71 SELECTED DIARY ENTRIES walking down am struck by a beautiful sunset, particu- larly over the crater—how appropriate (sunset!) and I realise that I can adapt the sky I’ve done to the sky I see and it might well improve the painting enormously. Back at camp at 6.30—a good fire and Bill McDorman & Belle cooking. . . . Soup and then salmon. Great! The rest of the evening very jolly round a good fire. Tate & Rick cooked marshmallows and apples in brown sugar in a tin. HESPERUS MOUNTAIN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14 A rather depressing day. 26° and a raw cold, but luckily the sun strikes this site early. Walked out to my site and started work but could not understand the structure of the mountains so made a hash of it—dabbed around ineffectively before wiping much of it out at 4.00. The sun shines on my painting site most of the day but sinks at 4.30 leaving me very cold and miserable until 6.30. I worked out that in the last 30 years I have travelled for twelve and lived in a tent for at least seven years. I think this might all be getting too much. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15 It seems colder here than at Sunset Crater. Here it’s 10,200ft but I don’t notice the altitude much. The painting looks distinctly odd, and I conclude the only thing is to do a day’s grunt work putting in larches and aspens to try and make sense of the shape, which otherwise is difficult to understand. MOUNT TAYLOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24 Heavy cloud, though snatches of clear sky here and there, just like yesterday. Painted in the middle ground and stuff up to Mt. Taylor, which was still cloaked in cloud. At around 11.30 the clouds broke up, and the sun came out—wonderful to see it again. A sky began to form, but it was an upward-sweeping cirrus, and I wanted something more powerful, and—hey presto!—it formed into something that looked almost tornado-like. I knew I had to concentrate, so I took my board along the rim and laid it flat on the sand and attacked it vigorously—almost too vigorously as it was nearly out of control several times, and by 6.00 dusk I’m still not sure whether it was a good idea or not. Rolled it up wet and left. SAN JUAN RIVER FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2011 To the put-in about two miles downriver from Bluff. The river very silty and running fairly swiftly between low sandbanks covered with bright tamarisk and sage-coloured Russian olive trees—both invasive species—and the occasional ancient cottonwood. The usual enormous amount of equipment was bagged and stored, and finally at about 10.00 we were off! SATURDAY, MAY 14 Climbed up the Mormon Road—San Juan Hill—which cuts diagonally across a vertical rock face and climbs 500ft. Built to expand Mormon territory, it is an extraor- dinary feat of determination. At the top we turned and voila! The subject of a 6ft painting—the river winding away into the distance and a series of interesting rock escarpments, odd pointed “mules’ ears” and lovely colours. I was elated to have found it and immediately started planning the logistics for a return trip. MULEY POINT MONDAY, MAY 23 Drank tea and pondered the problems of painting the view before me, which are several: 1. The middle ground is flat, boring desert without much incident. 2. The colour of rock and desert is dull. 3. There is a battering wind, which actually blew me over once, so a 6ft drawing board will be a challenge. 4. There isn’t much water to be seen in the Goosenecks. TUESDAY, MAY 24 Hiked down to the painting site to erect the board. Collected lots of heavy rocks and a heavy tree and started ...went off trail on slick rock to a higher point and found a small view that will work. Diary entry, May 26, 2010
