Years ago, when I was driving team truck with my husband, hauling military freight after "9 - 11", i had to leave my paints behind as we were sometimes gone 6 weeks - 3 mo at a time, so i carried my hand quilting and sketch pad with me. These are some of the drawings I did at that time. A lot of them are reminiscent of places we stopped; some being on military bases in the desert.
This little figment of my imagination stemmed from my being homesick until I got used to being away for such long periods of time.
On the left is the beautiful Prickly Pear Cactus that blooms with such pretty blossoms, although I hadn't yet seen them in bloom when I did this drawing. Then there was the dead Joshua Trees, with such unique forms of their trunks and branches!
The Creosote Bush is not especially to my liking, but it is part of the desert scenery and so I include it here. The leaves are smaller and the branches grow denser than what I've portrayed but I was after the form of the curved branches mostly. ( on the right, bottom)
This little grouping of three (above)were interesting to me I'm not sure what the little thorny bush is, But the shape was interesting; the middle one is again a prickly pear cactus, and the one on the right is a lovely but dangerous Cholla Cactus, of which their are several varieties, one being nicknamed the "jumpimg cactus". If you get too close the spines are very easily lodged on you and they are very tough to remove!
I hope you enjoyed these drawings and the bit of info I have supplied. I love the diverse terrain of the desert. It is seems such a wonderous place to me and I hope to spend more time there.
Thanks for viewing!
