Earlier in the summer of 2025, I was in the Gila Wilderness for work. My initial reaction to it was discomfort and angst- I didn’t like New Mexico (what a broad statement??), I didn’t like the heat, I didn’t like kind of assignment we were on, the list goes on and on. By the time we left we had seen the monsoons begin to roll in, the place that had seemed so parched was revived after only a few short rains, the yellow became green, the blank skies filled with rolling thunder clouds, and when it was over a rainbow took shape in the skies.
I left the Gila with a new appreciation for the wilderness area, for the land that had been preserved from roads and human hands, an area that was so quickly transformed from a wasteland to a home for so many creatures, silence overcome with the sounds of life.
5×7” oil painting on masonite, framed
Earlier in the summer of 2025, I was in the Gila Wilderness for work. My initial reaction to it was discomfort and angst- I didn’t like New Mexico (what a broad statement??), I didn’t like the heat, I didn’t like kind of assignment we were on, the list goes on and on. By the time we left we had seen the monsoons begin to roll in, the place that had seemed so parched was revived after only a few short rains, the yellow became green, the blank skies filled with rolling thunder clouds, and when it was over a rainbow took shape in the skies.
I left the Gila with a new appreciation for the wilderness area, for the land that had been preserved from roads and human hands, an area that was so quickly transformed from a wasteland to a home for so many creatures, silence overcome with the sounds of life.
5×7” oil painting on masonite, framed
