The 2nd annual plein air retreat in the panhandle of Texas was everything you could hope for, but don't take my word for it! One of the attendees gave this honest and humorous review:
"John, thank you for organizing this trip. Painting in that beautiful Texas canyon is wonderfully difficult. Constantly changing light, colors and shadows. Then there is the heat. Then there is the wind. Then there are the distractions of the onlooking people, the food/water planning, the failed painting attempts, and the cactus spines in your ankles and hands. It's a hard place to do one of the hardest things. Oh yes, did I mention the flies? Flies from Pharoah. Flies in your food, in your paint, and in your mouth. And yet I can't wait to go back there. Nothing has challenged and humbled me in painting like this. It forced me to really concentrate and understand form first. It made me think about relative color. And now, back in my day to day artist life, I think about painting problems differently and in the context of my experience in Palo Duro Canyon. So glad I joined you and your art friends."
