Advancing Time

 

Advancing Time is my latest (surrealism) painting. It's essentially a redo of the very first serious painting I did: men seemingly running from a clock that is chasing them as the sun goes down. The size is 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

What does it mean?? Not really sure -- I'm sure something bad is in those runners' futures if/when the clock catches up with them. Maybe it has something to do with our futures as well.

I'll admit I'm concerned about our future and the future of our country. Perhaps the painting is simply an expression of concerns I have and the ominous evil just beyond the horizon. Something's coming, and it ain't good.

But for now, enjoy the time we have, and look for the beauty in our lives.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

The Visit

 I've been in the mood for some surrealism lately. So I'm holding back a little on making desert landscape paintings and I'm doing some small surrealism works!

The latest piece -- The Visit -- combines surrealism and a bit of desert landscape! 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

Even though I paint surrealism, I never try to explain what the images mean, usually because I don't know what they mean. In this case, I wanted a scene of a human walking through an otherworldly desert, similar to something one might see in a dream.

In fact, dream imagery is critical to my way of working -- dreams that might be a little disturbing, but the scenes are not nightmarish. This is the Salvador Dali-ish world I love to create. Some modern-day surrealism is too pretty, or too much a mere assemblage of seemingly unrelated objects thrown together in a view, or scary/ugly monstrous animals or mutated humans. Not my thing at all!

So is this female on a vision quest? Is she lost? Dream-walking? Heading into an unknown future, good or bad (as we all must)? Don't know!

All I know is: there's something freeing to me about doing these kinds of paintings. Let's face it -- I'm a surreal kind of guy. AND PROUD OF IT!!

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

 

Kaua'i Shores

 

As much as I love the desert, sometimes I get romanticized images of Polynesian islands in my head.

When we took a trip to the Hawaiian Islands in October 2019, I had hoped to see places that resembled the pictures I have in my brain, but we never did find places like that on our too-brief trip.

So I've taken to painting real-life scenes but with a certain, uh, embellishment! 😃

Kaua'i Shores         8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

The foundation of this piece is Tunnels Beach (aka Makua Beach) is northern Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands. The plant life is imaginary but is based on real plants that grow on Kaua'i, but not necessarily this close to the ocean. The only animal I depicted is the Hawaiian honeycreeper, the red bird sitting on the tree fern -- difficult to paint, since it's VERY small on the painting!

More Polynesian 🌴🌴🌴paintings to come, but now it's back to the desert 🌵🌵🌵 in the studio🎨!!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Joshua Tree National Park

 

Sheesh! I haven't been over to nearby Joshua Tree National Park for a long time. It IS one of my inspirational places to go for doing paintings, after all. (Of course, the Covid-19 shutdowns didn't help).

So I went there today! Weather was pleasant-to-warm, no high winds and I was in the mood. Besides, I needed some fresh material for paintings, and it's just good to go there once in a while!

Had to do some hiking and a little climbing for the picture of the red barrel cactus -- but I think it was worth it!

Oh -- and I saw a couple of lizards, too. This one is a female side-blotched lizard. (The other was a horned lizard, but I couldn't get a clear shot of that little guy).

Cute, huh?

I had hoped to make it to some other spots, but sunset came all too quickly, so -- another time. Soon. Before the oven heat begins. Such is life in the desert!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Firerock

The latest painting -- Firerock, 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

Firerock (aka Red Mountain) is the volcanic mountain out there which I believe is on the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community south of Fountain Hills (NE of Scottsdale), AZ.

This is how it looked when I drove through there to set up for an art show in Fountain Hills. A storm had just cleared up, and the desert had all these beautiful colors. I added some clouds, and I deleted the homes and gated communities that had been built where I showed open desert in the foreground.

I went by at the right time. The following evenings, the area wasn't as colorful. On occasion, timing is everything! 😃

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Happy Easter!!!

Everybody knows Easter is all about a warm sunny day filled with flowers, bunnies, chocolate eggs and jelly beans. Maybe the kids will go searching in an Easter egg hunt or looking for an Easter basket hidden somewhere in the house. That's what Easter is all about, right?

Well, not exactly.

You see -- God loves us and wants to dwell with us, living the perfect life and attitudes He had in mind for us. But there's one big problem -- we don't do so good at living a perfect life according to His standards. In fact, we suck at it, and it ticks God off!

He loves us, but He can't put up with our disobedience -- another way of saying sin. We deserve to be thrown into hell because we make God miserable, as well as ourselves and everyone else. He's got a pretty high standard, and hey! God made us!! He makes the rules, and serving Him instead of ourselves is as good as it gets.

Thankfully, God gave us a way out. He used to require sacrifices as a way of making things right with Him, but then He had another idea: He sent His Son to be a sacrifice in place of the ones we came up with. His Son, of course, is Jesus Christ.

Jesus was crucified -- nailed to a cross as a blood sacrifice. He died, but He became alive again three days later. He took our sins/disobedient acts on Himself, thus cleaning up our acts once and for all, and by rising from the grave, He conquered the deaths that WE deserve.

Why did He do this? Because He loves us and didn't want any of us to languish forever in hell. All we have to do is: accept the notion that Jesus did this and that He is now our Lord as well as our Savior from hell. And follow Him. As imperfect as we are, God wants us to try, at least, to live a live of obedience to Him. In other words, this is NOT an anything goes kind of contract.

Is there a Plan B? What about those who live a good and moral life but who don't accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior?

Well, the Bible isn't that hopeful for people in that position. I can hope that Christ's death and resurrection is one method for being saved (although Jesus Himself said He is the ONLY way, and it's hard to see a Plan B in that).

So I'M sticking with Plan A, and I pray that anyone reading this will do likewise. Eternity is a long, LONG time!!!

Ohh... In case you really need a bunny, here's a picture of ours! 😃

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!!😃

Onward!!

OK, OK...I didn't post anything for the month of February (which seemed to slip by awfully fast, didn't it?)

Not that I haven't been painting -- I've been wanting to get better at rendering portraits and figurative work, so I painted a lovely young female Facebook friend just to see how I would do. It's a ways from the level I would like to be at, but I'd say it ain't bad. (However, I didn't get her permission to post it anywhere -- maybe I'll show it here in the near future).

Meanwhile, I have three paintings in progress now, and I have ideas in my head for more.

So I'll keep moving onward and upward! Practice drawing and painting human beans, and paint landscapes that show the drama nature can unleash on us, as well as pretty scenes that will make you want to go there!

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

 

Hippity-Hop

If you're like me, you think bunnies are cute. Jackrabbits are, too!

Hippity-Hop: Blacktailed Jackrabbit           a/p         8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

I decided to paint him ambling along rather than running full-out to escape a predator (that may be another painting!) Still, I blurred the shrubs in the background to look like things are in motion. Also, the clouds in the sky are intended to simulate clouds of dust that the jackrabbit is stirring up.

Jackrabbits can run 40mph / 64km/h (compared to desert cottontail rabbits which run at 19mph / 30km/h), although it can be difficult to clock the critters because they zigzag when they run, and they often bound into the air so they can look above the vegetation to see if they're being pursued.

In our former home, jackrabbits would occasionally come by and share the rabbit pellets we put out for the cottontails. The jacks had a special, endearing appeal when they moved around in their long-legged lanky way when they seemed almost clumsy!

I'm glad I had an opportunity to paint one of these amazing critters!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Possibly Prefers a Prickly Perch!

Cactus Wren is my last painting from 2020! 08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm, acrylic on panel.

Cactus wrens are birds we see in the southwestern deserts (such as where I live!) and seem to be able to land on and flit about within the prickliest cactus without impaling themselves or stabbing themselves with thorns. In fact, they even build their nests in the branches of cactus like the teddy bear cholla shown in the painting. I can't imagine what predators would be able to get past the thorns and attack the birds or the eggs!

The males and females look pretty much the same, so I couldn't tell you if this birdie is a boy or a girl. While I can't say cactus wrens are songbirds, they make a distinctive sound that I've heard referred to as the "call of the desert." I agree with that characterization. This is what they sound like.

I love these critters!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Blue on Blue: Western Scrub Jays

 

Blue on Blue: Western Scrub Jays is my latest painting. The size is 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm and features a couple of scrub jays that we find out here in the desert. This species of jay have no crests on their heads. The two are sitting on a monzogranite rock typical of those in Joshua Tree National Park, CA, USA.

I've always enjoyed being around these birds. They're bold, colorful and always seem to be cheerful; or at least, they cheer ME up! I should paint more of these!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

MEEP MEEP!!!

 

Meep meep!! I bet everybody knows who makes that sound!!

Of course, it's the roadrunner from the Warner Bros. cartoons who loves burning up the asphalt as he evades Wile E. Coyote or even just because speed is fun! The roadrunner's name is Beep Beep, although it sounds like "Meep meep" when he "speaks."

I just finished a painting of a greater roadrunner (but not the cartoon one), for a collector who is accumulating a series of artworks depicting birds of the Southwestern deserts.

Meep Meep!                                                                 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

The scientific name is Geococcyx californianus -- "Californian earth-cuckooo". As you might guess, they are in the cuckoo family.

I decided to keep the background very simple so the roadrunner would stand out in bold relief.

Enjoy!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com

 

The Beauty of Autumn Colors

Sometimes I think I must be part duck. When autumn hits, I get this excitement that I can't explain. If I were a duck, maybe I'd want to migrate! (But I don't feel like going anywhere). 😀

But autumn is the start of an entire holiday season, each with its own look and feel. Autumn itself is kind of a holiday to me -- cooler temperatures (except here in the desert!) and the harmonious color combination of reds, oranges and yellows -- again, not as much in the desert.

Autumn never used to be a big deal to me until I discovered duck prints -- images of different species of ducks (with mallards being my favorites) set against fall landscapes and marshes, typically as hunters might like to see them.

I'm not a hunter, but I happen to love mallard ducks -- alive, not to eat!

So I painted a Colorado autumn scene with a small group of mallard ducks swimming peacefully in a pond. Somewhat imaginary, but it wouldn't be unheard of to stumble across a scene like this:

Aspen Pond            10" x 08" / 25cm x 20cm

I also finished a painting of a rufous hummingbird. I don't associate them with fall, but ya gotta admit: they ARE fall-colored!

 

Rufous Hummingbird          08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

I already have someone who is interested in this piece; Aspen Pond may appear on my website, or I may just keep it. I have to decide.

My website URLs, by the way, are www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com.

Enjoy the colors of the season!

Mark Junge

 

King of the Whole Wide World

King of the Whole Wide World: Gambel's Quail is my latest painting.

It also happens to be the title of a song by Elvis Presley that he sang in his movie, Kid Galahad. I always liked the title, tho' and somehow it seemed appropriate for a male quail calling out to the world.

Size is 08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm, acrylic on panel. I think I already have a buyer for it!!

Paradise Found

I FINALLY finished a painting that I started months ago following our whirlwind trip to Hawaii last October.

Paradise Found, 30" x 40" /  76.2cm x 101.6cm

 

Paradise Found (Detail)

The scene is based loosely on Tunnels Beach (aka Makua Beach) on the northeastern shores of Kauai. (We didn't make it there, but the pictures I saw made the distant mountains irresistible). Rather than going into a strict rendering of how Tunnels Beach looks, I added a lot of fantasy to the scene to make it into a "paradise found": a world that I would want to escape to; just beauty and peace everywhere; in a land inhabited by nice, caring people; music and dancing that stirs the soul and landscapes of unimaginable serenity and magic.

Of course, I doubt there ever was such a place as this, and especially not in modern times. Even Hawaii struck me as being a paradise lost but with some of its beauty remaining.

I had intended the vahine walking toward us to be an actual person, but she's small enough in the painting (3.5" / 8.9cm) where getting that tiny face to look like someone just didn't work.

Also, many of the plants I depicted would not grow this close to the shore -- too intolerant of the salt spray. But: it IS MY fantasy!!

And the tiki -- well, it looks like a pregnant female. She may be a goddess of fertility or something like that. I added it just to give more Polynesian flavor to the image. The dancers and drummers are definitely Tahitian, but this is not intended to be any real place.

I have other imaginary "paradise found" places in my head, too. Maybe someday I'll meet you there!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com 

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

Half Over!

Well, good grief! June is already over with, and I realized I didn't write ANYthing for the entire month!

As if that ain't bad enough -- I realized the year is half over, and there's so much to do yet!!!

I guess when one is old and (mostly) retired, one just doesn't do as much as one used to!

June was a month of: 1.) sometimes not doing anything, and: 2.) continuing to unpack and work on stuff from our move last August. We -- ME, mostly -- never really had time to sort through things, empty boxes and maybe getting rid of stuff we moved that we really don't need anymore!

So I did paint, but I didn't finish anything.

So, since it's summer, maybe I'll just post a pic of a painting I did a couple of years ago that shows summer (but not how summer looks in southern California!), and by next month, I should have new works to post.

Summer Pastoral                  acrylic/panel                 16" x 20" / 40.6cm x 50.8cm

I hope your Independence Day was fun and uplifting. Thank you for your support!

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

Sacred Places in Maui

A Sacred Place is the tentative title of my latest painting, the first in a series I expect to do following our trip to the Hawaiian Islands last October.

A Sacred Place                                                              08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm

This scene depicts Iao Needle ("Iao" is pronounced "yeow") in Iao Valley in Maui, Hawaiian Islands. The area was a sacred site to the old Hawaiian people who conducted ceremonies to their gods -- unclear which ones, since it seems to depend on what reference one looks to.

It seems to be cloudy there often, and it was overcast on the day we were there. Someday I may do another painting of the Needle with bright blue skies and sunshine, but for now, I wanted to hint at a sense of mystery in this Valley.

This was the first place we visited when we arrived in Maui. I had seen the Iao Needle in pictures before, so I was thrilled to be able to see the thing in real life.

Aloha!

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com
 

California's Central Coast

My latest painting is a commissioned piece that shows Atascadero along California's central coast.

The client owns a retirement home in the area and wanted some paintings that highlighted the beauty of the landscape there, especially when wildflowers are at their peak!

Southern California is a beautiful place during March and April. When the rest of the country is still enduring snow and freezing temps, winters here are pleasant, and -- except for the desert -- we experience green Christmases, with flowers soon to follow.

A second commission will be coming. It will feature a grove of trees on the client's property.


Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com

Bryce Canyon National Park

Here are two paintings of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah (in the USA) that I was commissioned to do, using photos that the client provided.

 
















I've been to the Park several times -- but I've never painted it before. All of those rock formations and hoodoos have a lot of detail in them, and even the above paintings didn't capture all of the ruggedness of the place.

Still, I think they turned out reasonably well, and I was able to use colors and contrast in ways that straightforward photographs can't capture.

And now -- I can concentrate on ANOTHER commission!

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

Dino Drawings

I think I finally finished one set of commissioned paintings, now it's on to a second set of two for another collector.

That doesn't mean I stop thinking about other paintings I want to do, probably for myself, or maybe to post on Fine Art America to make prints for sale.

But in the meantime, drawing is a fast way of making art compared to painting. Like making dino drawings!

Deinonychus

Dimetrodon

Of course, nobody knows exactly what dinos look like. All we've got are bones and, in some cases, fossilized impressions. (And fossilized dino eggs and dino poop!) But the computer-generated image (CGI) critters we see in the movies are convincing enough to get us excited about these ancient animals!

Incidentally, Dimetrodon, a denizen of the Permian era, is not considered a dinosaur, but was a synapsid -- more reptilian (and even mammal-like in some ways) and was wiped out in the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian, before true dinos began to appear. Too bad -- as a kid, this was my favorite "dinosaur."

Back to painting. I'm sure more drawings will follow.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com

A Future Painting

We-e-e-l-l-l...

My original intention was to write in this blog at least once a week. But lately, it's been down to once a month!

But, I'm older (as we all are), gotten into a lazy state of mind, not highly motivated, and tired. Stuff that's been going on in the country -- coronavirus, politics and the extreme hatred out there, stuff like that -- has been taking my focus off of what I need to be doing.

So what images are in my head these days?

Jamaica  -- 1871                                                                     Frederick Edwin Church

Jamaica is a painting I've loved for a long time. I plan to paint a scene similar to this, except it will be of Hawai'i or other Polynesian island, and it will combine elements of existing landscapes and some imaginary aspects as well.

I'd like to get started on it soon, but: 1. we're still unpacking from our move last August -- seven months ago!; and: 2. I need to get some commissions finished, hopefully VERY soon!

The time will come, God willing, and it'll give me something to look forward to!

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com

Pinnacle Peak, Arizona

Pinnacle Peak is the subject of my latest painting (I haven't come up with a title yet), a small piece I squeezed in between other projects. The size is 08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm and, as usual, is acrylic on panel:

Sadly, the desert scenery has been removed and the Peak is now surrounded by streets, houses, shops and golf courses. I'm glad I had an opportunity to see it in its natural glory way back in March, 1983.

(Note: Pinnacle Peak Park is still located on the other side of the Peak, and one can still access the hiking trails that meander across the hill -- only the view just ain't the same).

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com