This painting is featured on Arizona Highways’ December 2021 issue. Original photograph by Esther Henderson. Priced at $19,000 includes Montgomery frame and 8x10 study. Half of the sales will be donated to charity.

My inspiration for this painting came from an original photograph of the Grand Canyon taken by longtime Arizona Highways contributor Esther Henderson (1911-2003), famous for her beautiful landscapes of the West. She entitled this photo, which appeared in the November 1978 issue of the magazine, Land of Snow and Mist, the Canyon's Winter Dress. As you can see, my title takes hers and adds "remembering", which is the intention of this project: to remember these works of photography.

Esther captured this image at Yaki Point at the South Rim, and on this snowy day, the sun was shining, but the clouds had dropped, obscuring most of the formations in a veil of mist. The play of colors — reds and cool blues — was stunning, and I was excited to create my personal
interpretation of her image on canvas. Using my own reference materials of the location, I began with an acrylic painting of splatters, drips and scrubs, a messy but inspirational start that helped me develop direction and mood. Look carefully and you may detect parts of this underpainting beneath the final top layer of oil. Layering two different mediums in this way lends depth and vibrancy to a finished work of art.

Not much has changed at Yaki since Esther took her picture here. The trees are taller and hardier now, but the snow still covers the ground, and the sun still shines. As an artist, I'm comforted to see what she saw and to paint what she photographed. I like to think the timelessness of the Canyon is revealed in our art.