In 1887, the Chiricahua Apaches were held as prisoners of war in Alabama. They were kept along the Mobile River, on swampy ground, in dense pine woodlands. Longing for the light, they ached for their Arizona home. Some of the men climbed to the tops of the trees just to see the sky.

The Sonoran Desert is a place of light, above, beyond, and before anything else. The open skies and the otherworldly landscape drew me in when I first met it, and my mind relaxed and felt free. Coming from the Midwest where it was rare to have the ability to see for miles, when I am in the desert, I feel like someone took the lid off of my cage.

Sometimes the light is subdued, like it was this February day as I hiked along the spine of Brown Mountain in Tucson Mountain Park. It is, of course, often relentless. Even on a cloudy day, though, there is almost always a patch of blue in that expansive Arizona sky if you look hard enough – and I love that.

Living in Arizona, I often found myself encountering that bit of “blue sky.” Sometimes I made a point of looking for the azure above; Other times, I found it in the people around me. I can only imagine how elusive these both must have seemed to the Chiricahuas in that gray swamp, so far from their ancestral home.

Now living in Southern California, I admit that sometimes I forget to look for the blue sky. It’s true that there are more clouds here, but there’s still a lot of sunshine, too - both literal and figurative. Looking back to this painting is a good way to remind myself of that.

This original painting measures 16x10.5” and comes in a white mat, bringing the final measurement to 24x18”. It was created using watercolor paint on acid free, cold press heavyweight 100% cotton Arches watercolor paper. It ships free.