We went on to a workshop based in Moab, Utah (organized by IAAA President Kara Szathmary, our Canadian) from where we visited numerous rock formations made even more Mars-like by their red colour.

1989 IAAA (then) Vice President Joel Hagen gazes out over Canyonlands.

'Courthouse Towers', which was much sketched by our members -- sometimes at dawn or sunset, which were incredible, and so peaceful.

Goblin Valley
One of the weirdest places I have ever visited. And was it hot! I used this photo as reference for the painting below (a private commission).

This wasn't a workshop (though it probably should have been). But in November 1994 I visited Peru, Chile, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands -- primarily for the total solar eclipse, which we saw from 14,500 feet up on the Altiplano, in the Atacama Desert. It was cold, the sky was dark (several planets and stars were visible during the eclipse) and we were surrounded by seven volcanic peaks, several of which emitted plumes of steam during the eclipse. How more alien can you get?

The first magical place we visited was Machu Picchu, the 'lost city' of the Incas. It rained most of the time, but the mist and cloud rising up the steep mountainside made it even more mysterious. I told myself...

This eclipse was quite different from the one in Hawaii. There was some high cirrus cloud, but much less. The corona was incredibly bright: a ring around the Moon, then long streamers, up to three lunar diameters. And a bright pink prominence appeared at '11 o'clock', just before the Diamond Ring and eclipse's end. An artist can show all the features of an eclipse in a way that is impossible to expose in one photograph -- as at right.

(NB: if you 'zoom' this image you will see a different view which includes my fellow observers and their equipment.)

Do take any chance to see an eclipse if you possibly can!