Lyman Lake State Park near St. John, Arizona, is a less crowded opportunity to be beside an expanse of water so precious in the Arizona deserts. The area was home to more than one ancient culture, all of which left traces of civilization. The presence of different petroglyph styles in the Park indicates that more than one prehistoric culture made the glyphs, or that the style used by one culture changed through time. The earliest petroglyphs in the Park seem to date from the Archaic (6000 BC to AD 300) and Basketmaker (from about AD 300 to 700) periods. Most of the petroglyphs date to the Pueblo periods (AD 700 through 1400), with the majority produced during the final three centuries of prehistoric occupation. It was an eerie place in a good way, quiet, making for a contemplative painting day right by the lakeshore, with only a couple of great blue herons for company, but they didn't stay long enough to get into the painting. Painted in acrylics on a canvas board on an August afternoon, showing me sculptural rocks and clouds - it makes me think shapes and colors are just everything, with lines meaning less and less in my work, maybe other than the horizon lines created by shapes abutting each other? I hope to go back and find the petroglyphs, and paint there again.
Lyman Lake State Park near St. John, Arizona, is a less crowded opportunity to be beside an expanse of water so precious in the Arizona deserts. The area was home to more than one ancient culture, all of which left traces of civilization. The presence of different petroglyph styles in the Park indicates that more than one prehistoric culture made the glyphs, or that the style used by one culture changed through time. The earliest petroglyphs in the Park seem to date from the Archaic (6000 BC to AD 300) and Basketmaker (from about AD 300 to 700) periods. Most of the petroglyphs date to the Pueblo periods (AD 700 through 1400), with the majority produced during the final three centuries of prehistoric occupation. It was an eerie place in a good way, quiet, making for a contemplative painting day right by the lakeshore, with only a couple of great blue herons for company, but they didn't stay long enough to get into the painting. Painted in acrylics on a canvas board on an August afternoon, showing me sculptural rocks and clouds - it makes me think shapes and colors are just everything, with lines meaning less and less in my work, maybe other than the horizon lines created by shapes abutting each other? I hope to go back and find the petroglyphs, and paint there again.
#167 - Acrylic on canvas board
Painting : 8” x 6”
In Frame: 15” x 13”
