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My New Easel!

10/23/2026 5:12:51 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

Some of my painting friends urged me to consider a Hughes Easel. Counterweights allow a painter to manipulate it with one finger--back and forth, up and down, saving time and aggravation with sticky knobs and stubborn gears. I called Don Andrews, maker of Hughes Easels in Punta Gorda, FL and ordered one back in April. Look what pulled up on October 16th!

My home was the last stop of the day for Kyle. I had hoped he could at least help us get the two impossibly heavy boxes hauled up to the house. Kyle did more than that!

We have a steep driveway but Kyle carried the mast assembly right up the driveway, through the garage--

--and into my studio.

Next came the body of the easel in a huge box back in the corner. I thought he might use the small fork lift, but as you can see--

The forks didn't fit in the pallet.

Kyle balanced the box on the forklift wagon and you can see what happened next.

I assumed Kyle would be bidding adieu at that point, but he asked for a screwdriver and started disassembling the packaging.

This portion was amazingly packaged. We wriggled it out of its moorings onto the garage floor. Kyle was tireless. This had turned out to be "white-glove delivery" We handed him a generous thank-you, and he was off for the evening. We decided to tackle the rest of the assembly the next morning.

Here's the sunrise the next morning. Not bad!

This part became so intense, I forgot to take photos along the way. This is the upright assembly that will be fastened onto the mainframe. This proved to be the most difficult part, taking sheer strength to lift the thing, then position it so that pulley-type wheels on the top rested on a narrow rail and an angle iron at the bottom rested in place. Somehow we got it right after a dozen tries.

We put castors on the mainframe and wheeled it into my studio

And here, finally is the fully assembled easel! There were directions to put the nameplate on before erecting it, but that didn't seem necessary. After we put it together, it became apparent why it should have been done earlier.

Stan dragged out a ladder and finished the assembly with the lovely "Hughes Easel" brass plate screwed into place.

This easel is able to take on canvases 6' high and wide--so wouldn't you know, the honor of the first painting I tackled went to a commission for friend and collector Doug Holiman.

I am truly delighted with the versatility and ease with which this easel works. Now I can't wait for the painting muse to tell me what the next large painting should be. Send me your thoughts!

Take a Hike--Bug Springs Trail

10/23/2026 5:04:00 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

This is a story of how best thought-out plans can go awry. The Bug Springs trail is listed as an alternate route on the AZT. If you don't wish to hike up the Catalinas with a heavy backpack and camp for several days, you can do the alternate route made up of four segments of much shorter distance. We already did the lowest portion, the Molino Trail several years ago, so it seemed time to do the next segment up. Using a shuttle idea, we left my car at the Gordon Hirabayashi "Prison Camp" location, then drove Stan's car five miles up Mt. Lemmon Hwy to the Bug Springs trailhead. The intent to hike downhill seemed like a good plan on this early September morning. We gave little thought to just how hot it might get as we hiked on out of the forest and into the foothills

We knew we'd be hiking up and down steep ridges at the beginning. No surprise, however recent rains had washed out chunks of the trail.

Nonetheless, it's cool and shady. There's a peek at the highway.

Up steep ridges--then back down to the next one.

Now and then getting a peek at the distant horizon and hoping the trail will soon level out.

Lovely twists in the trail take a hiker through damp stream beds and--

--a friendly black swallowtail that persisted swooping along as we hiked,

The day was warming and finding shade started to be quite welcome.

With the drop in elevation, the shady pines disappeared and the terrain began to level off a bit.

Finally, we leveled out with a view that told us we were truly starting on the way down the foothills. Time to stop and rest the feet.

And have a little lunch while enjoying the view. It should be easy from here.

The trail starts to lead severely downhill; still a pleasure from hiking up those ridges.

The trail guide described many interesting hoodoos and formations. The exposed trail, however was beginning to get hot and there was very little shade along the way.

What started out to be a cool hike with light jackets turned into an inferno. The oversized white shirt I wore at the beginning became a sunshield as I doused it with water and wore it over my head like a burka. No picture for the next 2.5 miles. We were simply focused on making it back to the car we'd left at the Camp.

Finally, at the highway, just a short distance to the car. This was probably one of the toughest and dumbest hikes we have ever done.

Lesson learned--Don't hike in Tucson's summer heat even if you think the higher elevation will help--and bring more water than you think you'll ever need.

Celebration of Art-2026

9/28/2026 12:50:45 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

Up at 4:30am and out the door by 5:30am in Tusayan, just a few miles outside of the South gate, we can already see the sunlight painting the underbellies of the clouds. This should be a good sunrise!

Once inside the Park, it's just a short drive to Yaki Point. There's Wotan's Throne and Vishnu Temple on the horizon.

My gear is ready for the first painting of the day.

Did I tell you it was going to be good?! This was a sunrise that wouldn't quit.

Set up to paint right on the edge.

One shouldn't always look east at sunrise. There are a lot of exciting views the opposite direction.

Morning shadows are very blue and I liked the look of light cascading down the flanks of Zoroaster and Brahma Temples.

The advancing sun starts to light up the inner canyon

Let's take a break and notice the details that make it the experience it is. Almost everywhere you go, there are ravens strutting their stuff.

I had a small bag of peanuts and accidentally dropped one. It didn't stay there long. This piñon jay was on it immediately.

And here's a telephoto shot of little Bright Angel Creek. The flash flood happened about a month ago. What looks like a broadened river shows scouring done by the debris in the flood.

I love this time of year at the Canyon. Billows of chamisa bloom everywhere!

Let's take a little detour out to the east about 20 miles. This is a formation known as "Sinking Ship" and the view beyond.

And here's another downpour happening in Bright Angel Canyon where the flash flood happened a month ago.

This is Saturday night's sundown during the opening of the show. Painters abandoned the guests for a few moments and grabbed photos that may turn into paintings in the future.

Finally, one of the best things about painting is when I can give a young child a chance to "help" me with a painting. Shaanvi and her parents walked by as I was working on a 12x12 at Hopi Point. I needed some help putting bushes in the foreground and Shaanvi came along at just the right time. Just look at that focus!

Take a Hike-Hickman Bridge, Capitol Reef N.P.

8/27/2026 1:43:48 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

Hickman Bridge is just few miles into the Park. The day is predicted to be hot, so an early start on a short trail that involves a steep climb is a good choice

The Fremont River is just on the other side of this wall,

The ascent starts immediately.

Lots of switchbacks allow a peek at the Fremont River and the entrance road below. Looking up, the views become better and better.

We reach a place on the trail where we encounter boulders that appear to be remnants from a lava flow. Indeed, basalt from volcanic eruptions miles and miles to the north have eroded and tumble down through stream beds and slopes.

We reach the junction for Hickman Bridge.

Glowing in the morning light is the Wingate Formation, I've needed to learn names of layers that at one time may have been deposited above the familiar ones at Grand Canyon.

Let's look at the small things along the way.

Small holes dug by little bugs known as "and lions", When a hapless ant tumbles own the slope of the sand pit, the antlion gets a fine lunch.

Primrose.

Sandstone eroded in crazy shapes.

Rugged beauty, the trail is about to drop down into a lovely wash.

Easy to follow with trail in the sand; not so easy when we're up on slick rock.

We turn a corner, follow a faint trail over slick rock, and there it is, Hickman Bridge! It is somewhat difficult to discern in the harsh morning light, however.

I put some other hikers in this shot to give some scale to the size of the Bridge.

The wash below the bridge is really pretty. One enterprising cottonwood tree has found a reliable source of water.

And here we are under Hickman Bridge.

The morning is already heating up, so find a shady slab of slick rock and have a snack!

There is a loop at the end of this trail that encircles the Bridge. Enjoy the rest of the trail, then follow your steps back to the parking lot.

Take a Hike-Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef NP

7/29/2026 5:06:37 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

The Cohab Canyon Trail begins with an immediate ascent of 440' straight up through the Moenkopi and Chinle Formations. The day is already warm at 8 a.m. One step at a time!

Heavy rains in recent days washed a lot of silt and stones onto the steps, nearly obscuring some of them.

The Chinle Formation is made of colorful bands of clay and can be found as far south as the Painted Desert. Easy to spot amid all the other layers here with its rounded pale grey shape and bands of color.

Short stone-step switchbacks zig-zag up the slope.

Every few turns it's cool to check out how much higher we are. That feels like progress!

At last, we level out at the base of the next layer, Wingate Sandstone

Interesting detail where the Wingate makes contact with the Chinle!

One more look back to see how far we've come.

And now into Cohab Canyon. There has been a lot of run-off after yesterday's rains. We'll be hiking along a damp creek bottom most of the way.

One more look back and--

a look forward at the trail. Sunlight is just peeking into the Canyon. The damp earth, wet vegetation and the release of the plants' oils mixed into the earth's minerals create the most wonderful fragrance known as "petrichor".

The trail winds between huge fallen rocks from time to time, rising and falling until we get down into the creek bed,

Ripples in the mud make beautiful patterns.

Not many wildflowers to be seen other than an occasional paintbrush.

And a sweet little green lizard warming his body on the rock

We met a Flagstaff photographer along the route, Byron Neslen. Watch for his cover photo in October's Arizona Highways!

Surprises everywhere. While chatting with Byron, I looked up to see this window in the rock.

The sandstone submits to interesting erosional patterns--a rocky Swiss cheese.

The cliff walls lend themselves not only to cool holes, but straight-sided fissures and slots. Of course, I had to venture in.

And a look back out. Stan chats with another hiker.

The narrow Canyon walls begin to widen. Our intent on this hike was to do one more ascent to two overlooks. The side trail leading there is somewhere up ahead.

The Canyon opens to acres of slanted "slickrock". Although easy to walk on, one can lose the trail easily. With no cairns to mark the way to the other side, we noodled around until in the distance--

Stan spotted two parallel lines of rounded lava rocks. No doubt about the trail now!

The morning became increasingly hot and humid. Clouds portending thunderstorms were beginning to form in the west. Time for a little lunch, then retrace our steps. We didn't make it to the overlooks, but that's OK. This was an absolutely beautiful trail and it wouldn't be fun with the threat of lightning.

By the way, Stan's hat wasn't levitating from his head. He had it balanced on his trekking poles.

Back through the Canyon and to the point where we'll start the 440' descent. to the car. If you're ever fortunate enough to visit Capitol Reef, this is simply a delightful trail and worth the effort to get there.

Take a Hike-Marshall Gulch

6/26/2026 7:24:52 AM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

It's always a good idea to take a photo of the trail map--just in case there's any confusion along the way.

The trail starts off straight uphill!

And then levels off to a lovely ramble into the forest.

I wish you could hear the variety of bird calls.

Not long into the hike, we start paralleling a stream.

Arizona Honeysuckle.

After crossing the stream a steep climb.

And a look back. The first mile of the trail is simply beautiful with wildflowers and ferns.

Seep Monkeyflower grows all along the creek.

Follow Stan for more uphill.

After a while, we emerge into an open area which was burned by the Aspen Fire some years ago. These trees are some of the survivors.

Finally at the top of the rise, we come to a junction of several trails; Mint Spring, AZ Trail, and the Aspen Loop. We'll take the Aspen Loop trail after having lunch on this convenient log.

The birds here are very comfortable around people and they're probably accustomed to gleaning crumbs from lunches. Here, a little white-breasted nuthatch inspects our poles.

On our way to a very different portion of the trail. From here, we get some long views all the way to the Santa Ritas.

And long hills, too. Along the dry, seeming inhospitable margins of this trail were some of the sweetest, determined wildflowers.

Bluets

Richardson's geranium.

The trail bends toward shady forest again as we start heading downhill back to the car.

The final stretch.

Stan was ahead of me a good deal of the time because I dawdle taking photos. The lot was empty when we arrived early this morning. I didn't mention that the road to the trailhead was closed and we needed to take a very twisty and hilly detour through Summerhaven's residential area. On our way back through, we came upon just the perfect stop--

Two little girls, Grace and Ruthie, were selling chocolate chip cookies. I bought two and we had the most delightful conversation. A perfect end to a perfectly fun hike!

Take a Hike-Ash Creek, Portal, AZ

5/25/2026 7:36:29 AM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

It was a very windy day. There was a veil of dust, or smoke, we weren't quite sure as we drove into Cave Creek Canyon

After about 10 miles we came to the end of the road where we found the trail that would eventually lead us to Ash Creek

After a quarter mile, we turned off the Greenhouse trail to Ash Creek. It's a beautiful ramble along steep hillsides and dodging some enormous agaves.

A few spring flowers appear along the way. Sand verbena here.

The trail takes a gentle turn with a down-valley view. That's when it occurred that the veil was mainly dust! High winds in nearby New Mexico produced this phenomenon!

The trail drops down into Ash Creek where we'll cross and start the second half of the hike.

There are several crossings, but all of them easy.

The trail parallels another creek.

Encountering gates on trails isn't at all unusual. What was unusual about this one was that we simply could NOT get it open. Stubborn rusted metal and no way to squeeze around it, the only choice was to go up and over.

One more creek crossing, then a trudge uphill to the car. This was a lovely hike and one recommended to us by our Portal friend Molly H. Portal is pretty remote, but a beautiful birding spot and a great place to star gaze!

Paint Arizona Day

4/27/2026 4:45:25 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

The morning was clear and cold. Winds whipped with gusts up to 20 mph. Not a fun day to paint outdoors, so I checked in with the staff at the Geology Museum to see if I might set up indoors. The Museum has huge windows revealing an expansive view of the Canyon.

I decided my first painting would be of Skeleton Point. The shadows would remain pretty constant and give me time to get a "warm-up" painting in. It was a different experience painting behind windows!

I had plenty of time to start a second painting. I decided to take a narrow view of just a portion of Skeleton Point. By now the building was full of visitors. I don't mind people watching and I really enjoy interacting with them. There were many families with young children visiting on this day.

When I realize that a child is watching intently I will turn to them and ask, "are you a painter, too?" They almost always nod and say they like to paint. Even if they tell me they can't paint, I invite them to help me with some portion of my canvas. Here, Luna helps paint a little bit of Pipe Creek. She even gave me a bit of advice on painting some of the vegetation!

After a midday break, I set up once again, this time with a small canvas. I had immediate interest from young children, so I let this little girl help paint Plateau Point.

Elena worked on the shadows.

Just look at that intense focus!

A little later, I thought I'd have time to start a fourth one. Gil and her family were watching, so I put my vest on Gil and gave her a brush.

A look back at her mom for approval.

I didn't catch this young lady's name, but she had fun.

By late afternoon I had a line-up of kids wanting to give it a try. The painting didn't resemble much of the original intent, but that didn't matter.

Unai was visiting with his mother and aunt from the Basque region of Spain. He finished up the painting with incredible focus. As I was cleaning up my equipment and starting to pack it away, he returned with a small notepad and proudly showed me some of the drawings he'd done. They were good. We had a discussion about how light moves across the formations in the Canyon.

One just never knows when a brief experience such as "helping" a painter with their canvas, might be a life-changing experience for a young child. Think about an experience you might have had in your youth that sent your focus to what you are doing and enjoying today as an adult. I would love to know your thoughts and experiences!

Cowgirl UP! 2026

3/30/2026 6:33:21 PM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

Here are all the lucky gals to have been chosen for this year's event.

Two galleries, the Main and the Mini. Here's the crowd Friday evening in the Mini gallery.

My three paintings in the Main Gallery.

A favorite of mine "Carved of Spirit and Stone"

Saturday morning, friend and collector Doug Holiman purchased one of my minis, Distant Drums. Doug is traditional Blackfoot Lakota Sioux. He likes the ceremony of "sealing the deal" with a smoke on his peace pipe. Here, he displays and honors the items to assemble the pipe.

Doug tamps wild tobacco into the pipestone bowl of the pipe.

Sunday morning started with artists breakfast followed by a 90 minute quick draw. Here all the participating artists are lined up along the front of the museum ready to start!

Carson Thomas, our wonderful auctioneer. Love the tie!

The tent was crowded with bidders and onlookers. Each of us carried our paintings through the crowd as the bidding continued.

Debbie Shepard, the new owner of my auction/quick draw painting, Trail of the Ancients.

Jeff and Jill Dixon took home Traveling Through Time.

The show continues through May 31.

Take a Hike-Cave Creek, Portal, AZ

3/23/2026 11:34:19 AM | By Dawn Sutherland | Comment on this

Meet Molly and her dog Mojo. And you already recognize Stan.

Because I am constantly taking photos, I usually lag behind. This is a chilly morning and even the birds are just starting to o wake up. By the way, if it looks as though I tilted my cell phone camera, you'll notice that the trail is level along with Stan and Molly, The trees seemed to be leaning toward the sun in this narrow canyon.