Joshua Tree National Park - Artist in Residence Day 1

Settling In

I arrived in the park two days ago, checked in to my park housing and dropped off a bunch of gear, then spent a couple nights at the Harmony Motel with my family.  I love the Harmony, it's small, clean, and lovely.  U2 stayed there in the 80s during their trip through the Mojave desert preceding the release of The Joshua Tree album, so it has a neat bit of history as well.  My kids were on spring break this past week, so we took advantage of the timing and drove down to visit Death Valley, some family, more family, LA, Joshua Tree, and Palm Springs.  My family flew home early this morning from Palm Springs, and I made a couple stops for groceries before driving back up to the park and getting settled in.

For this residency, my public outreach will take the form of collaborative paintings with fifty local 6th graders.  I spent the evening planning out the three large paintings and getting ready to start the process tomorrow.  Since today was busy working on logistics, I'll share some photos I took in the park a couple days ago.

Monzogranite rock formation behind Ryan Ranch.

Adobe ruins of the old Ryan Ranch house.

The remains of a very large Joshua Tree in the Covington Flats area.

Mount San Jacinto rising above the Coachella Valley.