Desert Blooms in Spring

It's to bad that so many of the winter desert visitors leave for home just when the weather is turning toasty warm. It is also the time of the year when the desert is coming into full bloom with spectacular color! Spring in the desert does vary from year to year depending on when the last rain storm occurred and the amount of rain that actually fell. This is the time of year that I get out my camera to take pictures. I'm out looking for inspiration for my art.

For an artist the cactus blossoms are a thrill and a challenge to paint. The colors are so vivid and some of them seem bigger than life. Most Cacti blossoms last only for one day, some bloom only at night, and some cacti may produce new blossoms each day for several weeks.

Around Yuma, in some areas, the desert floor is covered with lavender wild flowers, where they come from I don't know, since seemingly there wasn't anything there before. Then the primroses prop up their beautiful white heads fluttering in the desert breeze. Throughout the desert gray-green bushes display their golden yellow flowers. The Ocotillo cactus, which during the summer, fall and early winter look like dead sticks, come to life with dark green leaves and scarlet flowers at the end of each arm. Toward the end of spring the giant Saguaros flower, with lots of white blossoms. The large Prickly Pear Cacti in my yard has dozens of reddish buds which turn orange as they open up, and finally turn into a vivid yellow by the end of the day.

I and my camera are kept busy at this time of the year and it is hard to decide what to paint first. I take pictures in the morning as I go to the mail box to pick up mail, at noon, and then again in the evening as the sun is setting. Arizona sunsets are spectacular here in the Yuma Desert changing the Gila Mountain to colors of grays and tans, to gold and orange, and even purple.

I invite you to visit my website at Maren's Creations to view, enjoy and purchase my paintings of cactus and Arizona Desert Scenes. For questions or comments concerning this article please contact me at marenscreations@gmail.com.
Maren was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She always had an interest in art, but first dedicated herself to raising her family and to a work career with EDS. Since her retirement she has attended art classes in Alameda, Santa Rosa and Columbia Junior Colleges, Cal State Hayward, and the California College of Arts and Crafts. Maren has also studied watercolors in classes offered by teaching artists in Hawaii, Maine, the Oakland Bay area, the Bodega Bay area, with several guest artists in Yosemite National Park, Carolyn Macpherson, of Murphy's, CA, Gereon Rios of Sonora, CA, Bill Yokoyama at Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, CA and Karen Fry in the San Francisco Bay Area. Maren has displayed, won awards and sold her work at the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival, the Sebastopol Apple Blossom Festival, the Sebastopol Apple Fair, the Gallo Art Show in Modesto, the Mother Lode Art Exhibition at the Old Opera Hall in Sonora, the Valley Art Association Carriage House Art Show at Riverbank, California, the Yuma Arizona County Fair, the Annual Sierra Professional Artists Sale in Groveland, CA and the Walnut Creek, CA Artists Street Fair. In the past her paintings have been on display at the Jamestown Gallery, Pinecrest Gallery and the Hotel Charlotte in Groveland, CA. In 2005 her paintings captured six Blue Ribbons in six separate art categories at the California Tuolumne County Fair, and one of those paintings was voted Best of Show, and in 2007 she won two Blue Ribbons and Best of Show at the Yuma County Fair in Yuma AZ. She currently belongs to the Rossmoor Art Association in Walnut Creek, CA, the Mountain Shadows Art Association of Yuma, AZ and is also a member of the California Watercolor Association. Maren and her husband, Lyman, have traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico in their Motor Home and she has happily painted the scenic wonders of North America during their travels. In 2005 Maren and her husband built a new home in Yuma, AZ, which includes a Studio/Gallery where she spends her winters painting and displaying her Artwork. If you are interested in learning more about her Artwork, or in commissioning a painting of your favorite subject, please visit her website at Maren's Creations. Please also visit her blog at Maren's Creations Blog. SUMMER (May throught October): You will find Maren at Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, CA painting with an active group of artists. WINTER (November throught April): You will find Maren in her Studio/Gallery in Yuma, AZ.