ITs A WRAP!

In the world of artists (where I often choose to hangout!), I am assured of good company when I bemoan a specific painting that started out so well, but the tweaking was never-ending! This is certainly one of my `much-tweaked`paintings - one that survived, that is! I do have several sitting on shelves that are lingering in the shadows for a bit of brilliance to bring them out into the light and on to my easel once more. Maybe even into another blog! And there are also those that have been quietly ``gessoed`` into silence!

Desert Solo was based on a reference photo taken on one of my many short walks through the desert surrounding Osoyoos, BC. This land is rarely the same minute by minute, with the light shifting with the sun and mountains on a continuum that can only be marked by the number of quail calls heard in the distance! I think I stalled on this painting because it came from my heart and my love for the desert experience in southern Canada. Yes, Canada!

I grew up close to another desert in Manitoba called Spirit Sands now - although we called it the sand dunes and the Devil`s Punch Bowl not to mention the military target zone for bombing practice! I know deep down I will paint it one day too.

Deserts keep your eyes on the horizon. Other than watching for the occasional rattle snake there is little on the path to trip you up but oh so much to see. If you look down you miss the next glorious reveal. An artist may be accused of exaggerating when purples and blues and muted yellows appear in their desert paintings on the horizon or even deep in the earth. This is not hyperbole - it is the colour of the light!

So, my painting, Desert Solo, deserved to be dragged out and brushed into existence. Each time I look at it, I feel the call to meander alone again - in the still, expansive land of the desert.