Painting in the Chiricahuas

Before I came down to the Southwest this year I told myself to nix the saboteur and give myself total freedom to play and explore any ideas that passed my way. I have been doing this and have been all over the place - I have accumulated a pile of charred driftwood for sculpture ideas; I have made a dozen found-wire "scribble" sculptures; I have painted a group of animal fur patterns; I have painted some animal studies; and as is my norm, I have painted a bunch of small on-site landscapes - my five-finger exercises.

The past couple of days I have been out doing bark studies. I have been thinking a lot about the new work I want to do for my PAN sites, projectartfornature.org and I keep coming back to trees. Above is a photo of today's painting site. I was painting a Sycamore tree and I had to put tape on the tree so I wouldn't lose my place. I also once again was putting small dabs of paint on the bark, trying to match the color... I know this is ridiculous, but when one is struggling one may resort to crazy things!