my artwork
desert art
I love to photograph the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, especially the plants in the Tucson area. The large saguaro, cholla, yuccas, and the many cacti are majestic and beautiful in the desert sunshine. There is something spiritual about these plants.
ancient ones
The “Ancient Ones” are photos of the yucca elata of the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico. This yucca grows to be ten to twelve feet tall with flower stocks twice as high. Many are five to six feet tall, and to me, they look like human beings – spirits of long-gone ancient peoples complete with head dress and spears. Even if you don’t see the resemblance to people, the alive and dead leaves make dramatic photographs.
ZION NATIONAL PARK
To me, Zion is the most beautiful national park with towering, multicolored sandstone walls and the narrow canyons of the Virgin River. The pink, red, and magenta walls extend into the clear blue sky. Gorgeous!
BOXCAR ART
I photograph old, disintegrated signs like the ones seen on billboards and brick walls. However, what interests me most are the old graffiti found on railroad boxcars. Photographs of the dissolving graffiti, alongside the rust and grime on the cars, become beautiful abstract paintings. I intensify the colors and textures in hopes of showing you the beauty that I see.
TRIBUTE TO ROTHKO
In 2019, I visited the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. Most paintings by the artist Mark Rothko are abstract color-field paintings, but in the chapel, there are fourteen giant, near-black paintings with no obvious color and as large as fifteen feet by eleven feet. The large, near-black paintings are extremely powerful emotionally. I came home and started imaging very large and very dark photographs. Although my artwork doesn’t have the emotional power of the Rothko paintings in the chapel, I feel they are my best work. Please give them a look.