The idea for this series came to me while day-dreaming on the river, wondering what it would be like to just go all the way to the Sea of Cortez, like the Kolb Brothers and a small handful of others in our written history. Of course ist’s not like that’s a new or unique idea and now, that would be impossible with our concrete dams, walls and borders. And besides, the river doesn’t even reach the ocean anymore, the water is all used up before it even gets there. But, what if we could go back in time to even just eighty five (85!) years ago? Or, what about a snowflake and the many forms it takes? Would it be possible? A snowflake could make it…. and think of all the cool and interesting things it would see along the way. What an amazing journey it would be.

Those of us who appreciate the great state of Arizona, know what treasures we have here. No where else on the planet (that I know of) can you go from an Arctic Tundra Sky Island to the Sonoran desert in just a few hours’ drive. It is an incredibly diverse region that is home to an abundance of endemic and unique plant and animal species, home to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, home to over 20 Indigenous Tribes, and home to adventure seekers and nature lovers of all shapes and sizes.

Driving across our state, one does not need to be a scientist or an artist to begin to notice how the landscape changes and transitions, how life zones overlap, and how plants and animals adapt and evolve. Observe and dig a little deeper and maybe you will begin to realize that it is only the human mind that finds it necessary to label and name everything and put it in a nice tidy box. It is only the human mind that creates boundaries and borders. I have purposefully used simple words and have refrained from using the Latin or scientific names for plants and animals in this story. Language is an incredible tool, but also, it sometimes serves as an obstacle to seeing everything as a beautifully orchestrated and synchronized whole that is STILL evolving and changing. Some words can connote such certainty and finality. We sometimes forget that we haven’t reached some end point. We’re in the middle of the movie. If we could just be still and listen and let the world speak to us, instead of always trying to figure everything out, or thinking we know, maybe we would see a whole new reality. This is one of the many reasons why we need art and art needs us. Images can help us go beyond the mind.

This body of work (so far) is the culmination of decades of hiking on our mountain, decades of living and working in Grand Canyon, decades of exploring our great state, and like many other Arizonans, decades of making the drive from Flagstaff to Mexico, our friendly Southern neighbors, and arriving at the Sea of Cortez to celebrate family and holidays.

In these 12 paintings, I have only scratched the surface of what our amazing region holds. There are so many more plants and animals and people and places to be honored. I want to document them all in my artistic whimsical way, before it all changes again, and while and during all the changes to come. I am currently working on another set of 12 paintings to start filling in the some of the blanks, which I look forward to being an endless, lifetime and beyond journey. My Journey is to continue observing, continue listening, continue painting and to continue sharing. I hope you will enjoy this short series and story. I hope it will inspire you to continue being a steward of our beautiful planet and realize how much there is worth protecting, not only for ourselves but for all beings that share this Earth, our home.

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The Journey starts here….

“The Tree Line” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 20×30″, 16×24″, 12×16″

This is where the journey of our snowflake starts, at the tree line of our San Francisco Peaks, Nova’ Tukya’Ovi (Hopi), Dook’o’oosliid (Navajo). We are looking out towards Humphrey’s Peak, the highest point in Arizona, and northeast towards the Painted Desert in the distance. This is the only place in all of Arizona where the ancient Bristlecone Pine Trees grow. These resilient beings here in Arizona, date to over 2000 years old and some of the wood found nearby on the ground dates to over 4000 years old! Also featured in the foreground, from left to right, is the endemic San Francisco Peak’s Ragwort, the Alpine Mountain Sorrel and the edible high altitude Gooseberry Currant.

The San Francisco Peaks are considered sacred to all Indigenous and First Peoples across the Colorado Plateau. It is where the Kachinas live and dance to bring the snow and rain. Much of this precipitation will get absorbed into the porous volcanic rock or will evaporate or will run off into any one of the four directions. But some water, like our snowflake, will leave the Arctic Tundra, travel down the north side watershed and find its way into one of the many drainages carved into the Moenkopi Sandstone below.

“Cones of Arizona” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 16×20″, 11×14″

From top left, going clockwise, ending in center:

Bristlecone Pine, Pinyon Pine, Douglas Fir, Arizona Cypress, Engelmann Fir, Alligator Juniper, Ponderosa Pine, Corkbark Fir and Limber Pine.

“Finding the Little Colorado” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 20×30, 16×24″, 11×17″ or 5×7 art card with envelope

Here we find ourselves at the edge of a ruin, where people lived nearly a thousand years ago. Looming in the distance are the San Francisco Peaks, where we have just travelled from. In the foreground are the common yet significant plant helpers used by the co-inhabitants of this arid, high desert landscape. Featured here are the Yucca, Indian Paintbrush, Wild Tobacco, Desert Four O’Clock, Globe Mallow and Juniper.

Ahead, lies our path, carved into the 240 million year old sandstone, a path that has been slowly etched over eons, one that will lead us eventually to the Little Colorado River. This river corridor serves as a drainage for much of Eastern and Northern Arizona but it also contains its own sacred springs and secret waters. This is a magical place of portholes, a place of emergence, where an entire culture came to be and breathe in this Fourth World.

“Ethnobotany of the Colorado Plateau” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 16×20″, 11×14″

From top left, going clockwise, ending in center:

Gourd Rattle, Prickly Pears, Cattail, Split Twig Figurine, Yucca Basket, Mesquite Beans, Hopi Tea, Cotton and Blue Corn.

“The Grand Confluence” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 20×30″, 16×24″, 12×16″ or 5×7 art card with envelope

We have arrived at the Grand Confluence and now merge with the mighty Colorado River at a time when she was wild and free and muddy! This is the path that will take us all the way to the sea. This is a time when there was enough water to sustain and support the incredible abundance and diversity of life in this desert canyon landscape. Ahead, our journey will take us through layers upon layers of sediment, revealing ancient seas and tidal flats, lava flows and fault lines, a place where water can move mountains and the canyon walls soar into the sky over a vertical mile above.

Featured here are the now endangered Humpback Chub, Specked Dace, and the endemic Grand Canyon Spotted Toad, common Belted Kingfisher, Collared Lizard and Dragonfly. Now, this essential water resource and the site of the Confluence itself is being threatened by a myriad of issues including unsustainable agriculture practices, hydroelectric power, tourism, big business and development, over population and uranium mining contamination.

“Stories Left in Stone” ~ original watercolor & ink

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 16×20″, 11×14″

Starting from top left, going clockwise, ending in center:

Stromatolites (the oldest fossil in the world!), Trilobite in Bright Angel Shale, Nautiloid in Red Wall Limestone, Ferns in Hermit Shale, Reptile tracks in Coconino Sandstone, Crinoids in Kaibab Limestone, Petrified Tree, Petroglyphs in Navajo Sandstone and Anasazi handprints in Tapeats Sandstone.

“The Grand Wash” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 20×30″, 16×24″, 11×17″

Our snowflake has come a long way since it left the top of the San Francisco Peaks. It has become part of the Colorado River and traveled 300 miles through Grand Canyon. Now, we have reached the edge, where the canyon literally just ends. This is the Southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, a geologic feature that covers the entire four corners region. Some people call this place, the edge, looking back up into the canyon, the Grand Wash Cliffs.

Everything changes again as we enter the Mojave Desert and an open basin and range landscape. It is the land of Joshua Trees, Sacred Datura and Rattlesnake Weed. No longer confined by the canyon walls, the river begins to wander, seemingly aimlessly through this expanse, but the river is not lost, the water knows the way, it knows how to find the sea.

“Seldom Seen & Endangered Plants of Grand Canyon” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 16×20″, 11×14″

From top left, going clockwise, ending in center:

Bearclaw Poppy, Grand Canyon Scorpionweed, Sentry Milkvetch, Helleborine Orchid, Zion Wild Buckwheat, Grand Canyon Yellowtops, Wooly Bluestar, Tusayan Fameflower and Brady’s Pincushion.

“Searching For The Sea” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 20×30″, 16×24″, 12×16″

Here we are at flood stage on the Lower Colorado River. This is an event that occurred on an annual basis. It is a never ending expanse of grasses, soil and water, a mixing of the land and the sea that stretches beyond the horizon, nearly 2 miles wide. Here, the plants and animals have adapted to this briny, semi-solid environment. This maze of marches creates a habitat that has the potential (and did) support one of the largest bird populations in the world. Featured in this painting are plants and animals that are indicative of a healthy riparian landscape : Yerba del Manzo, Willow, Cottonwood, Salt Heliotrope, Screwbean Mesquite, Cattail, Bulrush, Salt Grasses, Burrowing Owl and Beaver.

Present day, the lower Colorado River is nearly non-existent. By the time the river reaches Yuma, the mighty Colorado is reduced to a mere trickle. It is all used up. It has been sucked up and sent out into concrete canals across the Southwest so that it may be used to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of nutrient void lettuce for fast food restaurants, for very water needy cotton, for hay and alfalfa to feed cows (some which don’t even live on this continent). But still, even in its weakened state, just before its death, the river seems to be at peace. The river even in its weakened state is still giving, still providing a place for nature and families to gather. It is heartwarming to see and then join in with the people of Yuma to rejoice and laugh in the knee-deep coolness of the Colorado, in the shade of the concrete freeway zooming above. Now, the river never reaches its intended destination, the Sea of Cortez.

“Birds of the Lower Colorado River” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 16×20″, 11×14″

From top left, going clockwise, ending in center:

Yellow-headed Blackbird, Summer Tanager, Belted Kingfisher, Black-necked Stilts, Burrowing Owl, Greater Road Runner, Gambel’s Quail, Green Heron and Great Blue Heron.

“The Great Wide Open” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 20×30″, 16×24″, 11×17″

Our snowflake has reached the sea, the great wide open, the body of water that is connected to the entire planet. Everything has changed again, although somehow the plants and animals are similar, they are just at different stages in the continuing evolution of our world. Instead of cactus gardens, we have colonies of anemones, and sea urchins instead of spiny lizards, and horseshoe crabs instead of desert tortoises. The life here is incredibly bizarre and each creature has its own way of defending itself and its place in the circle of life.

Our oceans are dramatically and rapidly changing. With global threats of climate change, pollution and over-fishing, our oceans and therefore the health of our entire planet, may be on an irreversible and devastating trajectory.

What lies ahead for our snowflake? Will it be forever a part of the ocean? Or will it evaporate, become a cloud and drift on the wind only to become a snowflake once more? Will it make the trek all over again? This time, do you think it will reach the Sea? Or will it make an entirely different journey?

“Sea of Cortez Creatures” ~ original ink & watercolor

Signed and numbered, archival prints available. Matted for standard frame sizes: 16×20″, 11×14″

From top left, going clockwise, ending in center:

Cortez Stingray, Spider Crab, Banded Brittlestar, Mexican Warty Anemone, Olive snails, Hermit Crab, Mexican Fire Worm, Sand Dollar and Octopus.

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