"American Southwest"
❮
❯
Mixed Media Paintings by Mary Ellen Palmeri…artwork using her original specialty “Paper Dreams”, where she combines cut or folded paper with drawing and painting techniques. Her Southwest images include flora and fauna typical to the Sonoran desert area of Tucson, AZ, including saguaro and prickly pear cactus, coyotes, roadrunners, rabbits, and owls.
Originally these mountains were to be background for large figures in the foreground.
As I got absorbed into the creative process the ‘background’ became the major focus of the piece. The figures eventually became riders
through the vast expanse that had become the painting.
The dancing figure is Yukio, which means "Happy Hero".
He is returning in celebration after meditating and visiting the sacred relics
and writings held in the religious Buddhist shrine, known as a pagoda, which symbolizes the heights of
Inspired one morning by early blooms on a prickly-pear cactus in my Sonoran Desert backyard.
This beautiful state park is a natural home to more than 5500 acres of desert flora and fauna.
The various rich orange and red earth colors
of the Sonoran Desert, and the intense layering of light reflections climbing up the mountains create a colorful background for
this playful pony folded from metallic paper.
The various rich orange and red earth colors
of the Sonoran Desert, and the intense layering of light reflections climbing up the mountains create a colorful background for
this playful pony folded from metallic paper.
This campfire scene was inspired by a visit to a ranch outside of Phoenix, Arizona.
It was my first experience watching an expert roper taking a break in the corral. After showing us several fancy maneuvers with
his rope, he built a fire to make camp coffee for everyone!
"Cowgirl Sunset" reflects the diverse and intense colors reflecting across the Sonoran
Desert in Southern Arizona.