Although we are not on the cobbled streets of Europe, we find immense beauty in the natural world of central Arizona.

Dave takes us down unknown roads in hope of finding hidden gems in the dry desert landscapes with towering Saguaro cacti, prickly pear, Organ Pipe Cacti, and so many others.

We are in search of a secluded place to set up our easels and touch oil paint to canvas.

Looking out on the pastel faint mountains cascading towards us we find new color values, and fight to uncover hues of magenta, lavender, and golden Indian Yellow. It is a constant battle in our brains to paint what we see and not what we know it to be.

Not to copy but to evoke is our goal. You might know that a cactus is green but with the setting sun adorning its spiky arms with late afternoon light, it becomes warm yellow with cold indigo shadows. We have learned that throughout history artists have idealized the splendor of the earth in their own visions, and as we come after these great and small painters, we are inclined to search for that same wonder. Some more photos below, enjoy - Kerri '21

Ted DeGrazia Tucson Gallery in the Sun. 

A painting by Ted DeGrazia (1909-1982) 

Ted DeGrazia

Backyard garden is beautiful with the fountain and the sound of falling water  

In case you're wondering, we do academic work too. Art History, Literature and a new class called Southwest Studies.  We choose a discipline we want to focus on from Native Americans in Arizona, Geology, History, Flora and Fauna etc. 

Lunch in a parking lot

We finished the day with a sketching visit to San Xavier Mission, south of Tucson. It is so beautiful and fits in with our Baroque studies in art history class. It's a Spanish Catholic Mission and was finished in 1797. It was closed due to COVID, so we enjoyed just the outside.