The View from the end of Lone Dove Trail

When we decided to move from Mesa to Tucson I had quite a number of people ask me "Why? Why are you moving to Tucson?" as if it were across the globe, a fourth world country with unknown risks and dangers. This painting was painted in my studio from a smaller painting I did one gorgeous morning just outside my studio, looking North to the everchanging and dramatic Santa Catalina Mountains. This is the reason I moved to Tucson.

It might have been the longest move in history. The first two or three weeks we moved everything down that we needed to live and function, and then over the next year and some months we would bring a load of stuff, either from the Mesa house or our storage, until finally in August of this year (2008) we made an extreme effort with several trips and large loads and got everything down to Tucson.

So, we drive "up" to Mesa because we are going north...but we are descending from 2500 feet above sea level to 1100 feet, so really we are going "down" to Mesa. But I can never really say I am going "down" to Mesa when I leave Tucson. Up is always north and down is always south and east or west are always over...unless there is a drastic variation in altitude. It's a case where the metaphysical trumps the physical.