When I have time, I enjoy combining scans of my paintings and drawings with one another and with my original photographs using layers and different types of blending in Adobe CS4. 

A couple of years ago, a piece I created this way from multiple original photos, and then had printed, was included in a juried art show at the Denver International Airport.

I hope that others will be able to combine my collages with their own work to create exciting designs. 

A few weeks ago, we took a trip over to Moab, Utah, home to Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point, and numerous gorgeous desert canyons.

It was a beautiful, sunny early autumn day. The area can be unbearably hot in the summer, so we knew we had made a good choice when we decided to wait until late September. 

First, we drove up the spectacular Potash Road. It skirts the Colorado River at the base of vertical cliffs that sport ancient rock art all of the time, and intrepid rock climbers on weekends.

After lunch, we headed into Arches National Park. The park has several sections, each with a distinct character. The Windows Section has many accessible arches. Courthouse Wash and Park Avenue have the most impressive fins.

If you have never visited Moab, put it on your list! 

Last weekend we drove up to the San Juan Mountains. Golden foliage on aspen trees was sweeping down the steep slopes.

 

This stunning show happens every year, of course, but it is always astonishing. We stopped at every pullout to shoot the brilliant leaves. After the long, hot summer, the sharp bite of high country air is amazing. 

Here on Colorado's Western Slope, we are easing out of summer into fall. Some of the aspen leaves in the high country are turning gold and yellow rabbit brush flowers are blanketing the high desert. Last month's hatchling lizards are out snatching up ants to fatten up before retreating to cracks in the rocks to wait out the coming winter snows.

Down in New Zealand, OZ, South America, and South Africa, it's a different story. Winter is starting to break out into spring. To celebrate that, I have uploaded a bouquet of photos taken last April in the fruit orchards on the eastern end of our beautiful high desert valley. Spring here is a perilous time. If the blossoms come too soon, they can be killed, along with the possibility of a summer harvest, by a brutal April frost. Growers tend their heaters through long, nervous nights. This year, everything went well. Cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, and apples have come in sweet succession.

Friends to the south, we wish you all the sweetness of spring!