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It was in the month of June in 2001 when I left Cologne, Germany to move to Mesa, Arizona. The first impressions I had leaving Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix were a desert in bloom. In my mind I had pictured the desert landscape of Arizona entirely different. I had expected something like the Sahara Desert. Instead I saw healthy-looking Mexican Bird of Paradise bushes in happy orange, growing alongside the freeway. I fell in love with Arizona right then and there. It was love at first sight. As we are approaching June of 2021 I will celebrate my 20th anniversary in the United States.

A nature lover, I have often hiked the surrounding Sonoran Desert with my friends. Sometimes, when I see a nice scenic shot from one of my Facebook friends I will ask permission to paint it. The painting "Snow in the Desert" was inspired by a photograph from Kristen Kabrin. Here is her website: https://www.facebook.com/kkabrinphotography

For my oil pastels I mostly use mixed mediums. I will layer the background with Acrylics before I paint the object of my interest with oil pastels, in this case - the stately Saguaro Cacti. Crowned with white little flowers, I love these thorny giants especially in spring. – It was not for nothing that they were nominated Arizona State Flower.