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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Pleasures of Living Here

From the Schuerman Trail - 9x12, oil

One of the pleasures of living in Sedona is that there are so many good painters here to paint with.  Yesterday, I went out with my friend Cody Delong, a very fine painter who lives in the area and who has a studio gallery up in the historic mining town of Jerome.

Cody Delong

Another pleasure of living here is that we have so many great spots to paint in - so many, in fact, that it is literally taking me years to find them all.  When we were discussing where to paint, Cody asked if I'd ever been up the Schuerman Trail.   I hadn't, nor had he, but we'd heard it offered sweeping views.

I have a favorite website I go to when looking up trail information.  It noted that the elevation chart showed a rather steep, half-mile section at the start, but then it had the trail flattening out to an overlook not too far beyond it.  Although it was only a few hundred feet in elevation change, I had a fully-loaded backpack for painting.  Still, it was a nice hike along the shaded side of Schuerman Mountain.  The shade was welcome, considering we've been having unseasonably warm weather lately.

Me painting - the painting is at the top of the post

Cody brought his year-old puppy, Coya, and I had Trina with me.  Trina took photos while Coya dug up sticks to chew.  Once we got started painting, Trina went off to hike, Coya went off to investigate cactuses, and soon Cody and I fell silent as we got into the "zone."  By the time the sun threatened to sink behind the mountains, we were ready to pack up and head back down the trail.

Now that I've tried one new location, I'm eager to look for some more!