A weak signal from the Grand Canyon

Well, internet access from my cabin on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is not only iffy, but often non-existent, so looks like daily blogging is not going to happen. But I am keeping a journal of my residency and will post it before long. Meanwhile, I've been busy exploring, trying to process this overwhelming landscape, and struggling to breathe at 8500 feet.

Oh yeah, and struggling to capture the experience in paint. Failing miserably so far, but I'll keep trying!

Off to the Grand Canyon!

On Tuesday I'm off to the Grand Canyon for my 11th artist residency and 3 weeks in a little cabin on the north rim. I can't wait to get on that big red plane and head west, but for a few more days, life will continue in its hectic, scattered east coast way.  I've already shipped off a box of art supplies, but it's still challenging to decide what to bring for 3-weeks far from art supply and grocery stores.

And it will be HOT. Usually temperatures on the North Rim are in the 70s, but they've been reaching the 90s lately, and I don't even want to TALK about how hot it is at the bottom of the canyon.

OK, I do want to talk about it.

How's 115 sound to you? I really would love to hike to the bottom, which would probably not be too bad if we started early. But even after a night at Phantom Ranch to recoup, the hike up would be daunting at those temperatures. No water, no shade, 1 mile up and 14 miles long. Gee I hope I get to do it....

As happy as I am to get away from my day job for 3 weeks, it does have a little perk. While designing web sites for the newspaper, I can't help but learn a whole bunch of html, css, js, photoshop, etc.  Which may not be such a perk as it makes me feel the need to redesign my own site to keep up with all you crazy ipad, iphone, droid, and who-knows-what viewers. But my site was overdue for a redesign anyway, and god help me I do find it kind of interesting, so I've been spending way too much time after work at my computer... My last redesign only made it halfway through my site but I'm going to streamline this one, estimated launch date - August!

 I'm also designing a Wordpress blog which will hopefully serve as a forum for the community of Artists in Residence. It's so much fun to find other AIR's journals and blogs to read before applying or arriving, so I'd like to create a place for us all to post links and interact. But a community Wordpress is surprisingly tough to set up, so that may also have to wait till August to launch. If you've been an AIR, you may receive an email from me inviting you to join, or just check back, I'll be posting it's debut for sure!

 

I am planning to blog daily from the Grand Canyon, but internet connections can be iffy, and my resolutions tend to be iffy as well. But I will try, so if  you want to come along, check back!

My studio is a star...

I'm madly getting ready for my AIR in the Grand Canyon, packing a box of art supplies to take to UPS tomorrow to arrive at the north rim ahead of me, but taking a break to post my thrill of the week, having my studio featured in Hyperallergic's "View from the Easel" series. If you've never visited Hyperallergic, I highly recommend it, it has interesting tidbits about the art world several times a day.

 http://hyperallergic.com/74471/a-view-from-the-easel-26/