We visited the Grand Canyon at the beginning of May. It was my first time there. Ever. Jaw dropping awe barely describes it. Actually, after leaving the car and taking in the view, I wept. (It could have easily been the travel fatigue but the overwhelming shock of it is no joke.)

The weather was cloudy, then rainy, then cloudy again but finally on the afternoon of the 6th, clear. I had a few hours free, so I grabbed my handy-dandy watercolor box and headed to the rim.

After a brief reconnaissance I found a good spot with some foreground interest to help establish scale so I set up and got to work. Principally, by creating this small travelling easel, I was now able to use my arm instead of my hand to draw. That makes a huge difference!!! And since I have been learning how to use a charcoal pencil for figure drawing at the Watts Atelier, I decided to use that for my initial sketch (in contrast to a graphite pencil which I have been using). The charcoal makes quick dark lines. Perhaps too quick and too dark but I was already on my way and decided to bugger through. After creating a design of the shapes before me I felt ready to begin laying in washes. The charcoal made the colors too muddy, too soon, so I had to improvise.

I had about an hour to try to capture the scene before me. The light kept changing so that meant the layout of the strata was also constantly changing: hidden, then revealed, then hidden again. Given all the challenges of the terrain and my ongoing experiments with the tools of the trade I’m grateful to have come up with something at all. I did snap a photo reference for later touch ups, but strangely enough, didn’t need to consult it much after we got home. A small half hour of tightening up was all that was needed.

If you are interested in this piece shoot me an email.