Santa Elena Canyon, 10x8. sold

This is another painting from our Big Bend trip. We had seen Santa Elena Canyon before this day but always with the sun behind it. We resolved to spend a morning with it to try to capture its grandeur fully lit. The right side of the canyon is the US, the left side of the canyon is Mexico, and between them is the Rio Grande. The river was unusually high, as Mexico had just released a huge amount of water, raising the level up to 10 feet higer than normal, we were told. The color of the water was milky green and even looking right down into it, it had no discernible transparency. We were visited a lot while painting, having picked such a nice perch. The day before this, while viewing it at sunset, we shared the perch with a Disney film crew! They were doing a documentary on Big Bend. They got some fantastic shots but all of their work captured successive moments. This painting is trying to capture a morning. I hope you like it.