The painting contains some hints that there is more than this first impression. There is a flowering agave in the foreground. This often observed succulent stands in for all the wonderfully adapted native plants. Small green dots in the distance suggest more vegetation. This is a region where unique plant communities exist in low deserts,shrub lands and high mountains.
Summer is probably the most memorable season in the Southwest.
The heat is intense and the thunderstorms are dramatic. There is also a river in the picture, a reminder of the lifeline of our state, the Rio Grande. It takes some effort to cover the distances in order to explore the rich plant life in New Mexico. The reward is an expanded understanding of the world we live in.