On the edge of Navaho Land

Today, I was up before the sun and on the road to Navaho Land. On previous visits to Wupatki National Monument, I had seen a dirt road that cut across the desert to the Little Colorado River and that was my destination. By 8:30 a.m. I reached the river. It is shallow, almost nothing more than a mudflat with a few inches of water, but it reflected the blue of the sky and contrasted beautifully with the red rocks and tan silty mud.



For this first watercolor, I perched my stool on a hardened silt bar that jutted into the river and painting the view looking north or down the river.

This is the view across the river into Navaho Land. It has a stark and wild beauty.



After enjoying most of the morning at the river, I then headed back into Wupatki and perched in what little shade a scraggly juniper provided for this sketch. I would have liked to put more detail into it, but it was simply too hot!