
I love visiting the Anza Borrego desert in the spring. In some years the flowers are incredibly dense on the desert floor and in other years, they are sparse and require great attention to detail to spot them.
Desert flowers show up in my work, sometimes focused on individual plants, and sometimes in a landscape celebrating the riot of color splashed across the desert.

In either case, I enjoy “revisiting’ spring color throughout the rest of the year by creating art from photos taken on a springtime hike. This is especially satisfying if I missed my usual spring trek to the desert!
2012 was such a year, so recently I pulled out photos of last year’s visit to Desert Gardens and Coyote Canyon. On the particular day we went. There were abundant lupine blooming, and frequently this summer I have been remembering several views of them.
Soft pastels are made with a mixture of pigment and binder. Pigment is pure color, and the binder is what helps the pigment hold together to form into the pastel sticks.