Weather makes us giddy.

So, I've been challenged by a fellow artist to post 3 works a day for 5 days.

This is Day 2.

Going back in the archives, I am sharing (again) some unique desert weather shots. I know I've mentioned this many, many times - but, we desert dwellers get really giddy whenever there is any kind of precipitation - especially drizzle/rain accompanied by fog. Fog is a super unusual occurrence in our desert. This year, we've had literally days and days of it. Once for 3 days in a row - the pea soup kind. Of course, I was teaching on those days - not conducive for chasing great fog shots. But I did manage to go out and play for an hour after school, before dark. There is something eerily special about standing out in the desert, enveloped in the thick quiet of fog. The best part? The smells! Oh my. Sage, desert lavender, cedar, pinion pine, creosote - all mixed with granite (yes, rocks have smells) and wet earth.

Heaven.

This shot was taken in January, 2 years ago. Not photoshopped or altered at all. This is what my camera captured. Yes. It was that thick. If you look closely at a print of this, you can very, very faintly see more vegetation in the background. There are hills back there and a dip between them with views to the valley below. Only 20 feet or so from the car, my daughter said I completely disappeared. I dreamt this shot many years prior. When I woke up to fog that morning, I knew I had to find that dream...

And this shot was taken just a few months ago. We had 3 days of thick fog in a row. This was day 2. I remembered to bring my camera with me to work that day and dashed out as soon as all the students left. Black Rock Campground, part of Joshua Tree National Park, is just minutes up the road from my school. I spent an hour mingling about, breathing in deeply. The fog would recede; patches of blue sky emerging. Then, without warning, I'd suddenly find myself totally surrounded by fog thick enough to barely see the bushes ahead of me. I lost my car - couldn't tell which direction I needed to go to get back to it. So, I simply stood in one spot, light waning for the day, praying the fog would lift just enough for me to get back to the car before blackness took me. I was too excited to get out and play in it with my camera to remember a headlamp. I will next time....

And, finally, my 3rd art shot for Day 2, another foggy day sometime between the first 2 shots above - late winter, maybe last year. The fog had receded to the distant hills. We pretty much had just a brief morning of it that day. There is a quiet melancholiness about this. I remember my ears ringing to the point of discomfort, so utterly still it was. When I printed it on a cold pressed, fiber-based matt paper, it had a more blue cast than this - which I actually like. It's hanging in my son's apartment near the beach now - a reminder of home.