I painted a view from Coyote Gulch this summer and since I worked on it little-by-little over the course of a few weeks, I didn’t bother filming it. Also, I was seriously low on space on my phone.
Either way, I felt it still deserved more than just a snapshot on Instagram.
I got to explore Coyote Gulch back in 2021 with two friends who flew in from Indianapolis to backpack with me. We spent four days and three nights exploring this amazing canyon and I would love to go again and bring my kids. Coyote Gulch is a meandering canyon carved by a creek that flows to the Escalante River. I wrote a pretty long post about that trip that you can read here if you’re interested.
The particular view I painted is what many call The Great Alcove. I don’t know if it officially has a name. It kinda gives the impression of an arch, but it’s not. Imagine a super tall canyon at a hairpin curve in a river. Now imagine that river flooding off and on over the course of many, many centuries and the water slowly carving out the lower walls of that canyon leaving behind what almost feels like a cave. And I kid you not, these canyons are well over a hundred feet all. In some spots the walls can be almost 900 feet high.
Do you see the scale of the canyon in this photo?!?! See the tiny people? The sand bar on the left is the beach we camped on and you can see the beginnings of the curve in the alcove at the top.
Coyote Gulch is part of Glen Canyon National Monument, but trail access to Coyote Gulch used to be part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. When our president shrunk over 90% of Grand Staircase-Escalante, the roads and canyons that allow us to access to Coyote Gulch are now at risk of being purchased or claimed for mining and drilling. Want to read more? SUWA is one of many nonprofits suing the federal government over this action.
We camped on this beach on the 3rd night of our trip and spent most of the evening relaxing and resting before the following day’s long hike out of the canyon. I took some time to paint en plein air from our campsite in a little sketchbook and the Art Toolkit I brought with me. We camped in three different spots for our three night trip and this one was our favorite by far. It also helped that no one else was there.
It took me a while to decide to actually paint this view. I altered the amount of water that was actually flowing in the creek and changed where the sunlight was hitting the canyon walls. One thing that really made this painting easier to paint was being able to use some paints from Blue Pine Arts. I bought a bunch of pastel paints from them that are more opaque that traditional watercolor (but not technically gouache either). They really helped me be happier with the color of the canyon walls.
I also used gouache in a few spots, like the bright green cottonwood trees. The cottonwoods that grow in the Utah desert always blow me away with their vibrance. We’re used to seeing more muted, silvery greens in the desert from sagebrush and other shrubs. Then, when there’s a little bit of water, BAM! We get the most vibrant yellow-green from cottonwood trees.
I have this original painting matted and framed if anyone is interested in purchasing it. Just shoot me an email and we’ll talk, alextebow@gmail.com. I also have this painting available as giclée prints in 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14 along with 3” circle vinyl stickers. You can order those in my shop.
I’m still reminiscing about this amazing trip, so my next painting might be another arch from there. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll find more places that used to be part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to paint.