Plein Air Painting Workshop Day One - Red Cliffs of Kayenta Near Ivins

Outdoor painting workshop posing at the Ivins Reservoir. Back Row: Alice Robinson, Marsha Owen, Kelly McKelvey, Paulette Triplett, Mary Brown, Mark Rose. Front Row: Connie Madsen, Cindy McGregor, Dixie Stoddard, Sally Valiton, Margo Cook.

We were all tired by the end of two days, but we packed in a lot of plein air painting at the Roland Lee Plein Air watercolor workshop last week.
     After a short orientation session and Powerpoint presentation at Passion for Painting Studio, we carpooled out to the Kayenta area near Ivins, Utah to start our outdoor painting efforts. I began with a quick watercolor demonstration using the brilliant red cliffs and amazing views as my subject. My goal was to give the artists a few tips on capturing the fleeting and constantly changing shadows on the cliffs. They were eager to learn, and picked it up quickly, moving on to their own paintings.
     We took a noon break with lunch at Kayenta's Xetava Restaurant, viewed the artwork at the Datura Gallery then went to work again in the beautiful desert gardens adjacent to the art village. Some chose cactus flowers and others keyed in on the native flowers as we once again worked on capturing light and shadow. We finished the day with a visit to the spectacular Ivins Reservoir where we gathered for a group shot.

The Red Cliffs of Kayenta were spectacular against the vivid blue sky and billowing clouds

Cindy McGregor hard at work

Mark Rose, Margo Cook, and Dixie Stoddard each chose different vantage points

Marsha Owen traveled from Arizona to participate in the Roland Lee plein air workshop

Sally Valiton is a seasoned artist from Ridgecrest California

Alice Robinson works among the Desert Marigolds

Mark Rose happily works on his painting in the Kayenta Art Village desert garden

Cindy McGregor is ready to go

Paulette Triplett has a comfortable set-up

Roland Lee painted a cluster of yellow desert flowers

Dixie Stoddard looks relaxed as she works on a painting of cactus flowers

Dixie Stoddard's brilliant little study in watercolor

Connie Madsen found a shady spot in the Xetava Gardens at Kayenta Art Village

Mary Brown painting in the garden at Kayenta Art Village

Kelly McKelvey looking content and happy as she paints in Kayenta Art Village's garden