Well, good grief! I posted my last entry at 8:08pm, but the computer claims I posted at 7:26pm! Apparently there's something about this whole blogging service that I don't know about yet.

Well, anyway, I wanted to do a painting that would be bright and cheery, representative of the desert in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area, and that would feature desert bighorn sheep. So-o-o-o...here it is, along with a detail that shows the bighorns a little more clearly (although they are small on the painting--less than 2"/5cm long). The view shows an area typical of what one might see when hiking in the Santa Rosa Mountains east of Palm Desert, CA. Therefore, the title is "Vista de Santa Rosa."

And, of course, I wanted to show the vast spaces one typically sees in the desert. I've heard this referred to as the "mystery of the distance." Those of us who revel in desert scenery understand that feeling very well.

If you live in, or prefer, forested areas, all that distance and "empty" space can lead to the "wasteland" approach to viewing desert landscapes. I guess it's all a question of personal taste, of developing a certain aesthetic for different kinds of beauty.

We artists tend to find beauty everywhere. Sometimes we have to work at that a little, but for all its flaws and heartbreaks, the world is a beautiful place. And you'll find it both in the forests and the deserts.