Full Moon

DESERT MOON 8                  oil on canvas           8" x 10"

This Morning Before Sunrise

from where I live, the sun first appears over the Sheephole mountains at about 6:45 am this week

A LIttle Impression

DESERT IMPRESSION 2            oil on canvas       6" x 6"

New Morning Wash Painting

MORNING WASH 8             oil on canvas            8" x 10"

Beloved Mojave

BELOVED MOJAVE 2            oil on canvas        8" x 10"

Arcobatic Bird

this looks easy, this little Bushtit (smaller than most sparrows) on a Desert Willow pod...however its wide stance allows it to hang on as the branch waves wildly in the wind yesterday morning...

it not only hung on, but managed to eat seeds from the pod

and then pause to look in my direction...

Gentle Images

early morning hummingbird drinking from a Texas Sage flower

MOUNTAINS of NUBIA           oil on canvas        8" x 10"

Dawn and the Full Moon

Mojave dawn on the first day of autumn, 56 degrees F, sky totally clear

except for the full moon in the east

after the sun appeared, both moon and sun were visible for about 5 minutes

Nine Doorways 2

NINE DOORWAYS 2        oil on canvas     12" x 12"

Crissal Thrasher

this Thrasher is darker than the California Thrasher, and can also be identified by the red-brown color under its tail (this part of a bird's anatomy is called its crissum by ornithologists)...here it is using its amazing bill to find food just before sunrise...

on lookout, catching the sunlight 

and singing its beautiful loud song on this fresh gently windy morning...

Jeweled Dawn

JEWELED DAWN            oil on canvas            24" x 24"

Indigo Doorways

INDIGO DOORWAYS       oil on canvas     24" x 24"

Sunrise, 18 September 2010

first light on Mt. Gorgonio, highest in the San Bernardinos

our sun's first ray over the Buillon Mountains, Sheephole range on the right

Yellow Square 2

YELLOW SQUARE           oil on canvas               8" x 8"

Large Doorways Painting

I am fascinated by the process of "building" this 54" x 50" painting...this image shows it at the end of the day yesterday...probably the large red areas on the left will yield to the palette of the rest of the painting, and I cannot tell for sure at this point...

detail from the bottom of the painting where I was working yesterday...my plan is to bring these color harmonies into the whole piece...

Home Planet

that question floating around about what would you do if there were no obstacles and finances were not an issue...my unequivocal answer is that I would be a space tourist, I would go where I could see this with my own eyes...the IMAX film Blue Planet gave me a taste of what that might be... 

 yes, that tiny dot seen beyond the rings of Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft in September of 2006, that is our home planet...

this space project, still going on, is being run. with heart, by Caroline Porco...you can get notice of new unprocessed photos emailed to you from Cyclops,  the Cassini imaging website...

Evening Sky

last light on Hidalgo Mountain

Sheephole Range fading into the blue shadow of the earth

Goat Mountain's dark silouette

subtle colors of dusk 

Morning Images

White Oleander

a pot of little Dahlberg Daisies

quail tracks

Gray Texas Sage (buzzing with bees)

Weathered paint and wood

I love the patterns created by the sun and the wind, the heat and the cold, and occasional rain... 

Two Sunrises

another clear sky day, ending with a new cresent moon and Venus shining in the west...

just before sunrise this morning

just before sunrise one year ago 

Buzzard in Flight

gracing the clear blue sky of a cool Mojave September day, a vulture circles overhead, looking for anything that needs removing to keep our desert clean...