Captured Light

Walking in the desert one morning I came across this spiderweb suspended between clumps of prickly pear cactus. Just a normal spiderweb, but the light on the cactus, located in front of a small ditch lined by trees and brush in deep shadow, stopped me in my tracks. Then I looked closer, and several thin strands of the web were delicately colored in rose and violet, the colors appearing and disappearing as they shimmered in an imperceptible breeze. These kinds of gifts send me to my easel--I never want to lose those moments.