Capitol Reef

I opened my eyes this morning with much pride and excitement. In the early morning hours, Rex had created a beautiful 18 x 24 plein air painting. He had been anxious and a bit nervous to tackle such a large canvas, but I reminded him of his recent 4 x 5-foot painting that was snatched up and purchased by an art museum director.

He persisted

Despite his nerves, an active night of fierce wind, and 3 am drive-by (yes, a car drove right through our dead-end camp spot in the middle of the night), Rex got up before sunrise and pulled out an 18 x 24 canvas, and he persisted.

I think it might be the best plein air I’ve ever done.

Rex

Castle in the Reef

After a successful morning, we packed up and entered the park in search of our next spot. We set up under a rock cliff overhang, and across the way from Capitol Reef’s Castle. Again I found a nook tucked back under the lower levels of the overhang. The shade was the most comfortable of temperatures, and the views just as satisfying.

Wrinkle in time

As I peered up at the Castle, made of fractured Wingate Sandstone gracefully perched upon blue-grey Chinle and burnt red Moenkopi formations, I imagined we were neighbors—the Castle, high in sky, and me—in my modest cliff overhang. I tilted my head high to see the afternoon light pull out the deep terra cotta of the majestic rock tower, like a painted masterpiece hung in just the right light. I wondered why I was here, and not there. But as my eyes transfixed upon its mystic and beauty, I reconciled that the Castle was just one wrinkle in time, and I, the other.

Poetry and Prose in the Park

Later we lunched in the park near a Fremont Cottonwood. We ate peanut and coconut butter with grape jelly tortilla sandwiches while Rex read poetry and prose written by Michael Ondaatje to me. The lazy afternoon continued as we leisurely perused camp spots and settled in another wash area. After a quinoa, kale, and fava bean dinner, we watched the waxing moon rise, and played the game would you rather…

Rex would rather:

• Have eagle eye vision instead of night vision
• Stand in a field of a million butterflies instead of swim with dolphins
• And if aliens landed and asked him to star in a musical, he would.

I would rather:

• Go forward 10,000 years than go back to the age of the dinosaurs.
• Have gills instead of fur.