Grand Canyon Study

I'm working on a study of the Grand Canyon, trying to get the design where I want it so I can paint this much larger.  This is a 12 x 16, painted from a photo I took last week while on the ride down to the bottom of the canyon on a mule.  I'm sure the guide could name these buttes but I have since forgotten, there were so many, so much beauty.  

I've been painting in plein air a lot lately, so much so that painting from a photo has become difficult because it renders the scene flatly on many levels.  The camera can not capture the full spectrum of color, not to mention the atmosphere between the south and north rim.  I think I will just have to go back there to paint on site!  Just in September there was a Grand Canyon Plein Air Festival, some of the painters hiked down to Phantom Ranch and sent their gear down on mules.  I don't know if I would take that 5 hour journey to the bottom again and then back up, what with Jesus Corner and Skeleton Pass, but then again...