Dip in the Night

This painting started with a photo I took on our first night in the California desert after a long day of traveling across the country. I had hoped to arrive in the late afternoon, but there were delays each step of the way and by the time we made our way over the winding mountain pass leading down to the desert floor, the sun had long since set. Blurry-eyed from jet lag, we checked into our room, bundled up and went out into the cold to sit by the hotel’s heated pools as if around a campfire. In the dark, in an unfamiliar place, we could see what was artificially illuminated right in front of us, but could only imagine the rest.