My Life & Artwork - October & November 2018

November 28, 2018 Teressa Jackson

I’ve had a fun-filled couple of months. Time for an update!

In early October, Aaron and I took a trip up to the White Mountains in northern Arizona. We stayed in Show Low and ventured up to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, one of my favorite places in the state. On our final day there, we awoke to SNOW! I thought I’d left all that behind in Kentuckiana, but higher elevations in the mountains help create that white stuff here, too. The drive to and from Show Low was just gorgeous, winding through mountains, cactus forests, ponderosa pines, and the Salt River Canyon, which reminded me of a miniature Grand Canyon. I think that the drive from Tucson to Holbrook might just be one of the prettiest and most diverse stretches of scenery you could find almost anywhere.

We continued to get unseasonable rain in October, which made for some beautiful sunsets and a couple of spectacular rainbows. The temperatures dropped significantly at the beginning of October and it was apparent that summer was ending. We definitely began to remember why we chose to live in Tucson!

With the holiday season approaching, I created an opportunity to buy t-shirts, mugs, bags, clocks, notebooks, and other items featuring my artwork on Redbubble. I receive a portion of the sales and you get cool, unique, useable, giftable stuff! I loaded several images of my artwork to the site, but if you have an interest in me making other designs available, please feel free to contact me.

Also related to the holidays, I began working on some commissions that will be given as Christmas gifts. These are always more work than the art I create on my own, but it is also really fun and rewarding to see someone else’s vision take shape and to think about how much it will be enjoyed by the recipient.

I entered three of my paintings in a fundraiser/art show for a local non-profit, The Drawing Studio. The show, entitled “Small Wonders,” featured works that were all 12” in size or smaller. When we arrived at the opening reception, my work was nowhere to be found. I was confused, and for a moment I thought that my art had been deemed unworthy. It turned out that, unlike most art shows, purchases could be taken immediately and mine had already been sold. That was a fun boost!

I had a few other art successes in November. I created two of new lines of blank notecards (Sonoranscapes & Tour of Tucson), which are available on my website (please note that everything on my site is currently 20% off when you use the code HOLIDAY at checkout!). These new cards are also available in Tucson at a lovely shop called Creative Tribe in the La Encantada Mall. Additionally, I entered three paintings in a juried art show entitled “Tesoros Pequeños” (Little Treasures) at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop in downtown Tucson. The exhibition will open this Saturday, December 1, with a reception from 6-9 p.m. If you’re in Tucson, come on down!

I took a quick trip several hours north to Monument Valley in early November. It was a bit chilly, but the landscape was beautiful and I enjoyed getting away to some different scenery. During my trip there, I also visited Valley of the Gods, Bears Ears National Monument, and Mexican Hat in Utah. Gorgeous places!

We closed down November with a Thanksgiving visit from Aaron’s dad. It was a lovely visit and he certainly enjoyed the break from the Kentucky chill. We ventured around Tucson and took a trip up to Mt. Lemmon Sky Center, the University of Arizona’s observatory, where we nearly froze (9000+ feet above sea level = C.O.L.D.) and saw lots of interesting star formations and planets. Such a neat experience.

And now, the roundup of what I created, some of which is still available for purchase (and don’t forget - everything on my site is currently 20% off when you use the code HOLIDAY at checkout!

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Las Novias de Pez My gift to the happy couple — Las Novias de Pez
My gift to the happy couple

Ku's Escape For sale as of this blog posting — Ku's Escape
For sale as of this blog posting

Volcán Verde de Luz SOLD — Volcán Verde de Luz
SOLD

Cactus Army of One SOLD — Cactus Army of One
SOLD

Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 5/3/17, 10:45:29 For sale as of this blog posting — Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 5/3/17, 10:45:29
For sale as of this blog posting

Monument Valley, Arizona: 11/7/18, 7:54:55 SOLD — Monument Valley, Arizona: 11/7/18, 7:54:55
SOLD

Monument Valley, Arizona: 11/6/18, 14:56:23 SOLD — Monument Valley, Arizona: 11/6/18, 14:56:23
SOLD

West Mitten Watcher For sale as of this blog posting — West Mitten Watcher
For sale as of this blog posting

Sonoricons: Mexican Gray Wolf Available for purchase at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop during the month of December 2018 — Sonoricons: Mexican Gray Wolf
Available for purchase at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop during the month of December 2018

Sonoricons: Crested Saguaro Available for purchase at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop during the month of December 2018 — Sonoricons: Crested Saguaro
Available for purchase at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop during the month of December 2018

Sonoricons: Sonoran Pronghorn Antelope Available for purchase at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop during the month of December 2018 — Sonoricons: Sonoran Pronghorn Antelope
Available for purchase at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop during the month of December 2018

Painted Desert² Available for sale as of the date of this blog posting - will be added to my shop on 12/1/18 — Painted Desert²
Available for sale as of the date of this blog posting - will be added to my shop on 12/1/18

Vivi Nymph 1 (8x10”) SOLD (Commission) — Vivi Nymph 1 (8x10”)
SOLD (Commission)

Vivi Nymph 2 (5x7”) SOLD (Commission) — Vivi Nymph 2 (5x7”)
SOLD (Commission)

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From Ajo to Yuma, my Arizona Exit

January 26, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Monday, I awoke to a beautiful, sunny, mid-60's day in Tucson. It was a bit of a shame that my plans were to pack up and head west, but cruising down the highway with my sunroof open really isn't such a bad way to enjoy fantastic weather. In my opinion, non-interstate driving makes this even better, and that's exactly what I had planned.

I hopped onto the Ajo Highway and headed west. The scenery was beautiful, with plenty of saguaros and mountains to keep me company. I drove through the large swath of land that the Tohono O'odham Nation calls home, including their capitol of Sells, Arizona. I especially enjoyed listening to the Nation's radio station, which was eagerly promoting their upcoming rodeo festivities, encouraging their members to register to vote, and discussing other community events. They alternated between speaking in their language and English, and nearly every call for event participation seemed have the caveat of the Nation "not being legally responsible" in the event of some type of mishap, which I found to be a little amusing.

The blue skies and puffy white clouds gave way to wind, dense gray fog, and clouds, which added a mystique to the landscape that I rather enjoyed. I headed south at Why, Arizona, apparently named such because State Routes 85 and 86 originally intersected there in a Y-shaped intersection. At the time, Arizona law required city names to have at least three letters, so the town's founders named the town "Why" instead of "Y."

And now you know "Why." Ba-dum-dum.

My southbound trail quickly led me to my reason for visiting the area: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I had not previously heard of this monument before, but when I saw it on the map, I just had to check it out. It's apparently been a national monument for over 40 years, as it was designated as such in 1976, the year of my birth.

The monument was shrouded in the same mist and fog I had journeyed in for the the past hour, and made for some intriguing scenery. The landscape there is dotted with saguaro and organ pipe cacti and interesting volcanic formations, making for some truly otherworldly scenes. The organ pipe cactus is a relative of the saguaro, a giant "bushy" shaped cactus that can grow to over 20 feet tall. These cacti are relatively common in Mexico, but only occur naturally in the U.S. in the area around the monument.

One of Ajo's two lovely Spanish colonial churches

After an afternoon winding around the monument's scenic loop, I pointed my car northward toward Ajo, a tiny town with a cute little Spanish colonial town center. The woman who checked me into the cabin where I was staying was about the sweetest person I've ever met, and informed me she'd lived there her whole life. Ajo was home to just three restaurants, and the grocery store was a combination IGA and Ace Hardware. As I picked up some groceries, I imagined that everyone knew everyone else in the store but me.

I spent Tuesday hiking the monument in sunshine, and it looked equally beautiful but completely different than it had the day before. I had intended to do a couple of the trails. However, my hike of the Arch Canyon Trail ended up being more than I bargained for when I unknowingly kept going on a steep, rocky, unimproved trail cut by hikers to the top of the mountain overlooking the "arch" in the rock. It was extremely challenging (and a little bit scary at times), but I did it, and the views were spectacularly rewarding.

I could have stayed in Ajo at least another day, but my reservations had me moving on, so I headed further west to Yuma, Arizona on Wednesday. Yuma is essentially located at the intersection of Arizona, California, and Mexico, and has the distinction of being both the hottest populated locale in the U.S. and the place with the most sunshine in the world. Yuma also grows a tremendous amount of the fresh vegetables you enjoy during the winter, so you can thank them if you enjoyed a salad, broccoli, or cauliflower today (I definitely spotted fields of all of those).

I strolled Yuma's cute historic downtown, enjoyed a craft beer sampler at one of its breweries, and visited a date farm where I slurped down a date milkshake in the sunshine. Yuma has the wonderful effect of making me feel vibrantly youthful, as it is obviously an extremely popular retirement destination. I think my hair might be the (naturally) brownest for miles around!

Yuma has been a good place to relax, as my battery was running a little low from moving around so much and my difficult hike. I can't say I've found anything to absolutely love about it, but I certainly haven't found much to dislike about it either. You'll never hear me complaining about the sunniest place in the world. Sunshine makes me very, very happy.

And tomorrow, it's westward ho again!

View of the arch from where I hiked to, way up in the canyon

A tale of my trip to Tahlequah

October 29, 2016 Teressa Jackson

I honestly don't remember why I decided to stay the night last night in Tahlequah. It was totally out of the way of my route. I'd booked the room, though, so I continued my venture through the Ozark foothills to the capitol of the Cherokee Nation.

I'll admit, I didn't exactly know what to expect. Native Americans are not always portrayed in the most positive light in our media (extreme poverty, substance abuse problems, etc.) and I'm sure that, shamefully, my ideas of what might await me in the town were somewhat colored by those portraits.

The first thing that surprised me upon arriving at Tahlequah was that it was much larger than I had envisioned. I was greeted with many of the establishments we have come to expect in an area of a certain population size. After a quick drive through town, I settled down in my hotel for the night. I was already tired after a long day on the Talimena Byway.

I got up (too) bright and early this morning, and set off again after a nice COLD shower at my hotel (no hot water). My first stop was the Cherokee Heritage Center. I arrived a while before they opened, but enjoyed the peaceful surroundings and burgeoning fall colors.

The museum had a nice display of high-quality arts and crafts by Cherokee artisans, an exhibit on the Trail of Tears, a reconstructed 1700's Cherokee village Diligwa, and an example of a later pioneer Cherokee village. I was interested to learn something I should have already known, which was that my home in New Albany had been part of the original Cherokee Nation.

Noel and his water. He drinks lots of water. :)

I had my guide Noel (I hope I spelled that right) all to myself through the Diligwa, and enjoyed every moment of it. He was very friendly and so knowledgeable about his native culture, customs, and language. The thing that struck me first about him, though, was that his accent was nothing like the halted speech of Native Americans portrayed in media (think John Redcorn on King of the Hill). It was, of course, silly of me to expect him to sound like that. Almost more startling to me, though, was that he instead had a twangy Oklahoma accent.

I continued my exploration of the Cherokee Nation at the John Ross Museum. John Ross was the Chief of the Nation who led his people through the Trail of Tears. I then visited the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum and Cherokee National Prison Museum. Everywhere I went, the people working the attractions were incredibly friendly and enthusiastic to answer questions and share about their culture. There was a distinct sense of pride and hospitality that shone in them, which I enjoyed as much as the exhibits.

I finished up my time in Tahlequah with a stroll through the quaint downtown. I gazed in some shop windows and grabbed a bite to eat at the Iguana Cafe, but had no more time to spare because another adventure awaited me, 3 hours away. However, I left very glad that I had gone out of my way to have the experience.

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