Adventures at Cedar Breaks

Cedar Breaks National Monument is having its first plein air (outdoor) painting event.   I'm one of the painters chosen to be up there painting for the month of July, along with J. Brad Holt and Mary Jabens.  Good company!  Yay!   Please come to the art exhibit and sale July 31 and August 1 at the Giant Steps Lodge in Brian Head.    No purchase necessary, just come and see the art.  It should be great. 

Now for the adventure.  Cedar Breaks is beautiful, so painting up there seems reasonable.  However, there have been complications.    Like the altitude---10,000 feet.     Think of normal weather in July in Utah--monsoons, wind, thunderstorms, hail.  Then picture that weather up there.   It's been a little violent.    Painting halted abruptly on the fourth of July when an epic deluge hit.  Painters, bikers, hikers--pretty much everybody---dashed for whatever cover they could find.   It took two trips to get my gear to the car, and I was soaked through before I could drive away.   Then there was the time I was painting on the Ramparts Trail one fine, somewhat windy morning when I turned my back for a moment.  In that moment, my easel---complete with paint thinner, brushes and a couple tubes of paint----was blown over the edge.   I watched in horror as the easel launched and  jar of thinner rolled down the vertiginous slope, bouncing gaily over small cliff bands.   It just kept going.    It may  be washed down to Cedar City some day.    Fortunately for me, I was able to reach a leg of the easel and haul it up.     A passing hiker with a good head for heights edged down a slope that made my knees weak and retrieved my paints and brushes.    I was profoundly grateful, but still a mile from the parking lot with no paint thinner.    Darn it.  I  found a more sheltered spot a bit farther from the edge and painted un-thinned. 

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