#sonoran desert

cr0racle:

• mountain lions run towards you, bobcats run away from you.
  
• bring lots of water. all the water you can carry. it will be taken, so bring extra.
• the snakes will ask you to join them in the shade. do NOT follow them.
• sandstone is the most reliable building material, but you will have to pay. just stick to packed dirt and gravel.
• agave plants collect water and you can chew most of them to get it, but don’t swallow. also, the plant that was there yesterday is not the same as the one there today.
• bones are to be expected, but try not to disturb them.
• same with raw minerals and gemstones. they aren’t there for you.
• the vultures circle for fun. it’s when the ravens show up that you’re gonna die.
• cloudy nights are brighter than the full moon.
• coyotes will eat what you give them but will not respond to any name. they know your name, though.
• contrary to popular belief, there are trees here. joshua trees are friendly, but they don’t know much. bristlecone pines know everything.
• it may be tempting to carve your initials somewhere. don’t do it. that’s a contract.
• lizards are good if you don’t mind a lot of salt.
• Burros may come up to you carrying saddle bags full of supplies. they’ve been here since the spanish settlers, so the supplies are long expired.
• the gila monsters are venomous, but they don’t like the taste of humans.
• play the music as loud as you want. no one else can hear you
• you might find a neat but dusty living room in the dry lakebeds. those are normal and you can rest there for the night, but don’t overstay your welcome.
• have fun! keep your boots tight, keep your gun close, and die with your mask on if you’ve got to.

ancestralspirits:

extremely in the mood to drive a long distance preferably thru the great plains or perhaps actually the southwest

I feel this so hard

beesby:

EDIT: desertcore is kinda a thing I guess. There’s barely any posts under the tag, but I think we can add more things to the general aesthetic then just sand pics

it could include:

-red sand

-mesas,plateaus,canyons,etc.

- GRAND. CANYON.

-biker gang biker gang

-skulls and dead plants

-C A C T U S 

-sand again

- carrion birds

- aliens ! ! !

-strange truckstops and motels

- loose graphic tees and tank tops

- cold, cold empty nights

- long empty roads

- big empty scenery and space

- enjoying the moment rather the destination

- a feeling of contentment or nothing

- not caring about anything and just vibing

- dust everywhere

- a small group of friends you do alot with or a lone travel

- travel

- sun and hot weather

- sludge, stoner, and heavy rock along with classic american folk

-lizerds

-cute-cool things always allowed

-portable older technology? (flipphones, Ds, gameboy)

ill add more if i feel like it

☉ get you a man who’s willing to reject society and become a mysterious vagabond with you under the harsh desert sun ☉

Imaginary Shelter by Heather Lee Birdsong,2021, gouache on paper, 12.125 x 9 inches.

I began this by painting the architecture in blues, and realized I couldn’t settle on a color for the “figure” (the triangular polygon at the doorway) until the scene visible through the window and doorway was done. I masked off the painted areas, then worked the desert landscape as a whole (with ghost flower, lupine, desert primrose, creosote, and desert willow). I peeled the masking off to see how it was all coming together, and went to sleep with the blank polygonal space glaring.

In the end, I pulled the color of the polygon figure from the farthest mountains. I grew up in an asphalt-covered bowl of desert edged by mountains. When I felt most desperate to escape, someone told me that they could never leave, that they would miss the mountains. The sentiment struck me as absurd — the mountains were far away, an ever-present backdrop and nothing more, their ruddy faces empurpled by the vast amount of atmosphere between us and them. Even though leaving (many years ago now) was the best thing I ever did for myself, I do miss the purple mountains.

This shows a 3 inches square patch, or thereabouts, of a 12 x 9 inch painting in progress. It’s the view out of an imaginary room’s window: desert tree (desert willow?) in the foreground, purple mountains off in the distance, a clear blue sky. The desert is largely an amalgamation of places I remember. The tree is a very specific one — a portrait, perhaps — I photographed on a hike a couple of years ago.

I wound up painting it twice. The first time, the colors were too vivid and dark, and didn’t give that feeling of desert light. So I sponged as much of the gouache away as I could, started again, and wound up with something much better.

Hey nerd, you ain’t lived till ya smoked peyote out of a javelinas taint in the middle of the Senoran desert.

Some concept art for St Vinny