Arizona Melts ICE

I'm not a fan of ice. It's cold and uncaring, and it's harmful to human life. I wanted to capture my disdain for this... concept in a painting. I started this in early January (for no particular reason), and finished it just in time to submit it to an environmental justice art show, where it sold! I'm pretty happy with it.

I would've done something different with the ice cube itself if I'd given myself more time to work on the painting of it. It's hard to find references of ice cubes with things behind them to get an idea of how those things are warped when viewed through the ice. The rest of it, I'm really happy with. I've done desert scenes before, for personal commissions and the like, and they're very relaxing to paint. I used to hate the desert aesthetic, as I live in the middle of it, but now I find it so beautiful and calming.

The beauty of this state has no room for something invasive like ice. Arizona is certainly putting the heat on, and I'm proud of us for it.

Acrylic marker on 8x8" stretched canvas.