for the Origins Painting Trip. I visited my dad and Paula in Tubac, did the show there (yup, won a ribbon, I know you know, but still...) and then traveled to the Navajo reservation on the eastern border of the state, to paint in and around Fort Defiance, where I spent my first year and saw my first landscapes. 

When I was in Tubac, Dad and I visited the San Xavier mission, just south of Tucson, and we painted. Well, I painted and he sketched. And we had a great time! I am so lucky that Dad is alive and so healthy and vibrant at 85. He could probably outhike me, and certainly can outparty me, any day. I spent a great couple weeks with Dad and Paula. I really enjoyed myself and my time with them. 

I will be back with another posting of the beach group of paintings, but I wanted to share a painting from the trip - I'll share a few more before I get back to real life, in March. 

My painting in the landscape

Here's Dad, sketching the Mission; his sketch is below. 

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Here's one of the back roads of Fort Defiance. Our home, which is no longer standing, 

was not so far from here. 

Here's the old, and now, abandoned hospital in Fort Defiance. Our home stood 

in the empty space in the lower right corner of the photo. 

This wild horse watched me as I got out of the car in Fort Defiance to set up to paint. He wandered off as soon as it became clear that I had no food for him. 

Here is a hogan, a traditional Navajo dwelling, on a hill near Fort Defiance. 

Saw this sight as I was driving from Tubac to Fort Defiance. I think this will become a painting...

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Dogs of the Day

While I was out here in the West, Wachapreague got 8 inches of snow! Yikes! That's enough to close  down the Eastern Shore completely. Of course, there are no snowplows and no one has snow shovels, but Peter says the roads had been salted, so the main streets at least, were cleared of snow pretty quickly. 

Abby, above, might never have seen snow. She thought it was great, Peter said. She romped and ran and leapt and had a ball! Smokey, below, with Abby, has always loved the snow. With that coat, he could live outside and be happy.