Jessie Benton Evans paintings

Landscapes, acrylics, Verde Valley, Arizona. "It was a very hot afternoon on the road leading from the Verde Valley to Jerome. I would set up an umbrella, and, as primitive air conditioning, pour gallon jugs of water over myself and my dog, Berry, who lay in the shade (Don has a series of paintings of Berry on this website). Berry and I would be dry within 20 minutes. Often, the jugs of water would become hot, and I would quit painting until later, when it would be cooler, and drive down the hill in our air-conditioned car, where both Berry and I had an ice cream cone and went to a river to cool off. On this day, I had wanted to paint Mingus Mountain all silvery. As the sun slowly set, the heat of the afternoon seemed to make the painting have a will of its own. I couldn't paint a cool painting."