Exploring Arizona's Montezuma Well

"Montezuma Well #1" oil on canvas (c) Janet Tremblay 2009

       A trip through Arizona is a great adventure on its own.  You can visit a volcano, a giant meteor crater, snow capped mountains, the grand canyon,  the hoover dam, The red rock valley, ancient cultural landmarks, a painted desert, a petrified forest...  the list goes on.  There is so much to explore that one must take pictures of the unique landscape of Arizona to remember how different it truly is. 

       And on occasion those photographic memories may inspire you to paint or animate.  My Fiance and I had created 2 paintings each of different places close to the Camp Verde area.  The first painting I created was of a stair case cascading into Montezuma well.

       It had been raining and Travis and I took shelter under one of the cliff sides and I liked the composition of the stone steps down to the water.  Montezuma Well is part of the native American ruins associated with Montezuma Castle.  It is a large well that collects rain and has stone shelters on the inside walls.  Clay pottery, arrows and other remnants of the Natives that once lived there can still be found amongst the desert cliff dwellings.