Tag Archives: nevada

Red Rocks Painting Las Vegas

Red Rocks Canyon

Red Rocks Painting Las Vegas

Red Rocks Painting – For Sale

I tagged along to an IT conference in Las Vegas last summer, and had a confused time getting out to Red Rocks Canyon due to my tendency to drive in giant circles while taking wrong turn after wrong turn.

So I’d hoped to do more paintings of the desert on location than I managed to. This is a studio piece that’s been trying to get finished for the past five or six months. Fox Canyon? Wildsomething Canyon? I can’t remember what this pocket canyon was called, but I would have loved to explore it more than I did before the sun went down.

Nevada Desert Painting

Nevada Desert Painting

Nevada Desert Painting- For Sale

I tagged along to a software conference (Splunk) to paint in the Nevada desert outside Las Vegas.

I got turned around when headed to Red Rocks.

Here’s the desert from where I wound up when I got lost. No red rocks here, but the blue mountains were very pretty. I was on the exact opposite side of the city from where I wanted to be- but still on the same street!

Red Rock Canyon Painting

Red Rock Canyon Painting, Las Vegas, Nevada

Red Rock Canyon Painting, Las Vegas, Nevada – Buy now

A plein air painting from Red Rock national conservation area in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I planned to go at dawn.

I would paint glorious desert sunrises. I left the hotel at 6:15. It was only 20 minutes to Red Rocks.

I then got hopelessly lost. But hope is an anchor, and I did not give up.

Those of you who’ve known me for a while are familiar with the drill. The night before, I carefully copied down directions to and from my hotel. I sent maps to my phone. I double checked everything. I drove out of the parking garage, took one wrong turn, and proceeded to drive all the way around the city on the beltway.

Eventually, I did find the right road, so I exited 215 and drove out into the desert. I was rejoicing- but I rejoiced too soon. The road dead-ended in a half-built subdivision.

Turned out I was still on the opposite side of town from Red Rocks. So I executed a 3 point turn and drove straight across the city for about 20 miles, or 40 miles, or however far it was, and arrived at Red Rocks around 2 PM. Red Rocks was stunningly beautiful so I think it was worth it.

The day was wonderfully mild- not 105 as I had feared, and I was able to work on several paintings. Here’s the first one.

Red Rock Canyon Plein Air

Red Rock Canyon Plein Air

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