Vacation in Canyon Country

I don’t know why I didn’t post these last summer, but I still feel like I should share them.  Last August my now-wife Linda and I drove from Denver, Colorado to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, stopping in Utah on the way.  I had a few chances to get some sketching in, including a watercolor!

On the way there, we stopped in Grand Junction for Nepalese food and I did this sketch, with our little Honda between the two bigger cars.

grand junction colorado

At Arches National Park near Moab, Utah we hiked to Delicate Arch.  Linda was happy to sit and rest while I did this sketch.

delicate arch

I did this sketch of the lobby of Bright Angel Lodge at the Grand Canyon.  We didn’t stay here because it was booked solid–we just used the lobby for free wi-fi.

bright angel lodge lobby

In the morning we went to a Ranger talk on fossils that was very cool.  We walked through an area where marine fossils are literally falling out of the ground.  We then went for a little hike, and I proposed to Linda.  (She said yes.)  After that, I did this quick sketch while we sat on a bench watching for California Condors, which have been successfully reintroduced to the area.

view of grand canyon village from fossil beds

Later that afternoon, I sketched from Yavapai Point.

from yavapai point

The following morning, I got up very early and left our lodge to do a few more sketches near Yavapai Point and the Geology Museum before we left to go home.  I felt that if I left having only drawn the Grand Canyon in black and white it would be a travesty, so I pulled out my watercolors.  Fortunately I only needed two colors for this sketch, so I couldn’t screw it up too badly.

yavapai point watercolor

Even remembered to document it while I was there:

grand canyon watercolor

One last sketch before we drove home.

near geology museum

by Paul Heaston

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