'DUNE CREOSOTE'

6x6 oil on gallery wrapped canvas....NFS

It is a very windy blustery day here at SpaceCamp in the southern deserts of Arizona...the air is thick with dust. So I pulled up one of the many photos I took while living in Death Valley National Park where I lived for several winter seasons...taken on a hike out to the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells...so fabulous! If you ever get a chance..go there...because the colors and the light of the desert are not to be missed...December is the best month.
Here is one of the creosote bushes in the late afternoon near sundown ...they grow surprisingly lush considering the extreme climate. The blues of the mountains are very electric...impossible to convey the colors in this oil with a digital image.

'KEISER PEAK'

6x6 oil on gallery-wrapped canvas.....SOLD

Wonderful early morning in the desert ..early spring [late February]...a Jeep ride through the backroads of Arizona...the quail, roadrunners, doves, chipmunks...everyone is on the move this morning. One of the many reasons I like the desert so much are the jewel colors displayed in a magnificent landscape. These old mining roads honeycomb the West...a boon for those of use that like to drive off the pavement.

'ANCIENT LIGHT'

Tonalism is much in demand now...I thought I would try a quick study in yellows. The warm golds lend an antique feeling to this piece...it was so much easier to do than my full color work...I almost became a tonalist. But it was not to be..I like the full range of colors to describe the light...the prismatic range.



8x10 on canvas/board....$300

'THROUGH TIME'

                                           18x24 oil on canvas       NFS

Here is a piece I finished recently ...an 18x24 oil on canvas. It was started years ago and although it was 90% completed...it needed the detailed finish to be developed using this style of painting. Just goes to show that time can play a hand in your work.

"Dusk' - Pinnacle Peaks - Arizona

The colors of twilight have always fascinated me...all the subtle reflections from a fading sunset sky glowing on everything below...a quiet time of magic.

This 6x6 oil study is of the Pinnacle Peaks near Scottsdale, Arizona...a few hours through the desert from SpaceCamp. While I was painting..a beautiful golden bug made his final resting place in the painted sky.. perfect for this work. I preserved him on the canvas with an extra varnish coat...like the amber fossils of Jurassic Park.

6X6  oil on canvas....$100

KM Withers' website

OPEN DESERT

If you drive up to Scotty's Castle on the far northern edge of Death Valley NP...and then take the rocky Big Pine road that heads north from there...you will find yourself in a spectacular open desert that still exists in this country. Most of Arizona is now well trampled...and Utah is getting overrun even in the backcountry. But for desert lovers...this region where the northern Mojave meets the southern Great Basin deserts is still relatively untraveled. You might see one other driver on this long road [you better have a full tank of gas and a couple gallons of water..minimum]. This oil study is from an adventure in that territory...


                                    6X6 oil on canvas      SOLD


WEBSITE

' Nevada Rain"

There are early spring fast-moving storms moving across the lands...and with all the activity..only a taste of rain. Here in the low deserts of southern Arizona the temperature is already in the high 70's. In another month it will be hot and time to think about heading to the next level in elevation..back to Nevada.

Maybe because of the dramatic scudding clouds with the moving light turning the landscapes into a kalidescope..I was inspired to try a rain painting of the Nevada desert [where I am from]. The high sage plains of the western Outback...the smell of wet sage which is like no other...so evocative of the Great Basin...the largest desert in the American West.

6x6  oil on canvas....$100

INTRO

Greetings from SpaceCamp in the desert Outback!

These posts will be sometimes on the subject of painting...but are more likely to drift into the nebulous gray areas surrounding the colors of life...the meanderings of the mind...the space where it all happens. This project is just getting started..more to come as I find my voice and become comfortable with the journaling process [and type faster!].

Color and light and space using the landscape as a vehicle...magic.


Here is an example of a small oil study of a late afternoon sandstorm in Death Valley...




Another 6x6 oil from the same area:


SOLD

For more info.. please visit my website.