Flowering

This is a favorite time of year in the desert. We had just enough rain so that in certain areas, spring flowers are making an appearance. M is so patient with me on walks, since every time I see a flower, I must stop, examine and often photograph it in eight different ways. Even the dog waits for me. He lies down beside me until I am done reveling in the wonder of a single flower.

I am getting excited for Monday, when my online class begins! It's not too late to sign up, if you haven't already. Click here if you would like to know more.

New desert animal paintings are emerging from the studio as the Art Festival near the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor's Center in 29 Palms approaches. I will be part of this outdoor art event April 4,5 & 6th, 2014. You can get more information here. Won't you come out and visit me and the other artists? We'd love to see you. There will be photography, basketry, sculpture and jewelry too!

"Reprise." (desert cottontail) oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches. 

Here's hoping you all have a great weekend!

Manzanita love

It seems like the only time I visit Joshua Tree National Park is when I have friends visiting. It is a beautiful park, and I only live 5 minutes from the entrance. However, dogs are not allowed on the trails, and since my main hiking companion is a fuzzy dog, I tend to find other places to hike near the park. Fortunately, I do get visitors, so I do visit the park from time to time. Last Thursday was just such a time.

I took quite a few photos, but today's star will be the manzanita. Also known as "little apple", manzanita is the common name for a species known as arctostaphylos. I am drawn to the wonderful red and grey bark and the tiny, urn shaped flowers.

A wonder of the desert world.

My talk at the Joshua Tree Public Library on Saturday was a success. A big thank you to all of you who came! It meant so much to me, having familiar faces in that crowd. I had prepared a talk that only lasted 11 minutes, but there were enough questions to keep me talking for nearly an hour! I had a friend video recording it, and I hope to have the video online by the end of the week. So if you missed it, hang in there! The work is still hanging at the library, and you can go and see it during regular library hours.

I leave you with another new painting.

"Spill." Oil on linen, 40 x 40 inches. ©2012 Karine Swenson.

Joshua Tree Nat'l Park 2

It may take a while to finish the posts from Joshua Tree National Park. I don't know why I am so unmotivated to post on my poor, neglected blog lately. Forgive me?

So this will be the plants, trees, and cactus post from the Park. The Joshua Trees in the park are gargantuan! I am sure they used to be this big outside the park at one time. I think quite a large number of the bigger trees in this area were chopped down for fuel. I will never get tired of these trees. I am particularly fond of the trees with the rock formations as a backdrop. You can click on the photos for a larger view. I had so many photos to include, that I didn't want to make them too big.

Sally and I drove to the cholla cactus garden. These are all Teddy Bear Cholla, or opuntia bigelovii, which are a little different from the cholla that grows near our house. The cholla near our house are probably silver cholla (opuntia echinocarpa). The Teddy bear cholla looked like they are getting ready to bloom, and I hope I can go back to the park to see that! I have never seen a blooming cholla before. This close up shows the old fruit and the new buds. If you want to read more about cholla varieties, I got my information from this link here.


We also drove to where the ocotillo patch is. These were some of the biggest ocotillo I have ever seen! Awesome. I took a photo with Sally standing next to one, for scale. They look really green, since we had some good rain over the winter. I think they are also getting ready to bloom. I am hoping to drag my husband to the park sometime soon, so he can see how awesome it is.

Joshua Tree National Park

A dear friend and fellow artist from Colorado came to visit me last week. I find it interesting how it takes a visitor from out of town to get me to see the sights that I live right next to!! Does anyone else experience this? Poor Sally, who arrived on Wednesday night, when I was so sick. She took good care of me, and I was well enough (or in denial enough) to accompany her into Joshua Tree National Park on Saturday. It is a beautiful park! I decided to group the photos I took Saturday into separate blog posts, because there were many things to see.

This first post will be about rock formations. The rocks in the park are incredibly cool, and I found what fascinated me the most were the negative shapes between the rocks. That blue sky isn't bad, either.

It was a little windy, and fairly cold on Saturday, but we managed to have fun and see quite a lot. We were in the park all day. Stay tuned for the next few installments of photos.

My friend Sally Mather is a talented plein aire painter, and you can see her work here. In case you are unfamiliar with the term "plein aire", it means Sally paints out of doors. I used to sell her art in my gallery in Colorado. So beautiful.