This should be brief. I certainly didn’t do much that was exciting during July, between record-breaking temperatures in Phoenix (118 degrees!) and COVID-19 restrictions. Unless, of course, you think grocery shopping is exciting.

My dog Lola enjoyed playing with the giant palo verde beetles that emerged from the ground in early July, and I enjoyed laughing at her antics. I paid homage to them in my painting Big Bug Emergence (SOLD).

The sky teased us off and on, and we finally got the first rain in about four months in late July. It was meager but still enjoyable, and I managed to spot a rainbow.

I continued my artistic exploration with black paper, enjoying the different feel of the pieces that utilize this new surface. I focused a lot on my neighborhood and fun memories for my artwork this month. I created one series playing on the concept of the many Little Free Libraries found around my neighborhood. The three paintings in the series are titled Fowl Language, Pulp Fiction, and Speed Reading, incorporating elements from the desert to correspond with those themes. I enjoyed coming up with all the little details found throughout these pieces, and it appears that they resonated with my fans, too, since two of the three have sold.

I’m now working through a series of desert “critters.” So far, these include the rooster who lives on my street, a Colorado River toad in monsoon, and a javelina helping itself to a meal of my potted plants (javelina not included here as it was completed 8/2). These pieces are back on white paper, but continue with my return to gouache paint (opaque watercolor) from my longtime use of transparent watercolor.

It’s been fun to explore different themes and artistic approaches as I decide what will adorn the walls in my rescheduled exhibition at Agua Caliente Ranch House Gallery in Tucson, now set for [stop the presses - this is back to being TBD]!

Of course, I was extremely pleased with my productivity, and that of the ten paintings I made this month, six have sold and found their way to a little “show” of their own in their new homes. THANK YOU so much to everyone who supports my artistic endeavors. These sales were certainly the highlight of an otherwise rather dreary month!

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