Adios

Chiricahua night Sky

Gambel's Quail

Coyote

Bye bye Southwest, sad to be leaving......

Arizona

After a brutal drive - freezing rain the second day and way too many consecutive hours sitting on my bum in the same position - I arrived to my little Arizona Cottage. Everyone asks me where I am, so: I am in the very southeast corner of AZ, in a tiny village called Portal, very close to Rodeo, NM, about 60 miles N. of Mexico. Because of the rough terrain, the sparse population, and the remoteness of the area, the illegal border traffic is becoming more of a problem. I spent three hours at a meeting last week with Border Patrol, local Police, politicians, and about 200 local people. I wanted to know more about the issue, living in Minnesota we are so removed from it.

The first photo is from a hike up to Silver Peak in the Chiricahuas. You don't see the head of Cochise on the way up, so on the descent is it quite a shock to look down and see this gigantic sculpture in front of you. The second photo is of a Javelina, or collared peccary. They are all over the village here, scavenging under bird feeders and such. Very cute!

The Chiricahuas

9 x 12

oil on canvas

sold

I painted this when I was in AZ, it is a view to the east from my little cottage. The Chiricahuas are an incredible mountain range that rise up out of the desert. They call it a "sky Island" as the surrounding desert isolates the mountains like an island would be isolated by water. Interesting species of plants and animals occur in this isolation; for instance I believe it is the only place in the US that has Mexican Chickadees. It has been raining like crazy here and when I came out to my studio this morning I discovered I have a few leaks... unfortunately I had some paintings leaning against the walls and one got soaked; I hope it recovers. Has anyone had experience with this?