Art in a Hurry

- January 20, 2022

I was invited to submit a piece for a show about the Desert, for

El Museo del Desierto (MUDE), a nationally iconic museum that preserves the natural heritage of Mexico's desert.

My first response was, No deserts for me--I'm a Northern Easterner through and through. I love pine trees, the ocean, waves, the beach, WATER, but haven't I made a commitment to say yes to opportunity? So I thought about the desert. I've made several visits to Arizona and, while my favorite town was Flagstaff, because they have pine trees, there's a lot to be said for the dryer regions.

I've driven across the United States five times; from Vermont to San Francisco and back with a high school pal when I was 21, home from a summer in LA with Arthur and the kids when they were 7 and 10, from NYC to Colorado with Arthur and home with Jessie when she was 16. and if you haven't done it, I suggest you get in your car and go. This is an awesome country and you have to see it to get a sense of it's awesomeness.

So I looked through my collection of things that I haven't yet found a home for, like this etching of two views of Mother Earth and two hawks that I just don't know what to do with, although I love them. I posted them a while ago in a piece about the little hawk who sat on my head in Cuba.

the colors are kind of desert-y, aren't they. but how to put them together?

My beloved Arches Watercolor Block was just waiting for something new.

And so I began another frame like the one I made for my Turkish map of the world.

I started thinking about water, and that reminded me of the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, which I visited with my Mom and Jessie back in 2002. Water under the city, like there's water under the desert.

So that's at the bottom. I take water for granted but in the desert there's a great focus on it--finding and preserving. So, although I initially thought about shades of sand and rock, the blue of the sky and water came into play.