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Little Landscape #52
Butler Wash, Utah
2022

When walking in the convoluted canyons of southern Utah it’s easy to start seeing aerial views of canyon country in everything you see, including cracked and desiccated tree stumps.

So Many Choices, All Good
Butler Wash, Utah
2022

Pick any random side canyon in Utah and just start walking. You’re likely to find something interesting in any one of them. And because there are so many choices, few with designated trails, you’re very likely to have the place to yourself. The odds of solitude obviously go down in peak season but even then the occupancy rate is generally tolerable even for solitude-seeking hikers like myself. Pro-tip: parked vehicles seem to attract other parked vehicles so once you’ve picked your destination for the day, park somewhere that’s not an obvious choice for that particular route. Maybe the newcomers will walk the other way.

The Hockaday Museum of Art is the last stop for my exhibition Synthesizing Icons, which has been on a two-year tour of venues in Montana. The traveling exhibit is sponsored by SLAM (Support Local Artists and Musicians) and was chosen by MAGDA (Montana Art Gallery Directors Association) to be one of their touring exhibitions back in 2020.

Battlement Butte
Butler Wash, Utah
2022

A view from around the corner of the same butte from yesterday’s POTD.

Battlement Butte
Butler Wash, Utah
2022

As far as I know there is not official name for this particular edifice, so I felt free to make up my own name for it. In reality it is just one of many similarly interesting features in this part of Utah-way too many to name.

Desert Menagerie #2
Butler Wash, Utah
2022

A squid swimming in the water? A pigeon on skis going upside down over a jump? A caterpillar face? A jade plant growing in a pot? People dancing?  Your guess is as good (or better) than mine.

Desert Menagerie
Butler Wash, Utah
2022

So many different symbols, I can’t begin to even make up a coherent story about them all, or imagine the lives of the people who made them. Well, except for the bullet holes, I can very much imagine stories about the people who made them. I won’t bore you with impolite details; let’s just say they obviously did not live very rich inner lives.

Marking Time
Bluff, Utah
2022

Sundials make use of the fact that the position of shadows throughout the day are a measure of time. But shadow length tells you something too. This image shows, perhaps, a different kind of five o’clock shadow.

A Moment in the Sun #2
Bluff, Utah
2022

Cattail Maze
Bluff, Utah
2022

A jumble of last year’s cattail crop makes, I imagine, a great place for birds (such as the red-winged) blackbird to hide out, not to mention other marsh loving critters.