June 26 Thursday

 It has been a beautiful day at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There was no rain, very light winds and moderate temperatures. 

I saw another tarantula today as I was walking in the front entrance of the visitor center. That's now the fourth consecutive day in which I have seen a tarantula! It is amazing how I can go my whole life without seeing tarantulas and now I'm seeing them everywhere. They are beautiful. I read that the females can live to be 30 to 40 years old! That seems unbelievable for such a delicate critter.

Today I decided to paint with acrylic instead of watercolor. I prefer acrylic to oil paints because acrylics can be cleaned up with water. There is no need for turpentine or flammable solvents. I started with this simple landscape, which is canvas on board, approximately 12" x 12".


Next, I decided to go subterranean since I am at Carlsbad Caverns. I had brought several black canvases here thinking that would be appropriate for cave art, but I quickly realize that I ended up painting over the entire canvas regardless so starting with a black canvas didn't really save any time or paint. This is also canvas on board, approximately 12" x 12".


I didn't feel super productive today, because most of the morning was spent chatting with passing visitors. The park isn't concerned with my productivity and neither am I. I am here to interact with the guests and I am happy to do so. That is one of the reasons I am here instead of sitting at home in Dallas. I think I may have had encounters with at least 80 guests today, and probably more. I met some really interesting people. There are a lot of families traveling around specifically visiting national parks. I met lots of amateur artists and even some professionals today too.

Today at lunch, I walked beyond the end of the parking lot and down the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Trail. 0.2 miles down the trail is a shaded gazebo where I enjoyed my lunch while looking out across the Permian Basin. No one else was on the trail. I think most visitors here are just focused on the caverns themselves. I had a really peaceful lunch.




Walking back to the visitor center I noticed the plethora of resident cacti. 

I think these are prickly pear cactus. They dominate the landscape here.


This is a cholla.


There aren't any Saguaro cacti here, but I did see a few of these small cacti.


This is a sotol. It isn't a cactus. I assume it is realted to yucca. It has amazingly tall flowers.


Ocotillo is very prevalent here.


I saw these small daisy-like flowers.


I saw another HUGE millipede. 



That's all the news for today. Thanks for tuning in.

















Comments

  1. Highwood MontanaJuly 3, 2025 at 12:37 PM

    I like the painting at the top. It has a western Edward Hopper vibe.

    ReplyDelete

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