Pool time in Palm Springs is my favorite time of year. If you’ve ever spent a summer in Palm Springs, then you know how hot it gets. I have a home there and nothing feels better then jumping in the pool when the temperature hits 115. Splash. Submerge. That big ahhh as my body temperature drops. Every thought squeezed from my mind. Relaxation at its finest.

I’ll never forget the moment I was floating in the water, looked at the towel hanging over the edge of the pool and thought, hey there’s a painting there.  I got out, snatched my camera, waded back in, and spent the next few hours photographing the towel, the ball, the pool toys, the shadows from the palm trees.  I was lost in the artists zone of making art.  Each weekend it became my obsession as  my collection of photos grew. I came to view my simple back yard as a total work of art. The stainless steel fence, the agave plants, the palm trees, the colored river rock, they all held a story that needed to be told. Was is it sun stroke, or was there really that much beauty in the simplest of details.

The Palm Spring nights take on an equal amount of beauty from the pool. Looking up at the stars and the moon, feeling the warm breeze, enjoying the nothingness of it all, yet feeling so content. Wondering how many eyes have looked at those same stars over the years, seeing what I’m seeing. It’s no surprise so many of us dash to the desert for the weekends. To decompress. To reconnect. To feel the pulse of nature and find our own pulse again. This is the less celebrated side of life in the desert, but for me, it’s what keeps me coming back.