Last May, Roger and I joined an eight day rafting adventure down the Grand Canyon. Our main purpose was to satisfy an item on our bucket list, but I also wanted to paint. We joined a plein air painting trip led by Cody De Long, an amazing artist who has received awards for his paintings of the Grand Canyon. I had the opportunity to paint twice a day during the trip so theoretically I should have finished the trip with 12 - 14 paintings. It didn't happen! I found out how difficult it is to complete a painting in around two hours. I was depressed when we ended the trip and I only had one painting that was reasonably good. I felt I had wasted time painting on the river instead of just enjoying the magnificent scenery. Well five months later I have now completed five more paintings. One a month, which at my speed that is just about right. The trip was an amazing experience best summed up by poet Amil Quayle called
"Go There"
Anything you have read about the Grand Canyon is a lie
Language falters and dies before the fact
The experience is inexpressible in words
The Grand Canyon is its own language
Written across space, causality and time
See how puny these words are
Do not believe them
Go there
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