Carrie’s Painting of the Week – 2/22/14
South Rim of the Grand Canyon
By Carrie Jacobson
The Grand Canyon is more amazing than you can imagine. It is stunning, vast, transporting. It is rich with colors and patterns and shadows, with history and geography and the forces of earth and nature. I stood at the edge of it and fell silent with wonder. I imagined the forces of the earth that caused it, the sharp and violent upheavals, the slow and nearly imperceptible carving by wind and water. I imagined the Native Americans living on the banks of the Colorado, deep, deep below the rim. I imagined the first white explorer to reach the rim, and the awe – and terror? – he must have felt.
I know you’ve seen photos and movies and pictures and paintings. You’ve flown over it, seen it from the sky. But you must, must see it in person. You must stand at the edge and look out over its impossible beauty, its nearly incomprehensible colors, its phenomenal depth and size. You must stand there and feel your own version of the world shift. You must stand there and feel awe.
So go! Now! Start making plans. Take the kids, take the spouse, take the grandparents. Or just go.
p.s., it was pretty scary and pretty challenging to make this little painting.
My painting in the landscape
Tags: Carrie Jacobson, carriejacobson, grand canyon
February 22nd, 2014 at 12:10 pm
Nice one on the Grand Canyon. I remember my one and only visit there because there were plaques on the South Rim that gave you an idea of what you were looking at and how far off these points were. There was one peak that (I guess) because of the visible distances to the north, east and west looked as though you could lean out and touch it. But the plaque noted that it was 45 miles to the north. Wide open spaces, I guess.
I have to get back there someday soon.
JP
February 24th, 2014 at 2:28 pm
Love this painting, Carrie. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon but I was once on a plane that flew over it so I got a spectacular but all-too-brief view. If it hadn’t been for my son, who was around nine or 10 at the time, I might have missed it. He had the window seat. I was focusing on a crossword puzzle when he poked me in the ribs and said “Look dad, there’s the Grand Union!”
February 26th, 2014 at 11:10 am
Thanks, Michael and Jeff! I hope you both get a chance to go, and see it (again) on the ground – and with the folks you love. You might not stay the whole day, or even stay for hours – but looking at it, even just the once, will change you in a way you’d never expect. Thanks for the comments, guys.