Photo by Luc Novovitch
Priscilla Wiggins has been painting plein air in the Big Bend for decades, living out of her small camper and relishing the vast, silent landscapes of far West Texas.
Painting Nature ‘til It Sings
by Barbara Novovitch
H
ow can I take this beauty home with me? It’s
a thought that likely passes through the mind
of almost every visitor to the Big Bend of
Texas. How can I see again the majesty of the moun-
tains, the sweep and scope of the desert, the ever-
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changing canopies of clouds, the wildflowers of spring,
the summer storms?
Even those visitors who view the scenery through the
windshield of a car or a camera lens instead of taking an
exhilarating hike into the Big Bend desert are given that
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2013
opportunity by the “plein air” painters. These artists
create their work in the outdoors, setting up easels
morning and night to capture the scene, inspired by the
palette of the desert, the mountains and the ever-chang-
ing light, by the nearby jackrabbit’s jumps and jitters as