Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Grand Canyon National Park

Some favorite photos from our visit to Sedona, Arizona, for the Sedona Plein Air Festival. We managed to fit a quick trip to the Grand Canyon in before we left Arizona for Texas, and are so glad we did. It was the highlight of this leg of the trip.

Sunset on the Grand Canyon National Park near the Desert View Watchtower 

Patrick Saunders photographing the Grand Canyon

Sedona, Arizona

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Sonoma, California

Some favorite photos from our trip to Sonoma, California, for the Sonoma Plein Air Festival. We especially enjoyed our time at Muir Woods.

Patrick Saunders painting the Cathedral Grove in Muir Woods

Detail shot of Patrick Saunders painting the Cathedral Grove in Muir Woods

Sun light filtering through Muir Woods

Point Reyes Shipwreck after a fire caused by a photographer

Spud Point Marina, Bodega Bay, California

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Port Angeles, Washington

Some favorite photos of our visit to Port Angeles, Washington, for Paint The Peninsula. The Cape Flattery Trail is easily one of the most jaw dropping places we have been in the United States. We also managed a ferry ride to Victoria British Columbia, for a day trip to the Butchart Gardens.

Cape Flattery Trail tip, Neah Bay

Cape Flattery Trail tip, Neah Bay

Patrick Saunders on the Cape Flattery Trail

Patrick on the Cape Flattery Trail

Fan Tan Alley, Chinatown, British Victoria

Dancing Fountain, Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, Canada

A favorite overnight campsite in Washington state on our way to Port Angeles

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Yellowstone National Park

Some favorite photos of an unforgettable week we spent at Yellowstone National Park on our way to the West Coast.

Electric Peak at sunrise

Patrick Saunders at the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone Park

The Excelsior Geyser Crater at Yellowstone National Park

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Door County, Wisconsin

Some favorite photos of our visit to Door County, Wisconsin, for the Door County Plein Air Festival.

Patrick Saunders painting Wilson's Restaurant at sunset.

Sunset on Sister Bay in Door County, Wisconsin

The famous goats of Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant munching its roof

Patrick Saunders painting an abandoned barn in Door County, Wisconsin

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Easton, Maryland

Some favorite photos from our time in Easton, Maryland, for Plein Air Easton.

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Washington D.C. and New York

Some favorite photos from our quick trip to these cities before Plein Air Easton.

Washington Monument at sunrise

Koreatown, New York

Love lock on the Brooklyn Bridge

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Saunders Fine Arts Photography - Joaquin Sorolla's "Vision of Spain"

Patrick Saunders with Joaquin Sorolla's "Visions of Spain" mural.

After Plein Air Richmond, Patrick Saunders had participated in nine plein air events already, and he was still less than halfway through the season. Fortunately, we had about a two-week break after Richmond before Plein Air Easton began, and we decided to make the most of it.

We packed the Smart car to bursting and headed to Washington, D.C., for visits to the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian, and then on to New York over the 4th of July weekend for visits to the Met, the Whitney, the MOMA, and the Hispanic Society of America. And, of course, we hit Lombardi's & Grimaldi's. Those are musts. We lived in New York for much of Patrick's years in advertising, and we still feel at home there. We especially enjoy spending time there now that we have the chance to really enjoy it together. 

Patrick chowing down at Lombardi's.

We packed a lot into our visits to both cities, but it wasn't hectic. The opportunity to see great art in person, and take strolls on the Brooklyn Bridge and through Central Park was just what we needed to recharge creatively. It's great to revisit art that you love. It's like spending time with an old friend. It's also wonderful to stumble upon something you've never seen before that takes your breath away. That happened to us at the Hispanic Society of America. We never visited this museum while we lived in New York because it was closed for renovations. Joaquin Sorolla's "Vision of Spain" panoramic mural returned to this museum in 2010, after a world tour, so we just missed it when we left New York. If you have the chance, it is absolutely worth the trip to see this panorama. We were truly floored.

Stevenson Memorial by Abbott Handerson Thayer and El Jaleo study by John Singer Sargent at the National Portrait Gallery.

Patrick loves the collie in Anders Zorn's "Mrs. Walter Rathbone Bacon" at the Met, and I can't get over the terrier in John Singer Sargent's "Miss Beatrice Townsend" at the National Portrait Gallery.

The amazing cat in Cecilia Beaux's "The Man with the Cat" at the National Portrait Gallery.

Thomas Dewing's "In the Garden" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Thomas Dewing's "American Receiving the Nine Muses" on Steinway & Sons Piano at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

John Singer Sargent's "Stable at Cuenca" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Henry Ossawa Tanner's "Flight into Egypt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Gorgeous day on the Brooklyn Bridge

Yes, of course we rode the Thunderbolt at Coney Island.

The Empire State Building on the 4th of July.

© Patrick & Kimberly Saunders, Saunders Fine Arts, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, and/or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or video, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.