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This work was the result of a challenge I set for myself: use parts of more than one photograph to create a work of art. To start, I chose two photos I had taken at Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cadillac Ranch, a brief explanation is in order. It is a ranch where eight vintage Cadillacs have been planted, front-end down, in the ground. Over the years, they have been covered in graffitti, which is actually encouraged. I'll save further information for a future post.

Getting back to my work: As I played around with the parts of the two photos, I came to the conclusion that all the pieces looked way too similar, causing the work to have no "punch." To remedy that, I chose a photo of a metal flower from Albuquerque's Old Town. The metal meshed well with the car parts, while the flower provided the needed contrast. I changed the color of the flower from its original red to the yellow seen here, because the red blended in too much with everything else. Once I added the flower, I was satisfied.

I originally intended this to be a fun piece, with no particular message. As happens at times, however, a message emerged as I worked on it, a reminder that there is often unexpected treasure and joy in the "junkyards" of our lives, surprises in the midst of the mundane. We can walk right past them if our focus is on the junkyard as a whole. But if we learn to look with the eyes of the Spirit, we will see the unexpected treasure.