A View of San Gorgonio

 Finally!! I finished a painting that I've been working on for months. Not that it was a hard painting to do, I just didn't have the time or energy to pour myself into it the way I used to. Must be all part of getting old, I guess.

Anyway, here is San Gorgonio. This is a view of one of the two mountain ranges that make this area a desert. I imagined the scene to appear the way the town of Yucca Valley may have looked before the town existed.

 
I always loved the way the Mojave Desert looks in the spring -- snow on the mountains (not here, so we don't have to deal with it!), and wildflowers blooming on the lowlands. ("Low" is relative -- we're at 3,000 feet elevation). In a place with little color, wildflowers are always a welcome sight.

And, of course, one of my favorite things about seeing and living in the desert is all that open space -- "the vast spaces of the Southwest," as my tagline reads. I'm not claustrophobic, but for some reason, all that space and distance means so much to me. It's almost a touch of the infinite!

Enjoy, and I hope to talk with you again soon.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

It's Been a While, Huh?

It's been a while, huh?

I'm almost finished with a new painting, but after all this time (since late January), my painting output has been very low. Some of it is because I feel tired a lot, plus I handle my brother's affairs because he's in a nursing home, and I look after my wife because she (along with me) have developed old people's afflictions.

But I realized, too, that although I still love well-done art, I HATE 😡the art business, which makes me feel less motivated to paint. Granted, the recession that started in 2007 limited my sales quite a bit, as well as that of other artists.

I remember an artist friend told me years ago that she got more respect as an artist than she ever got working at a "real" job. Back then, I really took that to heart. But it never happened with me. So many people, including gallery owners, think artists are so desperate for exposure and sales that we'll do anything to get those things.

Well, I know I probably shouldn't put this out in the public eye. I just get awfully frustrated and angry at how the world is.

BUT -- I do believe God wants me to keep painting, even if I never sell another piece. Using whatever gifts He gave me glorifies Him. and it's important to me to glorify God in any way that I can.

I should be able to post a new painting here later this week, but in the meantime, here's an oldie. Enjoy, and I'll talk to you again soon.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

 

Palo Verde by Moonlight

 My latest painting -- finally, after being so unmotivated during December 2025 and only slightly more so in January 2026!!

The title is Palo Verde by Moonlight. In case you didn't know, "palo verde" is Spanish for "green stick" and is the name of that small tree/shrub that dominates the image. When you see these in daylight, the branches and twigs (and often the multiple trunks) are green.

The size of the painting is 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm. It's acrylic on panel and should appear on my website in a few weeks.

I was actually at this site many years ago -- north of the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, looking south toward the mountains. That day I was taking pictures using black and white infrared film, which gave the picture a nighttime effect. So I added a little color and a few stars.

I hope you like it! Moonlight in the desert is a magical scene!!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com