In 1999 we made a trip to the Southwest, a big loop around the four corners. We had done a similar trip seven years earlier and wanted to revisit some of our favorite places and add a few new ones. One of those favorite places was Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Like all of that part of the country, it is full of red-rock mesas and canyons. Ever since that trip I have wanted to go back to the area, but never got around to it. I guess that influenced my choice of a scene to paint.
Here's another scene from that same Southwest trip. On our way from southern Colorado and into Utah on our way to Capitol Reef, we stopped at Natural Bridges National Monument. The canyons and bridges were quite impressive and we hiked around a bit to see them. This was the last bridge that we came to, the Owachomo Bridge. I had forgotten the name, but found it by looking up the park map online. I wanted my painting to have sky with some softer-edged clouds. As is often the case with watercolor, that area took only a minute or two to paint but it was the most challenging part.
