It begins

One sure way to know that spring is coming to the desert is by the velocity of the wind.  Today, at one point, the wind was blowing at 37 miles per hour.  I suspect that there were stronger gusts than that.  Dark clouds loomed, but no rain fell.  The wind acts like a giant eraser, scrubbing away footprints in the sand.  It will also give you a free exfoliation, if you are brave enough to stand out in it while the sand pelts your face.  Pono believes the wind also makes for quality sniffing, since he will stand with his wet, black nose pointing into it, sniffing with gusto.

The other way to know that spring is coming to the desert is by the appearance of tiny green things, sprouting from the earth.  All kinds of new growth is appearing.  The first Joshua Tree bud of the season was also spotted just over a week ago.  Now my eyes scan every Joshua Tree for the sight of more buds.  It is so exciting!  I am sure most of you know that the Joshua Tree does not bloom every year, but is dependent on rainfall and a hard frost.  So far, it looks as though we are going to have a Joshua Tree blooming year, and that is something worth waiting for.

This is the first stage of the Joshua Tree bloom.  You would miss it, if you didn't know what to look for.

Later stages of the bud.  

You can be assured that I will keep you appraised of the latest desert bloom status.  I am, after all, a flower fiend.

I have been hard at work in the studio, with new paintings for an upcoming solo show on March 5th.  Here is a sneak preview of one of the smaller works that I will be showing.

"Warm Days."  Oil on canvas, 12 x 9 inches.  ©kswenson2011

The exhibition is at the Red Arrow Gallery, in downtown Joshua Tree.  The paintings will be a collection of my recent abstractions.