A Trip to the Grand Canyon

Gazing over the edge. The Grand Canyon is too large to be seen from the ground.  One can only ponder the numerous adventures exploring this phenomena.  
On a nice day the Canyons colors of bright oranges and mixed earth hues stand out against a bright blue sky.   Strange rock formations stand tall balancing on themselves.  Layers of erosion show the years of drought.  This Canyon was once a very large lake.  Dwindled down to a river that powers the Hoover Dam, Vegas and a Large portion of California. 

What will happen when it dries up and there is no more water to power the cities of Nevada and California.  Will they become ghost towns? Will people be forced to create new ways of making fresh water and electricity?  Only time will tell.

Grand Canyon

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.