Having had great success with my quick �Quarantine Studies,� small, mixed media pieces I�ve been selling on Facebook during the Covid-19 Pandemic, I decided to try applying the style to something larger and more fully developed. This is one of the first two experiments in that venture. Those who know my work are aware that my typical process has become very slow, elaborate, labor intensive, and multi-step, so it has been very refreshing to challenge myself to do quicker, more direct painting. Though I take the same care with anatomy as I always do in representing my subjects, the use of watercolor (and especially the use of deliberate drips and runs in the initial stages) makes these pieces impossible to plan or entirely predict. That randomization is not easy, but it is freeing, and I�ve truly enjoyed letting the paint take over a bit. These pieces are a mixture of graphite and colored pencil drawing, acrylic painting, and watercolor.

In this particular study, I�ve focused on a true desert icon, the coyote. I listen to their wonderfully orchestral howlings most nights, and I see them loping through the desert landscape in the early morning or late afternoon hours. This particular animal resides at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where he thrills and educates visitors on a daily basis.