About this Painting: Canyon de Chelly (pronounced shay) is a national park located near Chinle, Arizona about an hour and a half northwest from Gallup, New Mexico. Originally, it was called Tseyi, the Navajo word for “place within a rock,” but the spelling was modified by the Spanish and early American settlers in the canyon. The canyon may be viewed from the top by paved road via 14 lookouts (park and walk). It can also be seen from the canyon floor by hiking, horseback riding, or four wheeling tours with Navajo guides. This is a truly spiritual place with many ancient pictographs (painted) and petroglyphs (sculpted) depicting the native peoples’ lives through images. The canyon was inhabited from about 200 A.D. through 1300 A.D. -- first by the Anasazi people and then by the Ancestral Puebloans. The Navajos made Canyon de Chelly their permanent home around 1700 A.D. Over 75 Navajo families live and cultivate farmland in the canyon today. Many ruins are found in the cliffs and natural caves. I toured the canyon floor with James, a Navajo who had many exciting stories to tell. In this painting I wanted to capture the striking color changes in the sandstone, weathered and stained by water run-off, and the distant cliffs with purple and light red/brown colors. All of this is set off by the green cottonwoods, Russian olive trees, and the beautiful reflections in the water. I took over 400 pictures and captured only a fraction of the canyon’s beauty. You can buy a color guidebook at kcpublications.com if you are interested in learning more.
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