Zillions of Desert Flowers!

By now, it's common knowledge the southwestern deserts, including the California deserts, are experiencing a superbloom thanks to the many rain storms we've had over the past months. More flowers than usual appear like magic and transform the typical desert browns to carpets of unbelievably zonking color that appears almost fluorescent!

The color doesn't always show very well in photos, but of course, in paintings (such as the ones I plan to do), the color will jump off the canvas or panels!

Yellow and lavender flowers light up the desert floor.

Yellow desert dandelions are in full bloom as
the stick-like ocotillo prepares for a show in a few weeks.

A barrel cactus blossoms in front of a chuparosa.

A stick-like ocotillo, a palo verde tree and
yellow-flowered brittlebush set off Indian Head Mountain.

A red-flowered chuparosa nestles
in a clump of lavender-colored phalecia.

The gently-scented pinkish blooms of

sand verbena color the waves of dunes.

These images, along with many others I made (and may continue to take) will certainly lead me to create paintings that highlight the desert at its blazing best!

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com

www.SouthwestSpaces.com

www.FineArtAmerica.com (for prints)

Clouds

Clouds                            8 x 10 / 20cm x 25cm

Clouds is the title of my latest painting, finished -- at long last -- this past weekend. (Sometimes it seems to be harder and harder to work on paintings and to finish them in a timely manner -- so frustrating!)

The size is 8" x 10" ( 20cm x 25cm ) on panel -- a size I've been using lately to make a lot of paintings. Easy to pack up and ship, and for many people, small and miniature art is a desirable size to collect those images of memories of happy times in the desert. Or wherever.

This scene shows my favorite view -- in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona, looking south toward the distant Sonoita (or Sonoyta) Mountains of Mexico and featuring those vast, wide-open vistas that one can see from this spot.

I was actually there when the clouds created alternating patterns of sun spots and cloud shadows on the landscape as I depicted in the painting. However, I have heard from friends that the organ pipe cactus on the right has died since I was last there.

A place of beauty, peace and serenity -- as long as one has water, food, A/C in the summer and heat in the winter! Otherwise, the desert is a harsh environment! But I prefer to show it at its most glorious.

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com
www.SouthwestSpaces.com
www.FineArt America.com (prints)

A Prickly Path

As is common knowledge, I love the desert. I love other types of scenery, too, but the desert keeps calling me back. (As it should -- I LIVE in the desert!)

So my latest painting is of the desert -- somewhere in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona, back in the days (early 1980s) when I could hike around and scramble up steep hillsides without too much trouble (although The Wiffee would not have approved of me doing so had she been with me that day). ☺

A Prickly Path    10" x 08" / 25cm x 20cm

I love these birds-eye views of the desert that show the infinite, wide-open spaces of the landscapes that seem to stretch out forever.

I added more space to form a path than there actually was at that time -- but I still wanted a sense of "better watch where you step, or you'll be impaled by cactus thorns."

In addition, there were saguaro cactus there, but none were visible from this spot. So I included one!

I enjoyed making this painting, which I started in November 2018! Unfortunately, the holidays and other stuff slowed me down quite a bit. But it's finally finished! Now I'm ready to move on to the next piece of desert art!

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

 

Year's End

Well, it seems Christmas is over (sigh...), 2018 is almost done with, and soon it'll be 2019!

WHERE, exactly, did 2018 go? I know time seems to speed up when you get old, decrepit and dilapidated (like me☺), but... come on!! 

OK, so -- I've been working, on and off, on a small painting. At the same time, I decided it's time to revamp my website to make it more compatible with what search engines are looking for. More on this topic soon.

Also, I seem to have lots of ideas for images to paint, but I've gone back to being kinda unmotivated, which is something I need to work on. I can't be that way. Not if I need to survive financially!

I read an online article claiming that the number one obstacle to making it as a professional artist is: the work simply isn't good enough. It can't compete with all the artwork that's out there. The article went on to describe the misadventures of a female artist whose experiences seemed quite similar to mine.

I'm sure this position is true -- for many artists, and maybe for me, too. But I can't ignore other possible reasons why obstacles exist. This is something I've been contemplating a lot. 

So this is where things stand. I'm hoping website sales will increase in 2019, when people are able to find me! Right now, if you Google "desert paintings," my site isn't even in the first 100, although I used to be in the top 5, and sometimes I was even #1!! Gotta fix that, too.

So I hope Christmas was awesome, that this year has been good to you and that 2019 will be a fabulous year for us all!!

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

Autumn in the Mojave

Autumn in the Mojave is my latest painting (although lately it has felt more like winter in the Mojave!)

Autumn in the Mojave           11" x 14" / 28cm x 36cm

The scene is based on a view in Joshua Tree National Park in southern California, USA. It's rare to see the desert like this even when it rains, but it certainly does happen. The landscape is brightened by autumn-blooming wildflowers -- the larger rabbitbrush and the smaller desert marigold in the immediate foreground.

The desert is an amazing place with many different moods, visible to those who spend lots of time here and are fortunate enough to catch the land during its fleeting moments of magic and mystery.

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

Tropical Paradise (?!?)

When I was much younger, single and foolish, I was very much into "The Polynesian Look" -- not so much the little grass shack look, but with some remnants of life in that tropical paradise known as French Polynesia, particularly Tahiti Nui and the surrounding islands, especially Moorea and Bora Bora.

I used to drive by places (like apartments) that featured tropical/Polynesian landscaping. At night, some of them lit up tiki torches and, in one case, a small, natural gas-powered volcano. My favorite area at Disneyland was Adventure Land with the Enchanted Tiki Room, and -- in time -- the Tahitian Terrace Restaurant where they featured Tahitian dances and drumming at night. I loved listening to Martin Denny -- music with bird and animal sounds, as well as exotic musical instruments.

I even joined a Polynesian song and dance ensemble which I really enjoyed, but the funny thing is: I seemed to lose the romanticized images I had of the Islands. Maybe it all became too realistic, and even today I've never recaptured the romantic visions I had of being in Tahiti, or Hawai'i, for that matter. (Now, I'm into the Southwest and the deserts).

Today, as an artist, I would like to paint a landscape that will be somewhat imaginary but based on photos I've seen. (I've never been to these places I used to dream about). It will take time to paint all the vegetation and leaves and stuff, and I probably would not want to sell it. But who knows -- maybe it will resurrect the passion I used to feel for French Polynesia.

A View in Otaheite Peha                                                 John Webber

This painting is NOT by me, but it should serve as inspiration for the mood-inducing piece I'd like to create. This piece is A View in Otaheite Peha, John Webber (British), 1785. Beautiful, isn't it?

My painting will be a view looking down a white-sand beach around sunset, with a young lady walking across the sand and (maybe) some dancers in the background. It'll be a lot of work, but I think I can do it.

I know I'll never get to Tahiti -- it would be too much for me these days to deal with on a number of levels, plus we're too poor for that kind of stuff! But a painting of an idealistic Tahiti might be tropical paradise enough for me!

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

One last thing: I now have some small paintings on etsy.com. check 'em out and see wotcha think!