One day of life in the desert

Today was an eventful day here in the high desert.  It started out with a soggy walk with the dog and M.  Along the way, I spied a fairly large lizard, frozen still.  It was half covered in mud.  We weren't sure if it was alive, so I gently touched the end of its tail with Pono's leash.  That touch was enough to cause the lizard to come to life, slowly releasing itself from the mud.  It was still cold outside, so the lizard hadn't warmed up much; its movements were strangely slow.  It looked primordial, raising its limbs high to free them from the heavy wet sand.  M suggested we move it out of the road, so he held the struggling, curious dog while I carefully picked up the lizard.  I was wearing gloves, but holding that lizard in my hands was a special feeling - like the first time you picked up a snake or lizard as a child.  I gently set it down, out of harm's way - near a clump of Mormon Tea, but out where the sun could warm its chilled body.  Can you believe this happened the ONE DAY I don't have my camera with me????!!!!???  Dagnabbit.  I have so wanted to post a fantastic lizard photo, and I blew it.  BLEW IT!  At least I can describe it to you.  Very cool desert encounter.

Next, we had one of the ugliest, mangiest coyotes EVER come for a visit at the house.  I was blow-drying my hair when I saw its reflection in the mirror.  It was right outside the bedroom sliding glass door.  I made the mistake of yelling "Oh my GOD!" and woke up the sleeping Pono, who, in his haste to get at it, crashed into the sliding glass door, barking furiously.  Needless to say, the mangy coyote did not linger.  Once again, no camera.  (what is the world coming to???)

The under-painting for my next oil painting.

Into the studio, where I became engrossed.  Once again, the sky darkened and the rain fell.  Such an amazing gift, to have TWO DAYS of rain IN A ROW!!!  We have gotten just a little over 2 inches of rain in two days!!!  Yeee-haaaw!  I did find myself staring out the window at the rain, when I spotted another really wet coyote, coming down the driveway.  This time I did grab my camera, and was able to run through the house and meet the young coyote in the backyard.  (well, I was looking through the window.)  It was picking up a stick I had tossed for Pono hours earlier, and if Pono had been awake, I know he would have been VERY upset about that.  It tossed the stick into the air and then loped off.  It seemed so dog-like that I had to remind myself that it WAS a coyote, wild as they come.  Crazy.

Here are some photos of the aftermath of all that rain.  Enjoy!

You can see how the water has turned our street into a floodplain.

Block Printmaking

I am excited, because yesterday, I printed my very first linoleum block prints! I have never done block printing before, and I wasn't really sure if I could produce something I would like. It took me a while to work out the composition. I had to remind myself that I was carving away the white areas and that the parts I left uncarved would be black. That was almost too much confusion for me, but I did finally figure it out. I decided to try a little composition with my favorite funny desert quail. I have had a bunch of them visiting me in the mornings, so I watch them while I eat breakfast. The best thing about these timid birds is the feather on top. It reminds me of a fancy lady with a feathered hat, and when they turn their heads, the feather bobs this way and that. It makes me laugh, every time I see it.



The photo above is a photo of the linoleum block after I printed it. You can see how the image is reversed. I printed ten of this block, and of the ten, I got eight prints that I was pleased with. The first two I printed were blurry, because the paper slipped on the block when I was applying pressure. So I had to figure out how to make the paper stay put. I am pretty happy with the results, and I am excited to try carving another one. It will have to wait, because I really need to focus on getting all this new work ready to show. That means framing, mounting, signing, and coming up with titles. I will admit that this is my least favorite part about doing art, and I am hoping I start to make enough money so that eventually I can pay someone ELSE to do my framing. One can dream.



Yesterday, we finally got some rain! We always welcome rain here in the desert. Everything looks different when it is wet, even the creosote! You can see all kinds of little green things growing at the base of it. My theory is that the seeds get blown all over the place, and they collect where there is something that will catch them. So that is why all the little green plants are usually found underneath a bigger bush or cactus. I could be wrong.

The desert is fun

We had another rainstorm the next day after the last one I told you about. It is so exciting!! Two days of rain, IN A ROW. We now have .85 inches of rain for the year. One inch, we are almost there! The road outside our house looks like a washout, but I am not complaining. I have enjoyed every minute of our 15 minutes of rain. ha ha ha. I took another photo of it, this view is out our back patio door.

Since I have already posted about the coyote melon, I will not go into too much detail about this plant. If you want to read about it, click here. I have one a bit further down the street from our house that is in an earlier stage than the one right out the front driveway. I took some photos of the blooms this time. The blooms obviously come first, and then the little melons are after that. Aren't they a lovely color? I think in person they appear a bit more orange, but it will be hard for you to tell, since I know every one's screen is calibrated differently. This vine is an unexpected plant for the desert, I think.

I also passed a coyote, laying in the shade of a Mohave yucca on my way home from the grocery store this afternoon. I stopped the car to take a photo, but the minute I rolled down the window, He (she?) got up and trotted to a safer distance. I did get this photo, but you can see my camera can't really handle the distance. Still, I think these are beautiful creatures.

The other exciting news I have is that I finally found the missing watercolor paintings!!! I cannot tell you what a relief that is. Of course, they were in the drawer, right where they were supposed to be, buried under a bunch of other paintings. Go figure. May you all enjoy the upcoming weekend!

Rain

It is so rare to get rain here, that when it does rain, I find that I can't focus on my work at all. I just have to stop what I am doing, and go outside with my camera and my eyes open wide. That is what happened yesterday. I watched the clouds build with hope, but tried very hard not to get too excited, since often the rain seems to be all around us. Not ON us. It can be disappointing. The wind began to pick up, but still I told myself not to get excited yet. Even as the sky darkened, I reminded myself that it was just a cloud, and there was nothing to be distracted by. Too many times have I stood out on the patio, waiting and wishing for rain that never came. I didn't allow myself to really believe it was raining until I looked out the window and saw this:


Then, I decided I could drop my project and stand under the eaves and watch the rain. We had .39 inches of rain (for the year, that is) and now, after yesterday, we have had .63 inches of rain. We are over halfway to having ONE WHOLE INCH of rain for the year!!!! How exciting is that?? Welcome to the desert.

The rain seemed to bring out all of the wildlife, which of course I love. I saw an extremely wet roadrunner, cruising past the house. It had its head tucked tightly against its body. Maybe its neck was cold??? I tried to get a photo, but darn! those roadrunners are fast! Pono and I then saw two coyotes at sunset. They really are beautiful creatures. Once again, I wish not only that I had my camera with me, but also that I had a good zoom lens. It would have been fun to share that with you.

I made a few more journals yesterday. These new ones have some of the images from my monotypes on them. I am not sure if I like them as much as the earlier ones. What do you think? I bought some really inexpensive t-shirts on sale at Target Monday, and I am going to put a transfer on each one of them. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, they will turn out, and I can show them to you tomorrow.

Unexpected treats

This was supposed to be posted last night (Monday), but it was slightly delayed because I wasn't able to upload any photos. So here it is now.

It rained Sunday!!! I mean it. It really rained. In July, in the middle of the day, in the desert. It was amazing. I was in the studio, paint brush in hand, when I heard this sound. It took me a moment to determine what that sound was. Then it hit me - RAIN! Needless to say, I grabbed the camera and went outside to photograph and dance in it. It was lovely. It didn't rain long, but it was enough rain to fill up our wheelbarrow with water. I should have taken a photo of that, but sometimes I forget that my eyes aren't cameras.

I worked on a painting from one of the little watercolors I was working on a couple of weeks ago. Do you remember those? Well, I wanted to blow them up big, and do them in oil. So this was the first one. I may go in and work on it more, but it needs to dry and sit a little. There is contemplation involved, don't you know. The part I am enjoying the most so far is when I came back in with the palette knife and gave it some nice texture.

There are more photos and paintings coming, but it is time for bed.

Good night.