I took a plein air course in Red Rock country in Sedona. Everything people say about Sedona is true. It is different. It has energy it has incredible beauty. We packed everyday with everything we could carry so if the opportunity presented itself, we could paint the ultimate masterpiece. We would all meet at a prearranged site and then fan out into the desert. I heard some of my fellow painters were hiking as much as an hour in order to get to beauty sites not normally seen by the average tourist. As I stood in the boring asphalt parking lot, I slowly did a 360 degree turn, taking in all around me. I decided then and there that I was going to prove that Sedona was beautiful no matter where I was. Even this crummy parking lot. And that is how the painting Soft Sedona came about. The trash cans are just out of site on the right. I didn’t change a thing.