Desert Spring

 Wow -- today's April Fool's Day. Well, as far as I'M concerned, it's April but I ain't no fool!!

I just finished a painting, Desert Spring, which seemed especially appropriate for this time of year. It depicts a scene in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona. My focus was on the distant mountain (don't know if it has a name or not). After I varnish it, I'll probably offer it for sale on my website -- links are below under my signature).

On another note, I'm hoping to be able to travel to San Antonio, TX in time to see the total solar eclipse. However, at this writing, it seems possible that much of Texas will be overcast and maybe even raining. This would obviously obscure the view of the sun which would render the trip a bust. We'll see in the next couple of days what the weather forecast says, but we may end up canceling the trip. 😢

Anyway, here's the painting. Enjoy!

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

FINALLY!!! I finished my first painting for 2024!!

This is a view a saw many years ago from the Boy Scout Trailhead in Joshua Tree National Park, California. I haven't decided on a title yet, but I'll come up with something. When I do, I'll offer it on my website. The size is 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

Enjoy! 

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Desert Cardinal

New painting of a desert cardinal (aka pyrrhuloxia), found in southern Arizona and New Mexico, and southwestern Texas, then south into Mexico.

Desert Cardinal                                                   8" x 10" / 20cm x 25"

I added just a little green over the branch in the lower lefthand corner so the green doesn't appear to end abruptly at the branch...but I haven't scanned the slightly improved version of the painting yet.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Happy New Year...to You and to All the Little Birdies, Too!

 Happy 2023 to all the humans and the little (and big) critters on the earth!!

Following is a painting I just finished showing a Bullock's oriole that once graced a desert willow we had at our previous residence. We only saw him once, long enough for me to grab a few photos of him before he took off.

Bullock's orioles are the western version of Baltimore orioles which prefer the eastern part of the country; in fact, where their respective ranges overlap, the two are known to hybridize. Ornithologists have an ongoing debate over whether or not these two birds are really the same species.

The world has some incredibly beautiful birds, and I expect to be painting some of them over the next few months. A gallery owner in Ohio asked me to place some bird paintings in her gallery. That could be a great opportunity to show in a part of the country I've never been to yet!

Bullock's Oriole                                                   8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

We'll see how this all works out. Hopefully for the better!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Halloween Art

 Halloween has come and gone -- too quickly, in my opinion.

Now my thoughts have turned to Thanksgiving, another point in the season that I need to prepare me for Christmas.

But first, here are some Halloween-themed paintings that I finished recently. (One CAN be a Halloween image, but it's really a nocturne that could be thought of as creepy and Halloween-ish). 😃

Hi, Bunny! Hi, Pumpkin       8"x10" / 20cm x 25cm

A Walk in the Moonlight       8"x10" / 20cm x 25cm

The Morning After               8"x10" / 20cm x 25cm

And finally, one painting that is just about autumn, Colorado style near Cripple Creek:

Untitled (so far)                 8"x10" / 20cm x 25cm

Finally, I started on some Thanksgiving paintings that I hope to post here soon.

Enjoy the season! It's moving through fast!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

San Gorgonio

 Mt. San Gorgonio is one of the two mountains that cause this area to be a desert. It, along with Mt. San Jacinto and the associated mountains, form the "rain shadow" that makes the rain fall on the coastal side of the mountains, but tends to exclude rain from here; hence, desert.

🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵

San Gorgonio is also the title of my latest painting:

The size is 11" x 14" / 27.9cm x 35.6cm. This piece will be a "thank you" gift to a couple that helped us out while The Wiffee was in a nursing facility. (By the way, she's out now and is doing fine). Sometimes the yellow flowers don't photograph as prominently as they appear in the painting, but hopefully, you get the idea.

Meanwhile, painting will be interesting for a while -- the lens implants following my cataract surgery have developed a cloudy film, giving everything a dreamy look. Treatment is fast and easy -- laser treatment. But getting in to see the ophthalmologist has been quite a challenge! Soon, I hope!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Desert Sunset -- on a Bunny??

"Desert Sunset on a Bunny." ON A BUNNY????

Well, yeah...if you've been following this blog for a while, you know I'm addicted to cute little bunnies, whether domesticated or wild. They (along with guinea piggies) have gotta be the cutest critters in God's creation!

So I often place desert cottontail bunny-rabbits in my desert scenes, watching the viewer before the viewer notices the bunny! I hope this new piece continues the tradition.

Desert Sunset on a Bunny            11" x 14" / 28cm x 35.6cm

This scene is in Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Cactus and Clouds

Life has a way of putting us (me) behind schedule. I dealt with Covid in January and seemingly got past it. Then last month I had a bout of vertigo -- that dizzy feeling where the world seems to be spinning around you even if one is sitting or lying down! Thankfully that's over with now. Vertigo can be an after-effect of Covid -- I've had brief episodes of vertigo before, but this time it lasted a week. NOT FUN!!!

At least I did manage to squeeze in a new painting of the Arizona desert -- it's entitled Cactus and Clouds, measures 11" x 14" / 27.9cm x 35.6cm, and depicts an area southwest of Wickenburg, AZ:

Otherwise, I'm now working on a painting requested by a friend -- sort of Halloween-ish, but it's not of Halloween. I may post it here, but I may not, in which case I'll write about something else.

I'm still feeling fatigued a lot and often don't feel like doing much, but I try to find a balance -- paint while I still can, but be lazy when I want to be lazy! After being a workaholic for so long, I've learned to love laziness!!

Spring is almost here. Enjoy the turn of the season, pray for Ukraine, and thank you for your support.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

The Vast Spaces of the Southwest

 If you've been following me for any length of time, you may have noticed The Vast Spaces of the Southwest is my logo or tagline. And now it's also the title of my latest painting!

This is a view in Joshua Tree National Park, although I "thinned out" the Joshua trees in the foreground because I wanted the JT on the left to be the clear star of the image.

I haven't decided if I want to enter this in a local exhibition or not. The exhibition is about art that was inspired by the national park, and my painting certainly was!

But I also promised myself: no more art shows, galleries, exhibitions/competitions, stuff like that. So: we'll see.

Enjoy, and thank you for your support!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Irwindale

Remember that old song about the lazy hazy crazy days of summer? Well, for me, it's mostly been about lazy! Good grief!! It seems like all I want to do these days is nuthin!! Maybe mess around on my laptop, but that's about it!

Well -- at least I did manage to get a painting done last month -- a small (8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm) landscape of a place called Irwindale, which is also the title of the piece:

Irwindale isn't in the desert, but it's close enough to a desert-y look to suit me. It's east of Pasadena, CA which is east of Los Angeles. It's an area where lots of these yuccas (pronounced "yuck-ah", Hesperoyucca whipplei), also known as the Lord's Candle, bloom in mid-June if southern California had enough rain during the winter months -- a rare commodity these days.

I live about a two-hour's drive from here, so I rarely get to see this view anymore, assuming the yuccas survived the scant rainfall they've gotten over the years of drought. I hope they're still there -- I'd like to see them again.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Superstitions

Superstitions are, of course, funny kinds of beliefs about things; it is also the name of a group of mountains in the desert east of Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Superstitions                      acrylic/panel                     18" x 24"/46cm x 61cm

And so -- my latest painting is entitled Superstitions, in reference to the above-named mountains. I wanted the image to have a sort of surreal, almost spooky feel to capitalize on the name of these rocks.

I've been to these mountains several times, but admittedly -- I never saw them enshrouded in clouds. But I have seen photos of cloud-covered Superstition Mountains, and I knew that was what I needed to do! Plus -- I want to get more into atmospheric effects in my paintings, anyway.

So -- enjoy the painting, and no -- I'm not superstitious!!😃