Angry Burro

The first think you may notice is that there is no donkey in this picture.  Well, just be patient.  It will appear after the big, beautiful Arizona sunset fills up the background.

Before we get to the burro, lets talk about the sunset. 

Even before I started painting, I spent spare moments gazing up into the Arizona sky.    It is vast.  The clouds (when clouds are present) have plenty of room to spread out and relax.    , After painting filled my spare moments, I continued to gaze up into the Arizona sky.  Except now I call it research, because now I look up and think about the colors and shapes and how that the splendor could be translated through paints and brushes.

Whether we call it daydreaming or research, the sky still delivers the same therapeutic benefit.  When the day is good and the living is easy, the big beautiful sky is bright blue multiplier of the good.  When the day is challenging, the vastness of the sky reminds that these minor challenges are just part of a very grand and complex world.  I can only help improve this grand world by working on improving my place in this world.

Back to the painting, this sunset was what I saw over a couple of days from my driveway when returning from work.  It is not the vivid orange and pink sunsets we see photographed so often.  This is an earlier phase when the sun has headed to the horizon. 

And then the donkey arrived and proceeded to photo-bomb the sunset. The sunset does not seem to mind, but the donkey looks upset.

WHY?

As the painting progressed, we realized that the burro is not only angry, its HANGRY. (hungry + angry)  Our burro friend is just looking for some fully loaded nachos, or some mac & cheese, or a piece of apple pie.  As soon as the burro tears down the sign, or finds an illiterate passerby, we should have peace in the valley.

(The Mike'sPieHole general counsel office has required us to include the following statement: No burros were harmed or starved in the painting of this picture.  All burros in this painting are fictional.  Any resemblance to actual burros, living or dead, is purely coincidental.)