Intrigue and Glory - the U. S. National Parks

 

Canyon Changing Light ©MM Sikes

Over the years, my husband and I have visited numerous national parks. When we were first married, we took a crazy bus trip across country to California. It was a real adventure, and it featured our first visit to the Grand Canyon.

We spent a night at the famous El Tovar, and I recall standing near the canyon edge outside the lodge and marveling at the colors far away on the other side. I marveled even more at the light changes as sunset approached. At the time, I didn't know that the El Tovar was a famous National Parks Lodge. I was disappointed because we had to share a bathroom with others staying there. However, I later discovered you have to book a year or two in advance to get a room in the El Tovar.

Often, when we travel to Sedona AZ, we take a side trip to the Grand Canyon and to El Tovar. We have driven around the canyon, north to south. When our two oldest children were young, we took them there on a cross-country trip. The venturous little girls frightened me when the got too close to the edge of the canyon.

©MM Sikes

The photo on the right was taken from an airplane window during a more recent visit to Arizona. The Colorado River winds through the canyon walls.

The Rocky Mountains and the National Parks associated with them fascinate me. When I attended art graduate school, my graduate thesis show was of Rocky Mountain paintings. Over the years, I have drawn and painted many scenes from those glorious rugged mountains.

Grand Canyon Wall  ©MM Sikes

 

 

 

This pastel painting is a study for a large 7-foot long acrylic painting I created of the Grand Canyon.

Painting the canyon is an addiction. I will paint it again and again.

And write about it, as well.

 

 

 

"Canyon" pastel ©MM Sikes

 

The Grand Canyon Stirs the Imagination of Artists and Writers

"Canyon!" acrylic on stretched canvas ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Canyon", 4' by 7', was the largest painting I had on display at Petersburg Regional Art Center. It was the last piece of art we piled on top of our final van load as we cleared out two studios and several walls from the Center over the weekend. Right now, it's sitting on the floor in front of a brick fireplace not far from where we watch television. The grand vista opens up a new dimension in that room.

As I studied the painting I hadn't viewed for a long while, I thought about the thousands of artists and writers who've been immensely inspired by this glorious and unique place. So many paintings. Artists working en plein air. Writers imagining what might happen if one of those folks posing on the canyon's edge might slip, might be pushed to their deaths far below. I wonder at the daring of the tightrope walker crossing a piece of the canyon.

Starting when our two oldest daughters were very young, we've visited the Grand Canyon many times. I worried then as they played near the canyon's edge. I always love the view from the spacious dining room of the El Tovar where one can watch the changing colors of light playing across the canyon walls.

In this painting, I used my imagination with many of the colors I chose, but I love the effect that resulted. Hidden away in archival drawers, I suspect I have some long-forgotten pastel drawings of the canyon. Color slides taken along roads and trails lie concealed inside carousel trays awaiting a show with the projector. I hope they will keep a few more years.

Our last visit to the Grand Canyon came last November. Already, the artist and the writer in me is longing to return.

Living a Crazy Week and Being Thankful for It

Colorado River - Grand Canyon   MMSikes

Revisiting the Grand Canyon last week was a wonderful, memorable experience. Now, with the crazy week since returning home, that special time seems like eons ago.

We flew back home on Saturday and, along the way in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, we met two of our daughters who were returning from Australia/Tasmania. To see them there was exciting!

This week has presented amazing and memorable opportunities. Tuesday I made a talk about the life of a writer to the Christopher Wren Society at the College of William and Mary and enjoyed meeting some new, interesting people there. The next day, I read my short story, "A Face in the Window" from The Corner Cafe at the Chesapeake Bay Writers Club. That was a part of a showcase of readings by many members of the group. Happily, my story was exactly the eight minutes time limit each participating member was given. The meeting took place in Yorktown where outside stands a sculpture commemorating the surrender of Lord Cornwallis in 1781.

More events this week include delivery of wreath entries for the upcoming exhibition at the Glen Allen Center for the Cultural Arts. "Ring in the Season" will be on display December 1 - 31 at the Center. I'm looking forward to seeing what the wreath show is all about because I've never made this type of work before. Gallery One at Crossroads Arts Center has an opening of an exhibition of work by Metropolitan Richmond Artists Association which includes two of my mixed media paintings on Yupo. An all-day workshop, Advanced Encaustics, will end my week. No time for jet lag!

Tiring, exhilarating. Tennis, yoga, zumba, and tabata classes were part of the week as well. How can the Grand Canyon seem so long ago and far away?

I am thankful for the opportunities being an American and living in this beautiful land offer to me!

Yoga, Being Present, Being a Writer

Grand Canyon area MM Sikes

For almost a year, I've taken a yoga class once a week. It's important to me for stretching, balance, and an overall feeling of well-being.

Tonight, at the end of the class where I tried to practice poses and more, I thought about how yoga and being present are related. As a writer, I always seem to be thinking and living in the future. Perhaps that's the way writers have to live their lives--writing, planning, and conceiving ideas for the next book. Sadly, we have to plan how to schedule and promote that next project. As workers and planners, we are never in the present. At least, it seems I'm not.

However, when I'm in yoga class, I have to be in the present, following directions for the stretches and poses. There, I am being in the present and living for the moment.

Living for the moment. What a refreshing concept!

Being a flower. Being a mountain. Being a piece of the magnificent Grand Canyon. Not thinking, not planning.

Being in the present! How good is that!!?

"E" -- The El Tovar, On the Edge of Wonder

Years ago, my husband and I took a cross-country trip from Virginia to California, and one of the stops along the way was the Grand Canyon where we stayed at the El Tovar. More trips followed for the Passenger to Paradise who never stopped being amazed by this rustic old hotel that opened in 1905 and sits right on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Sunsets viewed from the dining room of the El Tovar are dramatic and unforgettable.

I have visited the Grand Canyon and the El Tovar other times over the years and have taken many photographs, some of which I used to create working drawings for large acrylic paintings. The El Tovar became one of the 20 hotels in my coffee table book, Hotels to Remember.

A few years ago, a newspaper that carried an article I wrote about the El Tovar used the headline--"On the Edge of Wonder." I loved that headline which is so appropriate for this unique destination. Everyone should visit the Canyon one time and walk through the hotel to the dining room where magnificent windows reveal an unforgettable light display across multiple canyon facades..