In July of this year, we were able to go on our annual family camping trip with my husband’s family. This year, Wes and I were sort of in charge of planning, so we reserved a campsite in the mountains near Capitol Reef National Park. This is one of our favorite places to camp and so we were excited to share it with family. We planned lots of hikes and excursions, and I spent the entirety of the trip learning again how to balance plein air painting with family time. This post is a record of my attempts, and of our many adventures.

Our first outing was actually away from Capitol Reef and into Grand Staircase National Monument. We decided to hike to along the bottom of the canyon to Calf Creek Falls where we were able to do some swimming and I of course hiked in with my painting stuff. I packed my Strada Micro and compact tripod along with a minimal amount of paint and brushes so that I can carry it all in a small hiking backpack. I also attach an 8x10 raymar panel carrier with the buckles on the backpack. I definitely make a lot of noise when I hike because of all my stuff. But it’s worth it to be able to paint in the harder to reach places! I planned to do a small study of the falls so that I could do some swimming as well. The water was deliciously cold after a hot desert hike in the sand.

Painting the falls was of course a fun challenge, especially as the light changed. The narrow canyon walls made it so the shadows moved dramatically over the course of the 30 minutes that I painted. With my study I wanted to focus on the colors—the blue green of the water, the green orange of the rock, and the bright blue of the sky. I had to move fast to get all the detail I wanted. By the time I finished, the colors on the cliff and in the water were muted and in shadow. I painted my tall skinny study on a corner of another panel that had some space available. If you know me, you know I am definitely someone who tries hard to never waste any of my supplies. If it is even marginally useful, I will find a way to use it.

The study is messy and the drawing is not quite accurate, but my focus being on the colors, I didn’t mind too much. Any chance I get to paint the warm toned sandstone of southern Utah is not to be wasted.

*Study of Calf Creek Falls*

I really love how the minerals in the water turned the sandstone around it into a rainbow of colors. And of course the sandstone itself is already a beautiful peachy color. One of the challenges of this painting was painting the waterfall itself. Moving water is hard to distinguish for obvious reasons, but there are light and shadows on the stream of water, as well as edges of varying sharpnesses. Softening the edges of the widest sprays and parts of the waterfall that are in shadow helps to bring the focus to the parts of the fall that are lit. I’m not entirely sure if I painted it correctly or not, but I think I like the result.

Over the next couple days we had so many things going on and were constantly moving that I didn’t really have time to paint much. Wrangling a group of people as big as this made going anywhere take a while and I didn’t want to make anyone wait for me. So I contented myself with taking a lot of reference photos of the red rock and formations around Capitol reef. We hiked to Hickman bridge and climbed all over the walls. It was a very enjoyable time and that in combination with the high temperatures of the Utah desert in July meant I didn’t really have a lot of energy for painting anyways.

Time to paint finally came when we took a day to slow down and found a nearby reservoir to go swimming in. It was just my luck that once we go there, I realized all of the beautiful red cliffs were hidden by the trees and there wasn’t a lot in the landscape to paint. Luckily, I have some very cute nieces who were willing to pose for me. Or at least let me try to paint them while they were playing in the sand. This day was definitely rejuvenating for everyone in the group and a much needed break after hiking so much in the heat.

*Lake Studies*

I forgot to take a picture of this one on site, so I took one once we got back home. I wanted to paint all four of my nieces, but I ran out of time, unfortunately. This is what I was able to get.

Next followed another day of no painting, but magnificent views and hiking. We decided to tackle the Grand Wash and Cassidy Arch. It was a difficult 7ish mile hike in desert heat with some gnarly climbs, but the view was incredible, and the arch was really cool. I definitely took so many reference photos to use in the studio at home.

*Grand Wash in Capitol Reef National Park*

*Cassidy Arch in Capitol Reef National Park*

*Hiking the Grand Wash in Capitol Reef National Park*

Hopefully those photos do a little bit of justice to the grandeur of this day and this hike. The desert is a beautiful place! I love spending time in it. I especially love painting the red rock, so at this point in our trip I was feeling a little desperate, since I hadn’t really painted much of it. I decided, with only one more day to go before driving home, I needed to take extreme measures if I was going to get any red rock painting in.

On our final day, I decided I was going to wake up before the sun, drive down from our campsite, and paint the red rock in the sunrise. Crawling out of a shared tent at 4:50 in the morning is a difficult thing to do, but I had some painting to do. I got down the mountain right as the sun was creeping over the horizon. I wanted to paint as much as possible, so instead of doing one finished piece, I continued with the small study trend of the week and spent about 20-30 minutes on five little spaces on my board. I loved being outside that early in the morning. The world was so quiet, and watching the sunrise was so peaceful, despite the crazy winds throwing my painting around (it survived). You can see the progression of the sunrise in my paintings.

*Red Rock Studies, Capitol Reef National Park*

I wanted to focus on the changing light, and specifically the effects of the light on the red rock cliffs. Capitol Reef has a wealth of different colored sandstone, so I was able to study the creamy yellows, the bright oranges, the muted reds, and the deep browns. All of that I was able to do from the same spot, just turning myself and my easel in a small circle. One of my favorite things is the bright blues and purples that make up the colors in the shadows on the red rock cliffs. I am so grateful I made time to paint. It was hard but so worth it.

Our final excursion, executed on our way home, was a stop at Goblin Valley State Park. Though it was 100 degrees, we decided it was a not to be missed opportunity. Goblin Valley is an incredible site, so after a BBQ lunch in Hanksville, we drove out to the middle of nowhere to explore the alien formations of the famous valley. July is not the best time of year to visit, since it is prone to extremely high temperatures, but we had a blast despite all of that. I was able to do a quick gouache painting in my sketchbook from the shade of the picnic awning.

*Goblin Valley State Park, gouache in my sketchbook*

I think I am still learning how to balance my painting time with family time on these camping trips, but I am also improving. Before, I would just never paint, because I was too worried about taking away from everyone’s time. But I am learning that if I want to keep improving, I have to make time, even on a family vacation. And if that means sacrificing sleep or one more ride on the paddle board in order to get a quick painting in, then it’s worth it. And it also gives me a chance to share what I do with my family. I like being able to show them and so what I love with them around. This trip to Capitol Reef was a good experience in both regards — being with family and painting the red rock. I can’t wait to go back. I’m so happy I get to live in such a beautiful state.

Artist Travels: Capitol Reef, Part 2

Art Events: Midway Plein Air