Sunrise

Story Summary

Sunrise was born as you untethered from Arizona and took to the road, experiencing the desert in a new way. Camping, painting, and witnessing early-morning light became a moving metaphor for transition and trust. This creation holds the beauty of quiet mornings, open skies, and fresh starts. It invites you to see each day as a new sunrise, an opportunity to release what was, receive what is, and step into what’s emerging with gratitude.

Story

As I “untethered” myself from Arizona for the first time since Feb of 2020, I traveled through Quartzite, AZ en route to California. I was planning on arriving in California on Saturday and after a late start, I ended up driving for 1.5 hours and made it to Quartzite. When I arrived and looked up, I saw incredible stars due to there not being “light pollution.” When I woke up around 5:30 on Sunday and saw the Sunrise, I decided to paint. I got my paint supplies unpacked from the van and set up my plastic paint catchall so I wasn’t leaving paint on the desert floor. I picked a shady spot while I painted in the early morning. I don’t have my normal patterns down for painting as I travel in the van. My tape measure was deeply buried under many other items so I decided on a different method to balance out the painting while I laid down the letters “S-U-N-R-I-S-E”. I love painting with orange and have a Golden more translucent paint that allows my writing to come through the art. You’ll notice I started with orange and wanted to make sure more of that orange carried throughout. I set up a GoPro for a time lapse video. I painted it with vibrant colors and as I was nearing the end of some of the paint tubes and would apply paint, the splatter looked like “confetti” to celebrate yet another day. There was a beautiful purple tree that I noticed in nature as I was painting and you’ll notice a fair amount of purple at the bottom right of the painting. I completed the painting before 8:00a. After getting more video of getting the van packed up I hit the road towards cooler weather in San Diego, CA around 8:15a. As this was Mother’s Day, I also called my Mom on my journey through California.

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