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2024 has seen an extraordinary spring wildflower bloom in many areas of the Arizona Sonoran Desert. Just parking the white bus in an available campsite overlooking a finger cove at Lake Pleasant Regional Park north of Phoenix, just steps from the door, a riot of bees and globe mallows sways in front of me. Shall I turn to the bright orange ones, the purple ones, the pink ones, the white ones, everywhere I look, without walking more than five or six steps, more colors of this humble flower dance slowly in the cool gentle breeze under a warm midday sun. How, I wonder, does desert globe mallow come in so many bloom colors in one gravelly location? We had a wet winter so spring bloom has been unusually spectacular, but did these seeds of orange, pinks, whites and plums just blow and land and sprout here all together? Now I need to know. The original is 8" by 8" acrylics on a canvas board. I'm not sure why I'm compelled to paint these understated blooms, maybe I know not every year will show so many blooms and I do want to remember this day, this glorious weather, my opportunity to be here, of all the places I have available to choose from on this amazing earth, to be peaceful in myself for these few hours of relative stillness and busy bees. It's a chance to look closely and I hope you see what I mean.
2024 has seen an extraordinary spring wildflower bloom in many areas of the Arizona Sonoran Desert. Just parking the white bus in an available campsite overlooking a finger cove at Lake Pleasant Regional Park north of Phoenix, just steps from the door, a riot of bees and globe mallows sways in front of me. Shall I turn to the bright orange ones, the purple ones, the pink ones, the white ones, everywhere I look, without walking more than five or six steps, more colors of this humble flower dance slowly in the cool gentle breeze under a warm midday sun. How, I wonder, does desert globe mallow come in so many bloom colors in one gravelly location? We had a wet winter so spring bloom has been unusually spectacular, but did these seeds of orange, pinks, whites and plums just blow and land and sprout here all together? Now I need to know. The original is 8" by 8" acrylics on a canvas board. I'm not sure why I'm compelled to paint these understated blooms, maybe I know not every year will show so many blooms and I do want to remember this day, this glorious weather, my opportunity to be here, of all the places I have available to choose from on this amazing earth, to be peaceful in myself for these few hours of relative stillness and busy bees. It's a chance to look closely and I hope you see what I mean.