Pursuing my passion

While on a recent trip with OPS (Outdoor Painters Society) we visited Boquillas Canyon in the southeast part of Big Bend along the Rio Grande River separating Texas and Mexico. It is the longest and deepest canyon in the park and was definitely a challenge to paint with its other worldly looking formations and canyons jutting out at weird angles. 

Making things a little more difficult were all the distractions - there was Victor from Mexico who serenaded any hiker or tourist headed towards his glass money jar on the bank of the Rio Grande. Four to five times while Ann and I painted two other Mexicans would cross the river on their horses and ride up the trail behind us to check additional $ jars located near their walking sticks and wire figurines for sale. They never bothered us which is good because as you can see in the photo we were totally oblivious to their presence. Then there was the steady stream of tourists who were a pleasure to talk with, but the mountain shadows were changing so fast I was already struggling trying to get them on the canvas as fast as possible. I choose to work fairly big for a plein air piece - 16 x 20 - so it was essential that I work as fast as I could.

Thank you to Jim Rogers jimrogersphotography.blogspot.com (Ann's husband) who took the photo of us painting (with the "guys" behind us) and many more to document our trip. He put together an awesome YouTube slide show of the Big Bend trip featuring the beautiful and rugged landscapes of the area and all of the OPS artists that painted there. What fabulous memories this video will provide for years to come!   Outdoor Painters Society paints Big Bend National Park