After The Drought

There are seasons when the ground looks completely barren. Nothing seems to be growing, the soil is hard and dry, and you begin to wonder if anything will ever take root again.

I know that feeling creatively. This summer I moved through a season of creative drought, months without a clear idea for a painting and eventually a much deeper season of depression. When we are in the middle of it, it can be hard to remember that a drought is a season, not a permanent state.

This painting of Monument Valley in Utah is a reminder of that.

Look at the foreground and you'll see plants beginning to push their way through the dry, hardened earth. They are easy to forget against the vastness of the desert, but they are there. New growth is already happening.

I love that about the desert. It can look like nothing is alive until you slow down enough to notice what is.

For me, this painting has become a reminder to be patient with the seasons of my own life and creative practice. Just because I can't see what's growing doesn't mean nothing is happening beneath the surface. Sometimes the soil needs time. Sometimes it needs water. Sometimes we simply have to wait long enough to see the first green shoot appear.

Part of This Land is OUR Land, this painting is a celebration of the resilience of the land and a reminder that new growth will always come. We just have to be patient enough to see it through.

A little reminder for your walls: You are not barren. You are not behind. Something may already be taking root.

Dive deeper into the story in this blog post.

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About This Land is OUR Land Collection Description:

This Land is OUR Land is a hand-painted gouache collection of nine panoramic landscapes celebrating America's wild places from California to Maine. Created in direct response to the summer 2025 threat to our public lands, each piece is named after classic songs that speak to our shared American experience.