Late Summer Road Trip Part 3

The desert. What is there to say about it? It's stunning, inspiring and a whole pile of other descriptive words. I can't do it justice, so I'm going to post these photos and maybe they will do the job.

The Painted Dessert, AZ

The desert felt comfortable. I don't know if anyone else has these reactions to landscapes, but to me, some places feel like home and some don't. Example: The mountains of NC - to me they are uncomfortable. They're beautiful, but they're too jagged, the trees are too dense, the foliage is too saturated with green. It's not my thing.

So I was trying to figure out why the desert felt right, when it seems to be the exact opposite of my usual inspiration - the ocean and beach... I think it's because it's not the opposite, it's the same. The shapes of the desert are incredibly similar to the shapes underwater. The empty spaces there, with their curved elevations, look very much like the ocean floor.  Driving by I saw plants that were the shapes of corals.  There was a cactus that looked almost exactly like a gorgonian. 

Petroglyph National Monument, NM

The Petrified Forest, AZ

And then there's the colors! The beautiful, pale, faded colors - exactly the shades that I like to work in. You have no clue how many times I've been told to abandon these colors and work with bright, vibrant ones in order to make people like my work better. I actually felt like nature had vindicated me for liking them, as if nature likes them too, but secretly keeps them all together, only here, for itself.

Creative wise, the dessert was the most inspiring thing on this trip by far. I think that when I finally finish with the traveling, it'll be a big part of what I do next.