Grand Canyon Eastern Gorge - #32315 by Candy Barr

 12 x 12 inches Oil on cradled birch

this one seems to gradually change over time.

Superstition Mountains - #3614 by Candy Barr

Detail

16 x 20 inches Oil on canvas

It was raining and I was standing under a ramada  when I did this originally.

It has seemed gloomy in my studio, so I gave the sky and some other areas a face lift.

This can be purchased from my gallery in downtown Scottsdale

CASA de ARTiSTAS

Superstition Mts by Candy Barr - # 1914

 18 x 24 x 2 inches Oil

Since the National Parks have lost their budgets in many of the AZ parks, we have to find new locations to set up and paint some of the classical scenes.  Some of the locals came by to see what we were doing.  Sadly an airplane crashed in the middle of this particular mountain one told me, and when the light is right, you can see an 'angel of death'  where the plane hit. A father with his 2 children and engineer pilot.  

Lone Saguaro #32213 by Candy Barr

12 x 12 Inches Oil an canvas  SOLD

Saguaro at Gateway #32113 by Candy Barr

8 x 10 inches Oil on canvas 

Demo for my class

Here is our small group I gave plein air class to this week at McDowell Sonoran Preserve at Gateway. Really nice paintings and efforts all around! (I guess visors are the way to go when it's hot here!)

Superstition Mts Rain #3913 by Candy Barr

16 x 20 inches Oil on canvas

Painting in the drizzling rain with temperatures in mid 40's... Arizona Plein Air Painters event but only 4 of us showed up at Lost Dutchman's Park in Apache Junction.  A nice part of Arizona

and here was framed art in the restaurant we went in after painting!  

We picked a good spot to paint I guess! Looks like same saguaro some years ago. 

Chuck Prudhomme (best in show last year at the Casa Grande Paint Out)  with his rig....and Toni Perrin modeling her painting gloves for cold weather and a peak into her customized Art Studio in back of her Jeep.  Magnetized containers help to keep everything in place... so cool! Not in photos another good painter Stevie Denny! she had to leave pronto.

Morning Grand Canyon #3613 by Candy Barr

24 x 24 inches Oil on Canvas  SOLD

This was done on location, beginning at sunrise with the early morning light and shadows still coming into canyon.   Previously posted, but I thought it related to yesterday's post of the desert wash with the deep morning shadows. 
Painting on site at the Grand Canyon is extraodinary.. so much to see and get lost in...magnificence the scale....

11 x 14 inches Oil on canvas


We painted today at the Tonto National Forest near the Saguaro Lake at Bulldog Mountain. Looking north up the wash with morning shadows, that soon become lit as the sun rises.

A few couples walked past us, as well as two RV groups.  It's crowded in the desert!

early morning deep shadows

Working on an orange underpainting to compensate for all the desert greens

the morning shadows force you to capture them in the foreground first before the sun dissolves them

By mid morning note no shadow down in the wash anymore

detail

Cottage Garden #3313 by Candy Barr

Painting in Paris in Springtime In Glendale, AZ

 20 x 20 inches Oil on canvas in process 
~ need to figure out sky vs roof and tree and darken the porch and add the flowers on arbor...  Note how different relationship of roof and sky are in am to pm

Getting the start with sun behind me, then by end of day sun coming towards me, which was much better for painting having the arbor backlit.

this was from earlier in week capturing Brandon Hamilton before he interviewed

 Carol Migray the fantastic owner of both Cottage Garden I and II.

Four Peaks #3113 by Candy Barr

 9 x 12 inches Oil on canvas SOLD

Posting this instead of the plein air event I went to today.  I'll try to complete it tomorrow and post the stages it went through.  

4 Amigos #22513 by Candy Barr

12 x 12 inches Oil on canvas

Early Morning Saguaros #22413

12 x 12 inches Oil on canvas

Looking across a deep gorge in the early morning light with the saguaros backlit was so dramatic...

The hillside in shadow didn't last long, and this is all I could get on location.

Fire Engine 151 #21013 by Candy Barr

11 x 14 inches Oil on canvas

The Glendale Chocolate Festival
Annual Plein Air Event

I walked a mile to the fire station to paint, set up and blocked in truck when they had a call and boarded the truck and left!

I was determined to stick it out painting the building and surrounds while I waited for them to return....as they did!  I cheered them back,   and as they pulled through the building, they asked if it was parked in the same spot then they all came over to see the painting.  The crew was a lively and nice bunch...(it had only been a poor driver they told me)
ah ...the firefighters...

 And the best of show winner 

Alex Pekala (on right)

standing next the Mayor Weiers of Glendale
with his watercolor of a corner home

Available to purchase

Pinnacle Peak with Saguaro #2613 by Candy Barr

 11 x 14 inches Oil on canvas

Pretty dark still at set up 8am, here's process 9am...with some light hitting the mountain,
Pinnacle Peak.


The sage are abundant with the occasional cholla, saguaro and palo verde in the back.  Behind the saguaro is an Ocitillo, used for natural fences, if one branch broken off and stuck into ground.  Farmers would not have to water it, and roots would take over and Voilà, you had a living fence.

The Ocotillo is pollinated by hummingbirds that like the honey nectar it produces. They feed on the flowers during their travel north from Mexico to the mountains of the Western US.

The Ocotillo is very plentiful and not endangered because it's the only Fonquieria to be cultivated. The plant is easily grown from seed and cuttings and sold as nursery stock. The shrub is often use as "fencing" because its spines stop people and animals from passing through. The Ocotillo can be planted at anytime of the year.

The Ocotillo is a desert success story. It is a plant that has adapted to its environment, and it is useful to both animals and mankind.

Here's the trail map the City of Scottsdale AZ puts out to hike the trail up.

Salt River Cliffs #13013 by Candy Barr

 11 x 14 inches Oil on canvas

 It was 37 degrees after sunrise, but sun hadn't come over the cliffs yet and fingers holding brush were having tough time until we retreated back into car and let the heat vents thaw them out!

I had originally added the birds as they were flying down to water, but figured too busy for this size.  But listening to them was very nice.