Desert & Roads

Bingo

Bingo was such a great dog. I found her in a shelter as a very shy dog. When I took her to the yard, the attendant said I was the only one she had ever played with. She was a great dancer and so much fun that I thought she deserved her own song. “B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was her name-O.” Oil on canvas, framed 21×27.

Bingo inspiration photo

Cima Sand Dunes

Driving over an old mining road we came down to the dunes as the sunset turned the sand and mountains pink, and the twilight dimmed the shadows to grey tones while the cattle grazed on the scant vegetation that grows with little or no rainfall. The sky and ground were done by brush strokes, while the rest was done with palate knife that that contributed to the angularity of the light as it faded into dusk. Oil on Canvas. Limited color palate. Framed 27.5×22.

Cima Sand Dunes inspiration photo

My Dream Home in the Desert 

These are the words painted onto the stepping stones as I approach my house. The desert was dotted with 400 square foot homesteader houses. After the War, the government said you could have five acres if you built a 400 square foot house and maintained it. Many people jumped at the chance, but time and circumstance left these homes abandoned and not long ago the government ordered the abandoned ones to be torn down. This is my dream of finding one by myself in a secret place and claiming it as my own. I followed the advice of a fellow artist and friend, Tinika Osman, and painted my wishes into reality. I evoked the rich solitude, brilliance and simplicity the desert offers. Acrylic on canvas. Framed.

Into the Desert Spring

Nothing is as invigorating as driving into the Desert Spring when the monochromatic desert leaps into vibrant yellows and purples and the small of blooming flowers and the desert hits you with its overwhelming powerful breathy scent of living vibrating strength and resilience. Driving into the vast open space with the windows wide open and the wind whipping around assaulting the senses with aromas and action. This is freedom in beauty.

Into the Desert Spring inspiration photo

Stormy Fork in Road

Yogi Berra said, “When you see a fork in the road, take it.” I wanted to jump out of the car and do that. I wanted to walk into danger like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I wanted to run towards those stormy clouds and be caught in the lightning. The approaching storm invoked a feeling of imminent danger that I wanted to leap into, so I painted it to remind me of the feeling. Acrylic on narrow wraparound canvas. Painted sides. 30×30.

Stormy Fork in Road inspiration photo

Yucca King and Subjects in the Snow

One day it snowed in Yucca Valley. It was the most spectacular sight to see the desert, which is well over 100 degrees F in the summer, blanketed completely in snow. It was shocking to the senses. I captured the image in a photo and when I began painting it, I realized that the tall Yucca resembled a regal beneficent ruler summoning his subjects in from the cold. They seemed to walk towards him as he offered shelter from the storm. Framed. 31.25×16.25.

Desert Highway on Crate

My old house on Tumbleweed Trail had a giant satellite dish in the yard. Nearby I found remnants of the crate some of the parts came in. Tumbleweed Trail was stamped on some of the sides. I painted a series of highways on them. This one was the first of the series. The Kachina coming from the sky and the turtle are glued onto the painting. It is simplistic and evocative of the spirit of the desert that I feel laid out in elements of road, river, mountains, sky and beings. Unframed. 22×25.5.

Desert Hallucination

You never know what you will find in the desert. A couch, an armchair, an abandoned stroller, a mattress. Walking one day with a friend, we found an armchair. He sat down and I snapped a picture. I said, “One day I will Paint you in this chair.”  Many years passed and we lost touch. One day I began working on this painting and coyotes, suns moons and smoke emerged. I knew the coyotes were tricksters and didn’t usually sleep in sleeping bags. They cast a hallucinatory spell on the man in the chair and illuminated the desert with their strange minds. The phone rang and it was the man in the armchair “I’ve just been painting you, let me send you a photo.” I did and he says he will use the image on his album cover. We’ll see. Crazy Coyotes.

Desert Hallucination inspiration photo

Windmills with Car

I found a rock painted like a car somewhere and decided to drive my stone hot wheel down the Windmill Highway to Yucca Valley. Hop in! 23×25.

T Rex Crushes Corporate Food Industry

Statues of two dinosaurs rising out of the desert is a familiar sight for those who come to Palm Springs. They were here before the windmills. Then one day Denny’s and Burger King built in front of these quaint tourist attractions. T Rex got angry and crushed them, leaving the family diner which was polite enough not to obscure the view of the giant reptiles. Oil on canvas. Unframed. 36×48

T Rex Crushes Corporate Food Industry inspiration photo

Haboob Sunset Highway

Driving from Mexicali to Brawley I saw this enormous pink cloud against the azure sky. It reminded me of a giant haboob in technicolor and I had to paint it. The red truck in the distance is miniaturized by the sprawling desert horizon which is too vast to capture, but wondrous to experience. I’m constantly in awe of the space and scale of these desert visions. Acrylic on narrow wraparound canvas. Painted sides. 24×24.