My hikes along Cherry Canyon are my morning delight, my cup-o-java. Daybreak is the optimal time for a one on one Zoom meeting with the Creator, a conversation where the wind whispers the song of the day, the birds tweet their morning messages, and the emerging rays of the sun play an early game of hide and seek through the fog as they light up the world. The meandering trails beckon - sometimes swift, sometimes edgy, taking me to my true north. Simple shapes and complex creations with myriad colors in far flung or concentrated patches emerge to later become my palette.

I have made many small sketches of the trails but the yucca on a patch of red rock made me pause, stare, observe, sketch, photograph and repeat. The mere intensity of the venetian red in the rock finally led me to create my watercolor piece – Yucca On Red Rock (Watercolor on Shizen Paper 22x30) followed by a re-creation in oil (Oil on Panel 18x24).
Comments