Friday, January 25, 2008


Dry Wash

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US.
Available for purchase starting 01/25/08, 12 noon PST

10 below the other night in eastern Oregon but lucky me, I'm still "virtual snowbirding" around the Southwest. Today I packed up the virtual RV and drove up to southern Utah, to hike through the colorful canyons that flank the Paria River.

Sudden flash floods can bring a wall of water and debris eight feet deep roaring through this valley, but much of the time the "river" is a small trickle. The heat of the day parches moisture out of the wet mud of the riverbed, cracking it into countless fissures, their fragile edges curling upward like little clay bowls. They crunch and crackle loudly as I walk across them, disintegrating in puffs of fine dry powder.

7 comments:

Sheila Vaughan said...

This is a great series Don, to me very evocative of the old cowboy films we used to see here when I was a kid. You have caught so well the dry dustiness and the still heat bouncing off the rocks. Wonderful.

Don Gray said...

Sheila, so many Hollywood westerns have been filmed in the desert southwest that I think the landscape is universally seen as the quintessential image of the American West. In fact, the decaying wooden structures of a 1930's era movie set are not far from the place depicted in this painting. Thanks for your thoughts.

Jason Waskey said...

From the colors in this painting, I would think it's during the late summer monsoon season...

Don Gray said...

You're right on, Jason--you must have spent time in that neck of the woods.

Anonymous said...

Not born, but certainly raised, in Santa Fe...

:)

Jason Waskey said...

err... 'anonymous'=Jason Waskey

Don't know why I was anonymous...

Don Gray said...

Ahh...so you come by your "O'Keefe bones" very honestly! I hope I'll have a chance sometime to visit with you about what it was like growing up in Santa Fe, Jason.