Description

“Arizona Cornucopia”

Sacred Datura and Hackberry Emperor, Salt River, AZ

73×48 inches oil on canvas

This painting was created for a special family in celebration of a momentous year.

This scene, captured in the sonoran desert on a morning hike, came complements of the plentiful 2021 Arizona monsoon season. I’m not sure if or when we will see an autumn like that again. The air was thick with a smell of blooming Daturas the sounds of buzzing bees, and the fluttering of butterflies.

I was photographing an enormous bush of blooming Daturas, when a Hackberry Emperor butterfly landed on a nearby bloom. Marveling, I knew this was the scene I wanted to paint to commemorate this season.

In the desert, there are seasons of scarcity, but sometimes there are seasons of plenty.

Appreciation for one does not come without the other.

Dyana Hasson
November 24, 2021