Sunday, June 15, 2008

Heading into the Canyon..


Mountain Palace
Pastel on Canson Paper
10.5 x 10"

I'm embarking tomorrow on a multiple family raft trip down the Colorado river for a week. We're in powered rafts, and will cover 188 miles of the river. Obviously we'll be on the water a lot. My goal is to try to do a morning and evening piece onshore each day. Since we're near the solstice, there should be plenty of light to paint on both ends of the day. I've made a downsized version of my pastel setup that will fit in a waterproof bag. I'll post the results when I get back. This piece was painted in 2006 on a stretch of the Missouri River, that runs through a small canyon before spilling out onto the great plains about 40 miles West of Great Falls, Montana. Mountain Palace is the name of a peninsula of cliffs that the river wraps around. While my brother-in-law fished in a drift boat all day. I took his truck and trailer and would drive down river, find a place to paint, and go to work. After an hour or so, he would come drifting into view. I'd pack up and drive further downstream and start another piece. This was the last one of the day, done right near the takeout point.

6 comments:

belindadelpesco.com said...

It's beautiful. So peaceful. Really looking forward to the results of your trip. Will you be posting pics of your show at Napa?

Bill Cone said...

Hi Belinda, I didn't take any pictures at the Napa show. We were under a canvas covered walkway that ran for several hundred feet, across the street from COPIA, a food and wine cultural center, with a farmer's market nearby. There was a good crowd throughout the day, though there was a steady breeze, which kept things a bit cool in the shade. I sold pretty well, met some great folks, as well as visited with other artists, and friends and family that dropped by. All in all a fine day.

A few days after the show I found out that I tied with Clark Mitchell for the People's Choice award.
Here's a page of the winners of the various awards. It was an honor to be included in their company.

Craig Mackay said...

Sounds like a fun trip! Great canyon, pic. Thanks for the continued inspiration.

Marco Bucci said...

Looking forward to seeing your paintings when you get back!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work Bill. They are, as was mentioned in a previous comment, very peaceful.

The Flower Drum Song said...

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