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

 

In the Mojave Desert

 In the Mojave Desert is a scene based on a Joshua Tree National Park view. I didn't render the scene exactly as it appears, but it's close, and I didn't want a totally literal presentation.

                              In the Mojave Desert                      8" x 10"/20cm x 25cm

Meanwhile, it's been quite hot around here lately -- I'm sure glad we have an A/C to make it livable! I don't know how the pioneer settlers and miners managed to survive out here in the summertime!! Obviously, they were tougher than I am!!

Working out in my mind what to paint next. Take care, and thank you for your support!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Desert Clouds

Desert Clouds is my latest painting of one of my favorite places -- Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona.

There's just something about the namesake species of cactus that just grabs me. The organ pipe cactus plus the saguaros, in addition to the rugged mountains, are what the desert is all about.

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

 Sometimes I wish I could live there, although the torrid summer heat would probably kill me! And besides -- this is National Park land.

I expect this piece will be on my website soon, looking for a forever home.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Three New Desert Paintings!

Visiting Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona last month definitely energized my desire to paint the desert -- I've completed three small paintings since we returned on 04 April!! All are 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

A Desert Stroll

Eagle's Nest

Arizona Desert

Can you tell? I LOVE the desert!! I think I needed to see saguaro and organ pipe cacti in their natural settings. (Eagle's Nest is a scene in local Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA). I love Joshua trees and our Mojave desert, too, but I think I needed to be immersed in the Sonoran desert of Arizona for more inspiration.

I'd say it worked!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Dry Times

Dry Times refers to the droughts we in the West often get stuck with. It is also the title of my latest painting depicting some dry times in Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA.

Dry Times                                      18" x 24" / 46cm x 61cm

This year, some of the Joshua trees did bloom -- we had some rain, and it stayed pretty cool - cold most of the winter -- just the way JTs like it! Also, Joshua trees bloom earlier than the annuals and shrubs do, so it would be unusual to see flowers on the trees AND all over the desert floor at the same time. It does happen, but things have to be just right -- and this year, they weren't.

So I painted the scene pretty much as it appeared the day I last visited there. We can see the green creosote bushes, the gray blackbrush, the pale yellow Indian ricegrass and the reddish-brown seedpods of wild buckwheat.

But no wildflowers! 😢

Well, I love the desert whether springtime color appears or not. But the color sure would make it prettier!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com