ESCALANTE CANYONS ART FESTIVAL 2015 -- A Radioactive Experience

Every now and then a string of curious events can result in a fabulous surprise.

For decades I wanted to make art (see my first blog post). Over those years I wrote several books (see www.raeellenlee.com), collected art supplies, and made many artist friends. I sketched but simply could not paint. Artists with both MFA degrees and teaching credentials tried to help me paint. No dice.

In 2013 when I left Bellingham, WA, to explore Southern Utah, I discovered Escalante -- home of the famed Escalante Canyons Art Festival (ECAF). I moved here and participated in the plein air festival that year. My entry: a tight little pastel pencil drawing. The next year, a fabulous artist friend in Bellingham, WA, Lorna Libert, finally got me going with oil paints. That fall at ECAF I managed to paint a large aspen tree to enter in the plein air competition and, be still my heart, someone bought it. Of course, I had priced it very low. But still. That winter I painted and hiked, hiked and painted. I loitered on Pinterest looking at art and stalking artists. I watched Youtube videos on how to mix paint. And one day I discovered Kellie Day, a mixed media/collage artist near Telluride, CO. On her website I learned that she planned to teach an online workshop. I got on her email list and managed to win a scholarship for her summer 2015 online workshop.

This fabulous workshop, with the lovely and generous Kellie Day, was just the boost I needed. Using her techniques, I painted up a storm all summer as I traveled in Montana and Idaho. I shared the techniques with my 11 year-old granddaughter and a couple other friends – one of them a very successful artist who’d been in a painting slump. There were so many happy tears – because you cannot do it wrong, and it is SO much fun. The techniques are so freeing. Generous friends and family members who hosted me during my travels received paintings. They invited me back!

And then I returned to Escalante to participate in my third ECAF event. But could I use these mixed media collage techniques to do plein air??? I already knew what scene I wanted to paint – a row of hoodoos east of Escalante that I call The Doll Men. While I had sketched them often, and painted them in oils before, I had never used the mixed media collage techniques with acrylic paints. So I worked smaller (9 x 12) and carefully prepared. I collaged the panel with a story told to me by a geezer – about uranium prospecting by dogsled in the 1950s – and painted the sky in red tones and two of the doll men in gold tones, leaving much of the story readable. I had gelli-printed papers that I cut up and added for the shrub. When finished, the painting fit into a bold black and gold frame. The judges called my painting “original,” “fresh,” “unexpected,”and said it had a wonderful “pow” factor from across the room. The photos below show where it happened and what the results were at ECAF 2015. I could not be more pleased.

Painting "The Doll Men" for the art festival
Photo by Irit Reed

Sudsie helping me
Photo by Irit Reed

Using a portable masonite "table"
Photo by Irit Reed

Winning a Merit Award in the Watercolor/Mixed Media Category and $500.00
Photo by Allysia Angus

RAVENS MATE FOR LIFE – or – THE STORY OF ED AND LENORE

For fabulous facts about ravens please click on this link:  http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/12/10-fascinating-facts-about-ravens.html

The comments at the end of that article are also fascinating.

In February I had a visitor named Victor Jacinto Cano from Bellingham, WA. He arrived in his small motor home with his small and altogether adorable Havanese doggie named Lola. While Victor and I have nine mutual friends in Bellingham, we had never met. He and Lola found a mostly level spot to park the RV and stayed two nights. We had a nice time and Sudsie liked having Lola around as we drove to sights on the Grand Staircase.

Vic and Lola at Devil's Garden

Sudsie and Lola

Prior to Vic’s arrival, he had posted photos of his travels on Facebook – including several pics of two ravens.  He had taken these photos while camping in Northern Arizona. With Victor’s permission, I set about painting the ravens in various poses using mixed media techniques with acrylic paint.  After learning that ravens mate for life, I decided this particular raven couple had relationship issues. My friend Howard Hutchison, a world famous paleontologist and a very witty person, suggested I name the ravens Ed (for Edgar Allen Poe) and Lenore (for the woman EAP wrote about in his most famous poem).

The next thing you know, I started having “commercial” thoughts about my experiments with ravens in art. I would make prints of the three paintings as well as note cards. I gave the paintings titles – captions, really – of what Lenore might be saying to Ed, based on their “body language.” Remember, their relationship is troubled. It was great fun thinking up titles.Then an artist friend, whose opinion I value, suggested that I might sell more note cards if the titles were “friendlier.” She probably has a point.

Below are the images along with their current titles, which will be changed for the note cards. See what you think.

You Know I Love You Just the Way You Are **SOLD**
Mixed Media, Acrylic, 12" x 12"
by Rae Ellen Lee

Ed, look! It's Your Higher Power!  ** SOLD **
Mixed Media, Acrylic, 12" x 12"
by Rae Ellen Lee

We Could Just Ask For Directions! **SOLD**.
Mixed Media, Acrylic, 12" x 12"
by Rae Ellen Lee

SUSPENDED

When you make a mistake in real life, it is sometimes difficult to mop up. And it’s nearly impossible to extricate from some choices one makes. It can take years to set things right.

But . . . with painting, If you don’t like a color you just applied, well, just paint over it with a new color. It’s as if that icky color choice never happened. I love this about painting. 

I recently spent entire days painting a large (for me) painting – 18” x 24” I believe it was. The scene was a rock wall which contains a hanging/suspended pothole beneath what we call a “pour-off” -- a late afternoon scene with big shadows. I called it SUSPENDED. This is from a sketch I did on the way to Zebra Slot Canyon here on the Grand Staircase. As I painted and painted, I had to keep painting over areas – mopping up. As an exercise, a learning experience, it was quite grand. However, when I could fix on it no more, I realized the thing did NOT hang together as one whole piece. A more professional statement would be that it “lacked unity.” See what you think:

SUSPENDED
Acrylic Mixed Media  at 18" x 24" by Rae Ellen Lee

Almost without hesitation, I got out my utility knife and a scissors and cut up the offending canvas into small pieces -- none larger than 5" x 7". Quality and quantity were increased with a few slices of the knife, a few quick snips with the scissors. Other problems in life should be so quickly resolved. Oh, there were new needs to be met – sizing, adding a raven or a tree or two, finding appropriate frames, etc. Here are 5 pieces I consider finished. I'm "resolving" 2 more (one of them with the feature that looks like a lizard's head). I’m rather pleased with the results.  These are highly textured (with layers of tissue) and sport a sheen of metallic gold. They look better in person, but you can get an idea from these images: 

"Tree Shadow" **SOLD**
5" x 7" Acrylic Mixed Media
by Rae Ellen Lee

"Look! It's a plane." **SOLD**
4" x 6" Acrylic Mixed Media
by Rae Ellen Lee

Pinion Pine on Red
4" x 6" Acrylic Mixed Media
by Rae Ellen Lee

Canyon Shadows
6" x 6" Acrylic Mixed Media
by Rae Ellen Lee

Canyon Colors **SOLD**
4" x 4" Acrylic Mixed Media
by Rae Ellen Lee

RAVENS ON RABBIT BRUSH

RAVENS ON RABBIT BRUSH.  **SOLD**
Acrylic on wood block -- on rabbit brush stems.
Total size 7" x 7"

While the actual painting in this piece, RAVENS ON RABBIT BRUSH, is only 1.5” x 1.5” x .5 the “twig” base is actually rabbit brush stems in winter. These soft green stems are woody in winter and will die and turn gray in future seasons.  The reference photo of the two ravens was taken by a new friend, Victor Jacinto Cano, an artist and musician from Bellingham. We have about nine mutual friends on Facebook but had never met, so he stopped recently to visit me while on a road trip around the southwest. He’s traveling with Lola, his adorable little Havanese doggie companion.

I have decided to include this piece in my #70Paintings70Years project.

A few of the #70Paintings70Years pieces I posted previously are in my first art show, with friend Reiser, at the Anasazi State Park in Boulder, Utah. I wasn’t actually ready for a show, but could not pass up this fine opportunity.  It runs until April 11, 2015, so if you are passing through the area check out this fine state park. Before or after you watch the video about the Coombs Archeological Site, look at G. K. Reiser’s colorful paintings and whimsical sculptures (occupying most of the wall space) and my paintings (at the back of the room).

At my first art show (paintings look better in person)
Anasazi State Park gallery
Boulder, UT

Victor Jacinto Cano and Lola

One of Victor's mask carvings

Lola and Sudsie running free 

THE COLORADO RIVER, acrylic on paper
by G. K. Reiser

BULLWINKLE
by G. K. Reiser (stone, wire, wood)
about 18" high

RICKY BOY

Occasionally I take care of my friend Louise’s llamas. Louise has installed a curious fence – not really like the one behind Ricky -- but one made out of sticks from a couple of beaver dams that had been disassembled by people who aren’t so smart about the value of beavers and beaver dams to the watershed, here in the desert. But I won’t get on a soapbox now. Louise had permission to gather the sticks, because it so happens that sticks from beaver dams are all fairly close in diameter and length. 

Back to the llamas. They are friendly and enjoy smelling one’s face. When their muzzles actually touch my face I hold my breath and make smooching sounds. They don’t seem to mind. Ricky is the friendliest of the 4 llamas, and his mostly black coat makes him particularly photogenic.

RICKY BOY, 8" X 8"
Acrylic on Wood Panel

Ricky Boy and the fence constructed of sticks
from a disassembled beaver dam

Ricky Boy, Cristo, and Friz the Goat

I saw a travel show once in which Anthony Bourdain ate goat's bladder stuffed with spleen, roasted over an open fire. I have not told Fritz the Goad yet.

PEEK-A-BOO SLOT CANYON

East and south of Escalante, 26 miles down the Hole in the Rock Road, are two slot canyons in close proximity -- Spooky and Peek-a-Boo. I had struck up an acquaintance at the gym named Jared Nixon, a friendly young man who happens to be a guide. Since it was off-season -- November -- he offered to take me and another woman named Marcie through these slot canyons. He brought his cousin, Darrell, as they often hike together. All I can say is WOW!!!  These two slot canyons live up to their names. Jared and Darrell were kind, generous and helpful to us as we attempted to "chimney up" one area, and descend 10-foot drops. Jared said 85 per cent of people he leads in Spooky don't make it, and I can see why. At one point I had to step into his cupped hands, then onto his back to get up the "chimney" area. Good thing he is so big and strong. I would highly recommend you contact Jared if you need a guide. He knows the area better than anyone else I've met, and he's a nice and fun guy to hang out with. You can catch him at www.indigodayhikes.com or call 435-676-3121. 

Anyway, there was no way for me to make a piece of art that does justice to either slot canyon, so I messed around with drips of paint and came up with this small piece that captures it as well as anything.  Using a watery drip method to capture the essence of a slot canyon is appropriate, since water has carved them.

Pee-a-Boo Slot Canyon
4" x 12" Acrylic on wood panel

GROUP HUG

Today artist friend, Diana Pace, sent me the following inspiration:

"All the music I write is a search for myself." - Bruce Hornsby

"While writing my first book, I came upon a Buddhist text in which the author confessed, 'I have no pretension that I am writing this book for any purpose other than my own awakening.' His candor struck a chord deep within me as I realized that I, too, write primarily for the healing of my own mind and spirit. Since then, I have spoken to countless creative artists who agree that even if no one else ever read their books, saw their paintings, or listened to their music, all of their efforts would be worth the sheer joy of producing the work. Your right place is the one in which you are receiving the most edification. The fact that other people receive a benefit is the icing on the cake. Do what is healing to your spirit, and without effort you will offer the world healing in return. Direct me to the work that will feed my soul, that I may feed others. I do what I love, and the world loves what I do." - Alan Cohen

At this gloriously mature age, as I paint my life, reading such words feels like a group hug. I love my artist friends. Another artist, Reiser, who also lives, hikes and paints in Escalante, has a lavishly outfitted shop. He cut dozens of wood panels between 4" x 4" and 9" x 12" x 1/8" thick -- from a door skin that another local artist, Howard, had layin' around. Now I can mess with paint and not worry about wasting precious or expensive resources. 

The twigs you see on the confection below were collected and cut on Lopez Island, Washington. I found them while looking for something else (that's when I find most missing items). I glued them on an 8" x 8" panel weeks ago. And then just yesterday I painted this little aspen pic -- and matched up the two items for a pleasing piece of work. I have totally amazed myself!!! This is number 4 of #70Paintings70Years.

GROUP HUG, 8" X 8" Twig Frame, with
4.5" x 4.5" acrylic palette knife painting on wood panel.

MONET IN MONTANA

For a 4-H club project when I was a 12 or 13, I raised a sheep named Hoppy. At the time we had a goat with two kids, and the kids would stand on top of Hoppy. She didn’t mind. I really like sheep, so I intend to paint them often. In this particular painting, I make reference to a Monet work titled “The Turkeys at Montgeron, 1877,” which I saw a few years ago in a Paris art museum. I also love the Gravelly Range in Southwest Montana, where I had photographed a sheepherder’s wagon near Black Butte (the neck of an old volcano) in the 1980s. OK, so I decided to arrange sheep in the approximate location of Monet’s turkeys, and instead of a chateau at the top of the painting I placed the sheepherder’s wagon. The piece is 20” x 24” on a pre-used canvas, which provided interesting textures. I tried making the grasses the same color as Monet’s, but ended up using a palette knife to scumble lighter colors over the green-blue. And, of course, every band of sheep deserves a good guard dog, so I placed Sudsie in the scene. There’s an “accidental” quality to the piece. This is also the first painting of mine that I actually L-O-V-E.

Monet's painting is 5'8" x 5'8"

MONET IN MONTANA, 

20" x 24" Mixed Media on Canvas

by Rae Ellen Lee

Work in progress. Too much green-blue.

THE WATCHER, LITTLE SPENCER FLAT

As a hiker living in a town surrounded by the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, I’ve wandered for miles with friends on Spencer Flat east of Escalante, UT. The little painting below is from a sketch of the curious hoodoo that is strikingly evident as you drive the Old Sheffield Road (which most call the Spencer Flat Road). On an outing with Sudsie, I sketched the hoodoo from the north, where it appears to be watching the whole vast area. Most people view the feature from the road – a viewpoint that usually elicits comments about condoms. For texture, I adhered crumpled tissue to the rock formations with acrylic medium. After that dried, I wielded a small palette knife to brush on paint colors – striving for bursts of color harmony using complimentaries. By experimenting, maybe I’ll discover my painting voice. Now to work on the other 12 paintings I’ve started!

4.5" x 4.5" Acrylic on Wood Panel

ONE WOMAN PAINTS HER LIFE

One way to tell if you’re an artist is to ask yourself this: Do you actually make art or do you just buy art materials and wait until you find your quote painting voice? Do you start paintings and never finishing them? For instance, with six unfinished canvases leaning on each other in the corner, I started a trip-tick and splashed gaudy-colors on each large canvas, having decided that was my new style. Anyway, the instructor had said, Just cover the canvas quick, so you can get over the Blank Canvas Syndrome. After that workshop I added those unfinished paintings to the pile because I had discovered a new style that struck me as quote the one for me. Which required that I buy several palette knives and a trowel, and not those cheap plastic ones, either, because you can’t make good art with inferior materials. That was six years and eight painting styles ago.

To regain some self-respect, I scanned my years of sketches on flickr.com, only to later read a comment that said they were “tighty-assed,” if you can you believe that. So I started painting a giant ghost crab to show them, whoever it was, that I can too paint loose and fresh yet intriguing stuff, and there it sits in the corner -- the only readable thing being the creature’s eyestalks watching my back all the time as I sit at the computer studying the works of other artists and making lists of new materials to add to my collection of oil pastels, soft pastels, guoache, water colors, acrylics and every medium Golden promotes at those demonstrations, as well as glass for making monoprints on rice paper not to mention tools to carve images in linoleum to make one-of-a-kind linocuts in black and white, and new canvases of varying sizes, now that I own a new French easel. Then last fall my artist friend, Lorna Libert, suggested that I might like to paint with oil paints. So I showed up at one of her workshops in Bellingham, Washington, with a bag of oil paints and I’ll be darned if I didn’t complete three small paintings. Just like that. And I haven’t stopped painting since. No more excuses. 

To celebrate turning seventy, in 2015 I vow to paint seventy paintings of places I’ve been and things I’ve done. I will finally use up all those art materials. 

I'll be painting 70 images from the past 70 years (1945 - 2015), but they won't be done in
chronological order. My first posting is from a fave set of hoodoos out on the Grand Staircase-Escalante
National Monument, east of Escalante, UT, where I live. After loosely sketching the forms,
I used acrylic medium to adhere crumpled tissue to add texture.

The first colors were jarring and one of my artist friends suggested I tone things down a bit,
so I did that and added foreground interest.

The Doll Men, 18" x 24", Acrylic on Canvas

 In this photo of the finished project, the colors appear slightly duller than they actually are. My to-do list includes mastering the art of photographing my paintings.