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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My Artwork - May 2017

June 2, 2017 Teressa Jackson

May was a busy month! I visited Nevada's Great Basin National Park, toured Southern Utah, took in the grandeur of Yosemite National Park, jaunted up Highway 101 in California through the redwoods, saw the blue mirror beauty of Crater Lake National Park, and descended upon my sister's home in Corvallis, Oregon. All that moving and shaking provided a lot of inspiration for future creating, but also put a dent in my productivity. I did manage to create five new paintings, though.

Two of these pieces are still available in my online shop, as are a few others from previous months. I'd love to send one your way if it speaks to your heart!

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Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 4/29/17, 14:11:31 — Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 4/29/17, 14:11:31

Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 4/29/17, 14:42:47 — Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 4/29/17, 14:42:47

Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 5/4/17, 9:27:20 — Great Basin National Park, Nevada: 5/4/17, 9:27:20

Phoenix, Arizona: 4/20/17, 11:03:02 — Phoenix, Arizona: 4/20/17, 11:03:02

Every $30 you buy in art helps keep me rolling on my adventure across the United States for approximately 1-2 days (gas is expensive!). I'm truly grateful to all the people in my life who keep me fueled up, both literally and figuratively!

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Bucolic Baker

May 4, 2017 Teressa Jackson

View from Mather Overlook at Great Basin National Park

When I first arrived in Baker, Nevada, I paused a bit, hoping I hadn't made a mistake. This remote outpost near the Utah border is home to a whopping 68 residents and Great Basin National Park, the reason for my visit. I had never heard of the park before I spotted a green swath on Google maps and zoomed my screen, looked it up, and learned it was one of our nation's least visited national parks. That serendipitous route seems to be how I often decide where to travel.

The lovely view from my accommodations in Baker

The town is basically a small grid of gravel streets dotted with trailers, campers, and tiny houses located in an expanse of high desert in the foothills of the South Snake Range. Most of the properties have some odds and ends strewn around their yard. The 1,200 square foot two-bedroom bungalow I owned back in New Albany would be huge in comparison to pretty much all of the residences here.

As soon as I pulled in to the last homestead at the edge of town, my host Margaret popped out to greet me. I don't see how anyone could feel anything other than comfortable with Margaret. While she hunted for my keys, she invited me in to her place and we proceeded to share a couple of glasses of wine and swap stories. What an interesting woman with an amazing life! By the time I got the key to my place, I had been invited to dinner with Margaret and her friend Beth at the only dining establishment currently operating in Baker, T&D's Restaurant.

It was Friday night and T&D's was hopping. Terry, one of the owners, was out due to a recent surgery. Patricia, another local, was filling in for him as the sole server because, as Margaret said, "That's just what we do around here."

Margaret is unable to drive due to a vision impairment, but that doesn't seem to be much trouble, even though she lives in one of the most remote locales in the United States. She helps other people, and they help her. People genuinely care about each other here. That's obvious.

Of course, I came here to visit Great Basin National Park, and that has also been a true highlight. This park is one of the most unspoiled places I've been. I've spotted as many critters as I have other visitors, including the yellow-bellied marmot, mule deer, turkeys, jackrabbits, sheep, chipmunks, mice, and birds.

I admittedly didn't do the best job researching (or much researching at all) when I decided to come here, and a good portion of the park, including the ancient bristlecone pine trees that really intrigue me, is still under several feet of snow. The road to the top of Wheeler Peak, the second highest mountain in Nevada, is still closed due to the snow levels, although on my final day I happily found it was open further than it had been when I arrived. This might be the desert, but Baker's 5,000+ foot elevation means that much of the year is frigid, with the town under a foot of snow during parts of winter. Wheeler Peak's 13,000+ foot elevation is obviously even more inhospitable and slow to melt.

Life is returning to the Strawberry Creek area

Challenge aside, the parts of the park that are accessible have been lovely, and the weather during my days here has been in the 60's and 70's with gorgeous blue skies.

I hiked in the Snake Creek Canyon area, traversing through fields of sagebrush, groves of ghostly white aspen trees, and pinyon pine and Utah juniper woodlands. It was so quiet that the creek was almost deafening and I could hear the clinking of the aspen tree branches as the wind whisked through them.

I took a peek at the Strawberry Creek area, which is closed due to a massive wildfire that destroyed nearly 5,000 acres of forest last year. There were tinges of green as the spring temperatures warmed the soil, and the blackened ghosts of trees still stood tall and animated against the mountains and sky.

The Baker Creek trail took me over the river and through the woods. Well, not so much a river as several mountain streams that were gushing with melting snowpack. I hiked up, up, up, through aspens and twisted mahogany groves, until the snow became so prevalent on the trail that I decided it would be wise to turn back. Toward the highest elevations, I spotted lots of hoof tracks. I kept my eyes peeled, but none of the critters that created them revealed themselves.

Something I learned while here is that the Great Basin, which spans much of Utah and Nevada, is so named because it is like a giant bowl, dotted and surrounded with mountains. This "bowl" used to be Lake Bonneville, the remnants of which comprise the Great Salt Lake. With nowhere to go in this region, precipitation makes its way underground, sometimes resulting in caves.

Great Basin National Park is home to a stellar example of one of these caverns, Lehman Caves, which I toured during my stay. Cave tours are the only part of Great Basin National Park that has a fee, a very reasonable $10 per person. The park itself and I'm pretty sure many of its camp sites are free to visitors. I truly think this is one of the most impressive caves I've ever visited. It's full of unique formations and home to some rare varieties of cave decor, including cave "shields" and cave "turnips."

People here have been just as warm and friendly to me as they are to one another, and this is honestly going to go down as one of the best experiences of my trip because of them. I often think of tiny places like Baker as somewhere I would be unwelcome because I wasn't "one of them." Everyone I've met has been happy to make my acquaintance and genuinely interested in me. They also have seemed pretty surprised when I share that I am staying in Baker for a week. Apparently that is unusually long. "Are you thinking about moving here?" has even been uttered once or twice.

After experiencing the hospitality and the beauty of this area, I could warm up to that question a bit... if only the climate here was a bit warmer, too.

Sunset at Great Basin National Park entrance

Returning to the Land of Red Rocks

April 12, 2017 Teressa Jackson

On Sunday, I packed up the bikini and beach towel and boarded a plane back to Las Vegas. With my base tan established, I was prepared for more desert sunshine!

My car had been relaxing at the airport for about six weeks, and I was starting to feel like that was my big Vegas gamble. As the parking lot shuttle rounded the corner, I saw her there smiling at me. What a relief! I assessed the exterior: no flat tires, no broken windows, and no new dings, dents, or scrapes. In the final test, I turned the ignition. Voila! I was on the road again.

Since my time in Vegas had been pretty brief (and I wasn't sure that my car would be ready to roll on down the road), I booked a few days at an Airbnb on the outskirts of town. My plan was to see some of the natural beauty surrounding this land of slot machines, roulette wheels, and poker tables.

Monday, I took a short drive west to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The park was full of people enjoying a gorgeous, sunny, mid-70's spring day. I drove the scenic loop, stopping at most points of interest to take some short hikes, snap photos, and drink in the beautiful landscape. I was afraid I had missed spring in the desert, but there was still a pretty abundant sprinkling of flowers to be seen.

Following my tour of Red Rock, I spent some time on a more typical Vegas activity - shopping. My hiking shoes were ready for retirement, and probably had been for quite some time. After a few tries, I was happy to be able to locate the same type of shoe (Ahnu Sugarpine Air Mesh), which had worked really well for me for the better part of a year. I guess I'm not very "adventurous" in my wardrobe choices! :-)

Yesterday, my trek was a little more extensive. I drove about an hour through sparse desert terrain to the Valley of Fire, a Nevada State Park. I had seen a lot of photos of this park, especially its "Fire Wave," and it did not disappoint. It is home to some really unique formations, intensely red rocks, petroglyphs, canyons, and petrified logs. I drove most of the park roads and stopped at many of the scenic points. Hiking the Fire Wave trail, I saw more lovely desert flowers and made the acquaintance of a few chuckwalla lizards.

Leaving the park's east entrance, I wound my way through Lake Mead National Recreation Area. After about an hour of the area's varied desert vistas and distant glimpses of the lake, I caught up with the throngs of tourists who were headed with me to see Hoover Dam.

I can't say that visiting Hoover Dam was anywhere near the top of my list of places I want to see, but it was actually pretty interesting and picturesque. I am definitely a fan of Art Deco architecture, and it's a fantastic example of this style. The Lake Mead side of the dam was pretty surreal looking, with its blue water, art deco towers, and the waterline on the surrounding cliffs. I'm glad I stopped and braved the crowds!

Today, I am doing some work, catching up on things (like this blog!), and painting. I wanted to take it relatively easy since I have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow, when I head south to Phoenix, Arizona, my home for the next two weeks. Stay tuned for more reporting from the Valley of the Sun!

Desert globemallow and indigo bush blooming at Valley of Fire State Park

Life in Death Valley

March 8, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Salt Creek, home of the desert pupfish, is surrounded by salty badlands

Following a night of enthusiastic storms, I headed east from Twentynine Palms, California. I decided to take the shortest route to my destination, which sent me through Mojave National Preserve and Mojave Trails National Monument. While this was a beautiful and intriguing landscape, it was also quite soggy from the rains of the previous hours. There were a few close calls, but I luckily made it to my destination of Las Vegas without encountering any roads that were completely washed out and impassable.

I'd never been to Las Vegas before, and wasn't entirely sure what to expect. My first thought was that it was actually a lot smaller than I had envisioned. Other than that, it pretty much lived up to my expectations... gambling, over-the-top glitz, shows, weird people, and lots of intoxicated partiers who could barely walk - including one who had literally passed out on the sidewalk. His friends were pretty concerned. I don't think I have a lot in common with the people for whom this is a dream destination, but it was fun to experience it for a day. I do love people watching.

The streets were pretty empty when I rolled out of town around 7 a.m., wild and crazy party animal that I am. The clouds were beginning to drift away, making for a dramatic and beautiful scene as my car passed through Red Rock Canyon and headed west again.

In about an hour, I was in Pahrump, Nevada, my home for the next week. I hadn't researched much about Pahrump ahead of time, only that it was the closest locale of any size at all to Death Valley National Park. I came to learn that Michael Jackson had once owned an estate here, it is home to the Chicken Ranch and some other (yes, legal) brothels, you can do some hardcore firearms training at Front Sight Training Institute, and famed madam Heidi Fleiss was once proprietor of a laundromat in the town called "Dirty Laundry." I can't say that any of that got me really excited. :-)

Salt in Badwater Basin, which was underwater during my visit

I was pretty pumped up about seeing Death Valley, though. After itching to visit this expansive national park for years, I was finally going to experience it. I had also achieved my goal of visiting during the wintertime, as a summer visit to the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America can be worse than inhospitable. Back in July of 1913, the temperature reached a whopping 134 degrees there.

Death Valley has apparently been growing slightly wetter over the past few years, and they had received nearly half their total average yearly precipitation a couple days before my visit. This meant that the landscape was different than it would likely look in warm and toasty July. The lowest lying areas of the park were home to shallow bodies of water, not dry, cracked salt flats. Salt Creek, home to the rare desert pupfish, was flowing instead of being reduced to a few life-filled puddles. And there was certainly plenty of salty mud to adorn my hiking shoes as a souvenir of my visit.

One my surprises at Death Valley was the variety of scenery that exists there - flat, salty, lifeless expanses; beautiful multicolored striped mountains; surreal, wrinkly, colorful badlands; canyons; sand dunes; creeks teeming with fish; the well-preserved ghost town of Rhyolite just outside the park's borders; and so much more than I could ever properly describe. It literally takes hours to drive from one end of the park to another, and it seems nearly impossible that anyone could ever truly see and experience its diverse wonders.

I have found that the desert has a way of teaching you about the persistence and creativity of life. Some might think that Death Valley would be an exception to this observation, but despite everything it's up against, life creeps through even this harshest of landscapes. In addition to amazing desert fish, I spotted a brave and curious coyote, many birds, lots of darting lizards, and some very hopeful vegetation. While the guy passed out on the sidewalk in Las Vegas probably woke up the next morning wishing he wasn't living and the gold prospectors cleared out of Rhyolite long ago, these life forms slowly and quietly adapt, adjust, and amaze those who take a moment to stop and spot them. I'm glad I am among them.

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