The Good News and the Bad News

 The good news and the bad news...

First, the good news -- I sold a painting off of my website (which, in case you forgot, is www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com)! Totally unexpected. Surprises like that are nice!

This is the piece that sold:

Hooded Oriole                                                      08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

(The red dot in the lower right corner means it sold!!)

Now for the bad news...

I keep reading (mostly on Facebook) a lot of stuff about the political situation in this country, along with some rather vicious attacks on people who -- in all good faith -- happen to disagree with them. I've been the victim of such attacks myself.

And it's getting to me. I feel so discouraged all the time, and it's getting worse. I'd leave Facebook if it wasn't for the good stuff -- information from real friends, artwork others have posted, stuff like that.

But maybe the good news isn't worth dealing with the bad. I've got some serious thinking to do. (Sigh......)

Mark Junge

Dioramas in Progress

Besides working on my fine art paintings, I've also been busy with a commission from the local Hi Desert Nature Museum in Yucca Valley, CA. I'm making two habitat dioramas showing some of the wildlife and overall look of our Mojave desert!

So far, I'm still painting the background image which I hope to finish within a few days. I have to say, this is the largest painting I've ever done (86" wide x 67" high / 2.2m W x 1.7m H). And I'm working on the painting on site -- not in the studio, where I would use an easel and all my paraphernalia laid out where I'm used to having it. Oh, well.

Here's how it looks so far -- a slightly modified scene from Joshua Tree National Park:

Daytime Diorama

From the title, you may guess there will also be a Nighttime Diorama as well. Once the background is finished (with more small rocks and additional plant species), the foreground will be the three-dimensional component with ground, rocks, taxidermy animals and some plants. I'm making the 3-D foreground, too, although I don't know yet if I'll be placing the critters where they belong, or if the museum staff will handle that.

Then, if I'm not too tired, I work in my studio on my paintings, too!

It'll be nice to have both dioramas finished and see what the response is. I hope they will add much to the museum and that the public will love 'em!

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com
www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.FineArtAmerica.com (for prints)

Hooded Oriole

For a quick flash of fluorescent color in a sometimes drab southwestern desert, nothing can beat a male hooded oriole!

Hooded Oriole                                   8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

The glorious color of this little beauty must be seen to be believed! In full sunlight, its yellow-orange and black feathering is a delight to the eye.

They have a sweet "tooth" and will share hummingbird feeders with the hummingbirds -- the feeder we have is where we're most likely to see the orioles. The females visit the sugar water, too, but are colored a muted green. The orioles tend to nest on the undersides of fan palm fronds in basket-like nests that hang from the fronds. (It must be quite a ride on windy days!)

I painted this oriole sitting on the branch of a palo verde tree, another resident of the desert. I considered including the yellow flowers of the tree, but then I decided I didn't want anything yellow to compete with the dazzling yellows of the bird.

Hooded orioles winter mostly in Mexico. So if you ever want to see one in the southwestern deserts of the US, come to the desert in the spring or (gasp!) summer for a striking flash of color!

Mark Junge
www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.MarkJunge.com 
www.FineArtAmerica.com (prints)

Snowline

Another painting with snow!! My latest effort is Snowline, 24" x 36" / 61cm x 91cm.

Snowline                                                                               24" x 36"

Snow is rare in the Sonoran desert regions of southern Arizona, but it does occur. It's sunset, and I chose to place the snow higher up from the desert floor, and even then, it's a light dusting that, soon after the sun rises again, it will be gone.

I included some critters typical of Sonoran desert fauna -- two desert bighorn sheep and a great horned owl who seemed to have taken each other by surprise.

Snowline -- detail

Frankly, the owl was the most difficult thing to paint. On the painting, the owl is less than 1" / 2cm tall, and it's hard to include enough detail to make the owl look like an owl with its head turned! But I'm happy enough with it, so there it is!

Snowline is another in a small series of paintings that will feature light amounts of snow, mostly in desert settings. They will be offered for sale at the 60WestGallery, due to open next month in Wickenburg, AZ. Maybe I'll see you there!

Mark Junge
www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.MarkJunge.com
www.Fineart America (for prints)

Deep Canyon View

Deep Canyon is a place south of Palm Desert that includes a research center. Deep Canyon View is my latest painting of the area. I love the view, the sweeping vista, the overlapping mountains and the ocotillos and brittlebush that grow there.

Deep Canyon View                                                             30" x 40"

This piece was a commission I recently finished -- 30" x 40" / 76cm x 102cm. I've painted this view many times -- you'd think I could do it from memory!

Nowadays, with the knee problems I have, it's unlikely I would ever go hiking out there again. Besides that, this entire area, including the ground I was standing on, is all part of the Boyd Research Center -- by being here, I could unintentionally impact the research findings one way or another. So that's another reason I wouldn't go back again.

I did take many, many pictures of this place that I can use as reference material for years to come if need be. Someday this scene could become my opus magnum -- the largest and best desert painting I will ever have done! We'll see. 😃

Mark Junge
www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.MarkJunge.com
www.FineArtAmerica (prints)

 

Watch the Birdie(s)

One of the things I love about our home in the desert is seeing all the wild critters that come by -- bunnies and birdies, in particular.

We have a hummingbird feeder that hangs where we can see it from inside the house. Of course, it isn't just hummingbirds that enjoy the sugar-water. House finches and several species of desert-dwelling orioles have a sweet "tooth," too!

This is probably my favorite birdie to see (although hummingbirds are awfully cute, too!) This is a hooded oriole,  Icterus cucullatus. The males around here are a brilliant, almost fluorescent, yellow with black and white markings. They're so colorful!

One thing I've noticed about these and other birds -- they're incredibly cautious! Whenever they land on the feeder (which is out in the open), they sit there and look in all directions, carefully making sure nothing is going to attack them while feeding. Once they're satisfied it's safe, they'll take a quick drink, then return to looking for predators.

They'll repeat this routine several times until they finally get enough sugar-water, then they fly off.

It reminds me of the advice given to humans -- be aware of your surroundings! With so many human predators in the world, we need to be cognizant of who is nearby and what they may be doing. As the birds instinctively know, it's a dangerous world, and while an attitude of fear isn't necessarily called for, we must be ready to respond to anything that may be dangerous to us.

The birdies know. They woundn't live very long if they don't follow through. We should do the same.

(Someday, I'm gonna have to paint a hooded oriole!)

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

Yucca Valley

Yucca Valley is the name of the town where I hang out a lot, and it's also the title of a new painting (the last from 2017):

Yucca Valley              18" x 24" / 46cm x 61cm

This scene is close to, but not in, Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. Yucca Valley is a small community -- but not as small as it used to be -- and still has areas of "wildness" that are suitable for paintings. ☺

All the wildflowers are courtesy of the heavy rains we received in the winter of 2017 -- it's rare that we see this much color concentrated in a small area. Mt. San Gorgonio looms in the distance.

And I actually did see a jackrabbit out there, although I brought him/her in closer and is running to the left instead of the right. Apparently, I got too close to it, and it ran as fast as it could to escape my questionable "deadly" clutches and flee to safety. Then it stopped to see if I was following. (I wasn't!)

Sadly, this spot is within a 55-acre parcel that has been for sale for a number of years. I expect it's only a matter of time before some developer will buy this land and convert it into housing. And everything you see in the painting will be gone except San Gorgonio, which will be hard to find through the haze of rooftops.

For now, all I can do is paint special places like this. And to remember that "this, too, shall pass." As everything does.

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

Bunnies Bunnies Bunnie Bunnies Everywhere

Most people I know have learned by now that I love bunnies. (Guinea piggies, too!) We have a pet bunny, but I love the wild desert cottontail bunnies that live outside, too. They're so cute. And adorable.

I do put food out for them every evening before sundown, along with chicken scratch for the quail (and other assorted birdies). I also give the bunnies sliced carrots or apple and some romaine lettuce.

The wild bunnies sort of / kind of trust me, but only to a point. When I go outside to feed them, they gather around, but they keep a safe distance from me -- usually. Normally, they "freeze" until I walk past them, then -- supposedly when I can't see them -- THEN they may move a bit away from me.

On occasion, a bold bunny will show up and take food from my fingers, then run off with the goodie to eat it.

In one case, I was able to help a critter I called the notch-eared bunny. S/he had a long cactus thorn stuck in its forehead. There were times it would get into a "boxing match" with another bunny -- common among disagreeing rabbits -- and the bunny with the thorn would scream because its opponent often hit the thorn and made it hurt more.

But because this particular bunny came up to me to take a goodie, I was able to pull the thorn out!

This is the notch-eared bunny (no thorn) coming to get an apple goodie:

Sometimes it's fun to see how different bunnies interact with each other. I had missed an opportunity to get a picture of a blacktailed jackrabbit touching noses with a desert cottontail, but at least I did manage to take a pic of a baby (left) and adult (right) bunny together.

I'll leave with a portion of lyrics from an old (1949) song by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, Ya Wanna Buy a Bunny? about someone with a Shirley Temple voice who apparently didn't know that bunnies totally understand multiplication:
  

Bunnies bunnies bunnies bunnies everywhere.
There's bunnies on the table and there's bunnies on the chair.
Bunnies on the sofa and there's bunnies on the floor.
And there's some new ones coming through the door. MORE!!

www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.MarkJunge.com

Finished a New BIG Painting...FINALLY!!

I FINALLY finished a painting that's been bogging me down for months! Not because it was all that complex, but because I just couldn't seem to force myself to work on it. I guess larger paintings intimidate me a bit...more than they used to. And I never really liked working on big stuff anyway.

 

Mt. San Jacinto from Morongo Valley      60" x 48"

The scene shows Mt. San Jacinto (west of Palm Springs, CA) as one sees it from the northern end of Morongo Valley. The piece features many of the plants and animals that live in this small rural community. (OK, you're not likely to see white doves there, but there's a reason why I included them).

Here are the animals that appear in the painting. Some are easy to find, others require more searching:

Animals of Morongo Valley

This is obviously not a complete pictorial of every critter that inhabits this area. But these are examples of animals that live there.

Now, the white doves... This painting is being donated to a church (Church of the Lighted Cross) in Morongo Valley. White doves often symbolize the Holy Spirit, so it seemed appropriate to include a small flock of them.

Also, I normally would have painted this artwork in a horizontal ("landscape") format rather than vertical ("portrait"), but it needed to fit in a particular space. So vertical it is!

I hope the painting will be a blessing to the people of the church, the population of Morongo Valley and -- perhaps -- to the entire world!

 

Gathering Storm: Sonoran Pronghorn

Sonoran pronghorn are a desert-dwelling subspecies of the grasslands pronghorn we're more familiar with. At this time, they are found only in the southern-most regions of Arizona and south into Mexico. They are highly endangered, although their numbers are increasing thanks to cooperation between US and Mexican wildlife biologists and the captive breeding program in Arizona's Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

Gathering Storm: Sonoran Pronghorn    11" x 14"    acrylic/panel

These critters are smaller, lighter-colored and skinnier than the ones you find on the prairie. They're quite shy and can see people approaching from over a mile away -- and the pronghorn disappear long before you would ever know they were there.

A storm is coming, and hopefully these guys are looking for some shelter -- not easy in the desert. The scene is in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; in the distance loom the Sonoyta Mountains of Mexico.

I hope Sonoran pronghorn will return from the brink of extinction.

The painting is presently on my website. At this writing, all it needs is a coat of varnish, and it'll be ready to hang in someone's home or office!

www.southwestspaces.com/western_landscape_art.html

 

Rats!

This weekend was quite the time for critters. Living in a rural/semirural desert area, one expects to see critters -- especially when they're encouraged to come around when people like us put food and water out for them.

Unfortunately, some critters are more welcome than others. Like ground squirrels. They can be pretty destructive.

So we invested in a "catch-'em-alive" trap so we could catch them and relocate those little varmints to other parts of the desert.

But we weren't prepared for the bees we saw for the first time yesterday! They took up residence under the roof where there was no piece of lumber to keep them out. $200 to have them removed this morning. They, like the ground squirrels, were taken to a rocky place out there where they can do what bees do in peace. They weren't Africanized and thus weren't dangerous, but they were too close to our front door and walkway.

Then there were the rats. The rats we have in the desert aren't like the disgusting Norway rats one finds in the cities. They're actually kind of cute!

They seem to like moving into a bale of Bermuda-grass hay that we use to add bedding material for our pet bunny and guinea piggy. But since that hay must stay clean, I caught the two rats and relocated them elsewhere.

Then, in the afternoon, we heard some faint "squeeks" coming from the bale, and my worst fears were confirmed: baby rats! They had fur but still had their eyes closed:

So, what do we do with them? I doubt they were old enough for us to take care of even if we had a way of doing so. I'm sure they were young enough so if we wanted to keep them as pets, they would have been perfectly socialized to life with humans.

But where does one get rat's milk? With two critters already keeping us busy, where would we put more critters (there were three babies)? I doubted Animal Control would want them. And I didn't have the heart to kill them myself.

So we thought about it, and -- as cruel as the Circle of Life can be, we decided to continue the Circle: we set out a shallow container and put the baby rats in it. For a roadrunner to find.

It didn't take long. The babies disappeared, one at a time, and thank God we didn't happen to see the roadrunner take them.

I hate stuff like this, and I wish we could have thought of an alternative. I hate killing, or being responsible for the killing of, animals, especially the cute ones. It literally sickens me. Sometimes the guilt is overwhelming. And it makes me hope there's a critter heaven someplace where beloved pets and wild animals alike go and spend eternity without fear of being attacked or harmed.

Is that too much to hope for?

New Additions and a Happy New Year

Cute little guys, huh?

They don't have names yet, but we acquired these two from an animal shelter. They met there four months ago and became friends, and we didn't have the heart to take one and not the other. So-o-o-o...

In the meantime, we don't "do" New Years Eve anymore. I'd be painting except that I need to prepare to teach TWO classes beginning in January: microbiology and zoology. So I'll be doing a little less art until I feel I'm caught up enough in those two subjects to squeeze in some painting again.

To make a long story short...

Have a Happy New Year!!! Please keep it safe!

All Ate Well Tonight

I sometimes take a camera outside with me when I put goodies out for the wild bunnies and birdies...uh, birds. You just never know what you might see while you're out there. And sometimes I kick myself when I don't take a camera along and wish I had. This evening was such an evening.

I was near a bush on the side of the house, and I heard a rustling of leaves. I took a peak to see what was there, and I saw a cat. A large cat. Then I realized it wasn't just any old cat -- it was a bobcat.

We saw each other at the same time. I spoke to it as I often do with critters: "He-e-e-y, Bobcat!" It started to walk away, but then turned back to pick up a dead bunny I didn't see before. The the bobcat calmly walked away, bunny in mouth, went across the street and into a lot that is still natural desert.

It happened too quickly for me to have gotten an up-close shot of the bobcat under the bush, but I could easily have taken a picture of it as it left with its dinner. Oh, well.

It left me wondering how it all happened -- if the bunny was captured and killed right there under the bush, or did the bobcat carry the bunny to that spot to devour after catching it somewhere else? Was the bunny one of the ones that was relatively bold and friendly with me, or was it completely wild and distrustful of me?

I'll never know. I'm glad I didn't see the kill itself: I know the circle of life must continue, but I always feel sorry for the prey critters.

The birdies, the bunnies AND the bobcat ate well tonight.

Another Lizard

I've been on somewhat of a lizard kick lately -- either looking for them or painting them!


This is a desert spiny lizard. I've actually discussed this particular little critter in a previous post. But now I've finally completed a painting of it, sitting on the skeleton of a cholla cactus. There were some thin miscellaneous branches covering part of the lizard (as you can see in the photo), but I had no trouble filling in the hidden parts.


Fun! Painting lizards up-close is a little different for me, but I'm hoping there are others who like lizards as much as I do and who can't live without this painting!

Ain't It Cute?

Even lizard babies are cute!

This one has been hanging out around our front door and runs away from the house whenever we step outside. S/he (don't know the sex or the species at this time) is only about 3.5"/8.9cm nose-to-tip-of-tail. The head is disproportionally large, but I'm sure the body will grow bigger and will catch up in time.

As you may have caught on before -- I really like lizards!

Decisions, Decisions

I'm one of those who tend to feel extreme empathy for critters, especially if they happen to be cute.

Partly for that reason and also because I photograph the wild critters around here to use in paintings. As you can see from the attached pictures, bunnies and Gambels quail rank pretty highly on my scale of desirableness. (Is that a word?)

So to ensure I have a steady supply of critters around to photograph when I need more pix, I put food out for them every evening before sundown: rabbit pellets for the bunnies, and chicken scratch for the quail. I also have hummingbird feeders (two) for their namesake and a suet feeder, originally intended for woodpeckers. And I have containers of water outside -- I replace and refill them with fresh water every day. It all makes for happy critters.

But then there's this danged thing called the Law of Unintended Consequences. All of these types of food have been attracting more than the critters I wanted to attract -- some of these are OK, some are not.

Among the undesirable critters: ground squirrels. The worst ones are the species that look like tree squirrels (although their tails aren't quite as bushy), and they DIG HOLES!! Lots of them. They live to dig. Some holes would be okay--it does help aerate the soil. But it can be overdone.

It seems like these last few years, the squirrels have been cranking out LOTS of offspring. We have a lot of cholla cactus growing around here, so I suspect it's hard for predators to catch them and keep the numbers under control. And, of course, having food and pans of water so easily available to them isn't helping the situation, either.

Last year I bought a "catch-'em-alive" trap which I've used to capture and relocate squirrels, one at a time. But this year, I can't seem to catch up. It appears as I reduce the numbers of squirrels, other squirrel "families" move in to take their place. So I'll think: "Ah...only one more squirrel to catch and that's it." Nope--the next day, I see five new ground squirrels!

So, decisions decisions. Do I stop feeding and watering ALL of the wild critters in the hope the ground squirrels will go elsewhere, or at least not be encouraged to take up residence here? Maybe. I hate the thought of it, and I hope I don't put out enough food to the point where the bunnies and quail are entirely dependent on me to survive; otherwise, they could starve to death without me feeding them.

But the ground squirrels are slowly destroying this area--even the parts that are natural desert. They even eat the cactus, roots and all! How do they do that without embedding millions of stickers in their mouths and faces?

Maybe this is one of those cases where the few have ruined it for all. Let's just hope I have enough pictures. And let's pray for the bunnies and the quail. But not for the ground squirrels.

Quail By Moonlight

I try to make it a point of getting new critter pictures whenever I can.

Here, I was able to get a shot of a male Gambel's quail by moonlight. Impressed?

Na-a-h-h...don't be. It's a daylight shot, but I didn't realize I had this particular adjustment on the camera set for tungsten light. Thus, daylight pictures came out too blue.

Oh, well. I discovered my mistake soon enough and corrected the setting. For painting purposes, what I really need is the overall form of the quail. I have other references (including the live quail running around outside) to get the coloring right.

Besides, maybe this male is seeking a romantic encounter...by moonlight!

A Flash of Color with a Sweet Tooth

Hummingbirds aren't the only birds that like hummingbird feeders!

We have two species of orioles that live in the desert. (I have seen a third species, but it's more of a visitor, not a resident). Pictured is one of them -- a hooded oriole. (It's hard to see because he's facing away from us, but he has a yellow-orange head with a black "hood" under his beak).

While many of the colors here in the desert are muted, some are not. Seeing this flash of bright yellow-orange against a deep-blue sky is breath-taking. A flash of color with a sweet tooth!

A Wildlife Moment

Every so often, we hear evidence of cats outside who are obviously disagreeing about something. That's not that unusual for most folks, I guess, although around here, leaving pet kitties outside isn't a good idea. Too many coyotes would LOVE to make a meal out of those furry felines.

Last night before going to bed, I heard that characteristic "whhhaaarrrr!" of cats who were thinking about "gettin into it," except the two cats somehow sounded meaner than usual.

Being a moonless night, I flipped on a spotlight fixture so I could see what was going on out there. I was quite surprised to see not house cats, but bobcats, squaring off and making truly nasty, scary noises. I quickly turned the light off again so, if they decided to turn physical, I wouldn't put the bobcat facing the blinding lights at a disadvantage.

Well, the felines "whhhaaarrr'ed" at each other a while longer, then all was quiet. Perhaps next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time), I'll try to take a picture that might be useful for a painting some day.

But this is one of the things I love about living in the desert. It's still rural enough here for these kinds of "wildlife moments" to happen for us to see. And it provides inspiration for art.

Is It Real, or Is It...?

Pictured is one of my favorite species of lizards to "hide" in a desert painting.

It's a zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides), a species that is fairly common throughout the Southwestern deserts. I've seen them a number of times and have even been lucky enough to take some pictures of them before they disappear within the blink of an eye.

This particular individual, however, is a sculpture. It looks real, but it's made of polymer clay. (Polymer clay can be "fired" in a standard household oven, unlike dirt-style clay which must be fired in a high-temperature kiln). He (or she?) was made by an artist friend who for years has been making lizards, snakes, frogs and turtles. Lately she's been adding more colorful/decorative critters to her production.

The artist's name is Sandra Lee, and you can see what she's been up to here: http://picasaweb.google.com/SandraLeeandNat

I have quite a collection of her sculptures, most of which have appeared in numerous paintings. These, plus with the help of the photos I've taken of these desert reptiles, have aided me greatly in adding just a little life to my desert artwork.