Jessie Benton Evans paintings

Landscapes, acrylics, Sedona, Arizona. "This remarkable landscape of white and red cliffs, pillars and spires is like a miniature Grand Canyon. We drove up a hill called Schnebly, and lugged our supplies to a promontory that was so high that we were at the same level as soaring birds. I tied my canvas to a juniper tree, backing it with cardboard, so branches wouldn't poke the canvas. Then a terrific rain storm blew from the south. Miraculously, it passed in front of us rather than on us, and we had only wind. I put various stages of the storm in the painting all at once -- the rainbow, sun peeking out, and the large rain cloud. Sedona was once under water and we found fossilized seashells even at high altitudes. The valley looked like the sea, with its dappled light, as if it could be the creation of the world."