Week 33: the one with the big announcement!
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to Palm Springs to Joshua Tree National Park, California
Hello, hello! Hope you had a great week! We had a super busy one, filled with friends and fun. Before I get to the recap I have some big news to share:
Upcoming Artist Residency
I’m honored and excited to announce that I was selected to be the winter Artist-in-Residence at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Dolores, Colorado!
Find full details about becoming an AiR at Canyons of the Ancients here on their website. The Summer Residency is exclusively for Indigenous artists, while the Winter Residency is open to artists of all backgrounds.
I’ll be hosting two public outreach programs — if you’re in the area I’d love it if you joined me for one — or both!
Watercolor Demo: February 15, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM & 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center & Museum
Cost: 💲 Free
Join me for a live watercolor demonstration where you’ll learn techniques for painting the natural world. Discover the inspiration behind her residency creations and try your hand at some watercolor techniques—supplies will be provided!
Nature Journaling Workshop: March 1, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center & Museum
Cost: 💲 Free (Registration Required)
Discover the joy of nature journaling with Lisa Spangler (that’s me!) in this engaging workshop. Through presentations, demonstrations, and guided practice, you’ll learn how to document your observations of the natural world using words and sketches. Take home your own personal creation and a newfound appreciation for connecting with nature. All supplies will be provided.
Hope to see you there!
Now for the weekly recap:
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, California
We started the week off dispersed camping in Fish Creek at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It was great to be offgrid again and have some peace and solitude after the chaos of the campground last week. (It was super noisy on the weekend!)
Hiking Wind Caves
We chose a spot close to Wind Caves so that we could go hiking — and I’m so glad we did! We packed some snacks and plenty of water and set off from the van.
There were caves around every turn and interesting rock formations. From my research they were carved by the wind — how cool is that?
Trail in the foreground, cool vistas in the background!
More caves!
Such a great hike!
Back to Palm Canyon
We headed back to Borrego Springs to do laundry and pick up a few groceries.
Just look at this open road — had to snap this photo!
Palm Springs, California
Thursday and Friday we got to visit our dear friends Sally and Mike Traidman — hi Sally! Hi, Mike! It was so great to see them!
Stamping friends might recognize Sally’s name as she was one of the first Hero Arts artists. She and I worked together at Hero Arts for years and she’s one of my stamping heroes. We shared a room together at so many trade shows — she was my “show mom”! I just love her to pieces.
We call and text each other all the time, but there’s nothing like getting together in person.
Sally said not to post pictures of her — so I’ll post this sunset from her backyard instead!
We had the best time getting caught up, cooking, playing card games (including an epic Rummikub game where I ended up with 32 tiles and didn’t get to lay down a single one) and laughing!
So much laughing!
If you know Sally, you know she loves HEARTS — and I asked her to draw some in my sketchbook. She outdid herself and made a whole page, incorporating a sticker and card from when we went to Bread and Flours in Palm Springs!
I just love it!
All too soon it was time to get back on the road. I miss her already.
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Our next destination was Joshua Tree National Park. We were able to reserve some camp spots for all but the first night, so we dispersed camped in the Joshua Tree BLM Area instead. It’s only 1 mile away from the south entrance to the park.
Interstate 10 runs right along it, but luckily we didn’t hear much traffic noise. We were treated to another awesome sunset, too!
We had some black bean, hominy, and sweet potato soup for dinner, along with some sourdough that I got earlier in the day with Sally. YUM.
This sourdough is the best I’ve ever had — highly recommend!
Cottonwood Campground
The next day we got up early and headed to the Cottonwood Visitor Center. The line wasn’t too bad when we first got there, but by the time we left it was out the door! Whew!
We made our way to Cottonwood Campground, but we couldn’t get in our camp spot yet as people were still packing up. So we parked the van in an overflow parking area and had an early lunch — it’s so handy being able to do that in the van — I pinch myself every single time we get to take advantage of cooking wherever we happen to be.
After lunch we were able to get our camp spot and then after leveling the van we decided to hike the Mastodon Mine Loop Trail. We set off right from camp to avoid the full parking lot at the trailhead.
There are so many cool cacti and rock formations along the first part of the trail — I couldn’t stop taking photos.
Further down the trail you can see the Salton Sea in the distance.
Then we got to see the promised cottonwoods — I bet they were a glorious golden yellow in the fall.
We even got to see two palm oases on the hike!
Seeing these shaggy palms in their natural state just never gets old!
That’s it for this week — we’re going to stay here at JT the rest of the week, then start making our way to Colorado for my residency. Cannot wait!
Until next week, keep warm out there! It’s going down to 26 F here tonight. Brrrrr! — Lisa & Jason
Congratulations on your residency!
Lisa ..... You mentioned a water color demo and a journal sketching wksp when you are at Canyon of the Ancients. Any chance these could be recorded? Then your great group of aficionados could glean some tidbits.