It was in 1977 that Peter and I first saw the Grand Canyon when we took a tourist charter flight over it. I remember it being a very small plane, maybe only 6 seats as opposed to the 19 seater that operate today. From the air we could see the vastness of this mile deep arid-land eroded gorge that was formed somewhere around 6 million years ago.
In late summer of 1977 Peter bought himself a BMW motorcycle. By February of 1978 he was itching to take the bike on the road. Somehow Peter convinced me that a mid winter trip to the Grand Canyon would be a great adventure. How does one prepare for a motorcycle trip in the dead of winter? You wear lots of layers. I personally wore two pairs of socks, gloves, ski masks, wool long underwear, sweaters, and a leather jacket with a down jacket over it. All we could carry, and this included camera equipment, had to fit in two side saddle bags. I don’t remember it being that cold until we got to the Grand Canyon. Snow covered the ground and all the lookouts. This was just the type of conditions Peter sought to photograph. The snow provides a relief from the normal sun baked earth tone colors of the canyon, especially noticeable in the hot summer months.
On our way home we ran into a typical torrential California rain storm. For four hours we battled the weather. By the time we got home we were soaked to the bone. Peter lit a fire in our wood stove and we took off our boots and placed them under the stove. For the next 3 days you could hear the boots sizzle as the water slowly evaporated. The whole experience was one we remembered fondly for years to come. The Grand Canyon became a focal point of Peter’s career as a painter of the Southwest.
In an interview for American Art Collector back in 2006 Peter made this statement about painting the region “It might seem that all the work is done in an effort to really know these places, and that is true to a degree. But it is also true that I wouldn’t want to live here enjoying a view that people come from all over the world to see. For then I might really know the place and wouldn’t feel the quickening of the blood I get each time I now approach it.” He also stated “A painting can’t go into geographic detail, but great age is felt in the shapes, textures and colors.”
About the painting “Stormy Zoroaster” (40x50) Peter wrote: “I watched this storm collect on the North Rim and spill into the canyon abyss. I have painted the view maybe a dozen times, the drama still stirs me.” Peter considered this painting as close a definition of his artwork as any he could have chosen. He also painted a smaller study. In both paintings you can see the excitement in how he handled the sky.
In 1994 Peter produced a lithograph of the Grand Canyon titled “Sumner Butte”. This lithograph is in the permanent collection of The Springfield Art Museum (Missouri), The Museum of Northern Arizona, The Tucson Art Museum and The Museum of Southwest Art in Midland Texas. We have a limited amount of these lithographs (unframed) still available for sale. If you are interested please let us know.