WHERE NARY A WEED MAY GROW

COPPERTAILINGS                                        Clarkdale, Arizona
Original oil on gessoed board

Far up the valley and from the Mingus Mountains above, a beautiful copper furrowed field can be seen.    So compelling that I was drawn to it and spent a warm winter’s day painting this scene.  I hadn’t realized this was essentially waste from years of copper mining -- a toxic crop where nary a weed may grow and one of many unfortunate legacies of mining days past. 

But when I look back on that day it is the little details I recall … the horseback riders who came along  and chatted hello while I opened that cattle guard for them; the heavenly soft breeze and light sun that warmed my back; the ancient ruin called Tuzigoot behind me that stands as testament that once upon time this valley was a place of life.  A place of magic.