“Searing Sky”  is a 20×30″ original oil on canvas, fresh off the easel. I painted this sunset from a reference taken close to our home in the Arizona desert. One of the places I love to watch the sunset is just to the West of our home on the western side of the Tucson mountain range. (A favorite hiking and painting spot for me) It is only a 15 minute drive to the open desert and nearby farms in Avra Valley. As an artist I am so blessed because I always have fresh reference material close by. The mountains in the painting are the Roskruge Mountains which lie west beyond Avra Valley.

Tucson Mountains:

The Tucson Mountains (O’odham: Cuk Doʼag) are a minor mountain range west of Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson Mountains, including Wasson Peak, are one of four notable mountain ranges surrounding the Tucson Basin. The Santa Catalina Mountains lie to the northeast, the Rincon Mountains are to the east of Tucson, and the Santa Rita Mountains lie to the south. Additionally the Sierrita Mountains lie due south, the Roskruge Mountains lie to the west across Avra Valley, theSilver Bell Mountains lie to the northwest, and the Tortolita Mountains lie to the north across the Santa Cruz Valley.

Avra Valley:

Avra Valley is a narrow valley, only about 10 miles wide in some locations, and bordered completely on the west by low elevation, arid mountain ranges. From the northwest, the mountains are the West Silver Bells, Silver Bell Mountains,Watermans, and then in the southwest the Roskruge Mountains. South of the Roskruge, Arizona Route 86 enters the valley from the Tohono O’odham Nation to the west. Robles Junction, Arizona, is also in the southwest, at the junction of the valley going southwest to Sasabe, the Altar Valley. Robles Junction is also at the northwest of the mountain range on Avra Valley’s southern border, the Sierrita Mountains.

The north of the Avra Valley narrows at the Silver Bell Mountains and Marana to the east. The region merges into the wider flatlands associated with the floodplain regions of the northwestern Santa Cruz River where it begins to merge with the Gila River.