Plein Air Painters - To Paint the Land is to Save the Land

Courthouse Butte trail maker, showing the way to one of the Sedona Art Hike locations.

I originally wrote this article for my Sedona Art Hikes website blog. I think it is also appropriate for my art notes. As an artist concerned about the safety and well being of our environment, I think that by standing on the land in appreciation enough to put paint to canvas in celebration of that land is to save the land. Read on for more of my thoughts on this subject.

To Paint the Land is to Save the Land.

To stand on the land, our glorious, magnificent natural wondrous land in appreciation, is to save the land in that moment in time. As artists who paint it, we do what we can to preserve it on our canvas. While standing in nature while painting, something happens deep within us. The beauty captures something inside, our eyes take note with visual memory. I have to believe that a symbiotic relationship develops between us and the land. Could we move that experience forward? Could we acknowledge that we must, at that moment, take full responsibility for its protection, to save the land?

To paint something from life, we look deeper into it. We find something that moves us, pulls us forward into fuller appreciation. It is this full appreciation that has the power of possibility to heal both the artist and the land. Sure, the land is fine without us. The land will remain the land, if we can just leave her alone. Can we stop the destructive tendencies that some humans seem to be bent on doing in the name of expansion and growth to their corporation? Can we find something in the land that is more important than profits?

Sedona Art Hikes logo

At Sedona Art Hikes, it is our mission to do our small part in land conservation as a part of doing business. As we bring clients out onto the land, more and more people become aware of the intrinsic nature to nurture. It is our wish that each client who visits the Sedona landscape will honor the land upon which they stand. By painting what they are seeing and / or feeling, they are moving us forward to greater and greater awareness of the treasure that we must protect. We must protect the sacred, our natural resources. If we fail to do this, our very nature will cease to exist. We and nature help each other. What would a world be like if there were no more natural land to stand upon, only manmade structures? I shudder to think of such a horrid possibility.

“For those of us who paint [the landscape]… there is a visual memory quite different than those who snap a quick pic on their phones and hike on. We stand, in the moments, recording that space and time in a much deeper and more meaningful way. There is a part of our souls that opens up and spills out while simultaneously drinking in the world around us. We become partners with the land, and when we leave a piece of it remains inside of us.” – Lori Putnam

Joan Carra, a private painting client, is having fun with paint, honoring the land as she paints.

Each client who paints during our art hikes takes home a piece of divinity in the creation that they have made while here. Most of our clients are tourists who have come to experience the grandeur of our landscape. I imagine that their experience in painting on the U. S. Forest Service trails here in Sedona will impact them when they return. I hope it opens up a channel within them that when they return home, they will honor the land in which they live in new ways. And just perhaps, they will become new stewards with a newfound sense of a mission to save the land around them.

Links to mentions in this article:

Sedona Art Hikes

Psychic Joan Carra

About the Author

Mary Rae Rush (Mary Gravelle) is an artist, author, and creativity catalyst and consultant. She resides in Sedona, Arizona with her loving and efficient assistant, Sir Kitty. Her other services are Sedona Art Hikes and Wisdom Painting.

Contact her today with painting commissions, requests for creative work, consultations, or one on one coaching sessions. She is happy to paint something just for you. Or she can help you delve into your creativity and come out with your own unique expression.

Inquiries

Inquiries can be made through the contact page.

And, as always, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below. 

Until Next Week

• Appreciate art
• Buy art
• Create art

Digital image created by me. The Journey.

On Becoming a Green Artist 

For the last two weeks, I have been investigating the environmental impact that I might be making upon our glorious earth through my art making process. It’s a gigantic topic! Phew.

Recap

Integrity Rabbit Hole

During the first post, I was interested in the idea of Integrity and the artist. How far down the Integrity Rabbit Hole must the artist travel in order to protect our environment? My answer is that we must travel as far down as we can until it no longer makes sense. If there is a curiosity, we must follow it. As artists, we are the forerunners of bringing awareness to social consciousness.

Digital image by me. The Great Beyond is Calling.

For me personally, this has been an evolutionary process that began with the food I eat, becoming more cognizant of where that food comes from and how it gets to my table. I love animals and can no longer bear the fact that animals are being treated cruelly and then violently killed to put food on my table. 

And, then, there are the people that work in the meat industry. What an awful job that must be, one that surely instills, breeds, and justifies violence in the name of nurturing our bodies. That scenario no longer makes sense to me. I have switched to a vegan diet except for one item, honey. I have not given that up yet. This has been a progression of eliminating certain foods to come more in alignment with my values and integrity. 

Unlimited Potential, The Fool. Digital image by me.

Once we become aware of an issue, it is our responsibility to do the right thing as we see it. We also need to allow our values and truths to change over time because they do. We must bring our actions in alignment with our values. Read that article here.

Once we become aware of an issue, it is our responsibility to do the right thing as we see it.

Acrylic Paint: Is it Environmentally Friendly

The second article was looking at the question of whether my medium of choice, acrylic paint, is environmentally friendly. My answer to this second issue of acrylic paint being environmentally friendly is that it is not. Read more here.

My Research Continues on Becoming A Green Artist 

There is so much wrapped up around this issue that it will take me some time to continue my research on becoming a green artist. I hope this topic is of interest to you either as an art collector or a fellow artist. I will be reporting back here with more information as I gather it.

Energy Motion Infinity. Digital image by me. 

Questions to Discover

What interests me is the process of making art, not about creating images that convey messages about the impact mankind is making upon the natural world. It starts with the artist. 

• What materials can the artist use to lessen the footprint upon our environment? 
• How are we creating our art: i.e., are we creating with toxic materials, in a toxic environment, in toxic ways? 
• Are we protecting ourselves from the toxicity of the materials we are using? 
• If we are using toxic materials, how are we lessening the impact not only to ourselves, but to the environment?
• What are the alternatives?

Next Week:

Stay tuned for next’s article where I will explore this topic a little deeper. My first area of concern is how I can lessen my impact while using acrylic paints. If I cannot, then what are the alternative media that I need to think about switching to.

About the Author

Braylee Rush

Braylee Rush (Mary Gravelle) is an artist, author, and creativity catalyst and consultant. She resides in Sedona, Arizona with her loving and efficient assistant, Sir Kitty. Her other websites and work are: Wisdom Painting for Self-Discovery, Igniting Your Intentions, Sedona Art Hikes.

Contact her today with commissions or requests for creative work, consultations, or one on one coaching sessions. She can help you delve into your creativity and come out with your own unique expression.

Inquiries

Inquiries about this en plein air acrylic landscape painting can be made through the contact page.

And, as always, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.

Sir Kitty

Until Next Week

• Appreciate art
• Buy art
• Create art