![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Ed-Mell-blue-sky.jpg)
Wednesday, March 4: I first fell in love with the paintings of Ed Mell in the late 90s. A gallery in Old Town Scottsdale had a few of his artworks, and I was immediately smitten. When I got back to Edmonton, I ordered his coffee table book. Today, Sharon and I went to his first 50-year retrospective exhibit at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in the very quaint Wickenburg, about an hour out of Scottsdale. It was utterly amazing.
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Exhibit-entrance-.jpg)
Mell’s cubist-influenced desert land and skyscapes are so unique, so beautiful. I see a little Lawren Harris in his work, but instead of the cool, boreal colours of Canada’s north, Ed Mell fills his canvases with the colours of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts.
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Ed-Mell-clouds-714x1024.jpg)
No way this could have happened if Sharon and Vic didn’t happen to have a place down here, and I didn’t happen to be here while the exhibit was running, so yeah, I’m pretty grateful. What a dream.
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Grand-Canyon.jpg)
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Flowers-1.jpg)
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Sculpture.jpg)
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Ed-Mell-framed-1024x508.jpg)
On the drive up to Wickenburg, we stopped by the Hassayampa River Bird Reserve to do a little bird watching. Cool place (literally), like a little oasis in the middle of the desert. No interesting bird sightings, but lots of beautiful bird song. After that, we had delicious Mexican in Wickenburg, and then the exhibit.
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bird-watching-blue-water.jpg)
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bird-watching-palms.jpg)
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Bird-watching-trees.jpg)
Once we got home to a very excited Stella, we walked over to ‘her’ fountain, which gasp, had been drained. Too much dog hair? Luckily, there is a deeper water feature not too far away, so we watched Stella swim for a bit before she dropped her ball down the drain. Hopefully that won’t cut off the water supply to Scottsdale.
![](http://donnasrivervalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Stella-swims-1.jpg)