"W" is for Wonders of the World - A to Z Challenge

"Wonders of the World, Sedona AZ" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Throughout the month of April, Farrah Ferand, the heroine of Evening of the Dragonfly, has painted her way into the reality of regressed memories. Using the imagery in her paintings, she has come to realize and understand elements from her past. Now, as she nears completion of her one-person art exhibition, Farrah is ready for new beginnings. Her last two paintings will be about wonders of her world.

Although Farrah has never traveled to the Southwest, she is intrigued by that part of our country. She once read the Zane Grey stories of the West, and she enjoys movies set there. The Red Rock country of Sedona, Arizona especially appeals to her. The final paintings for her show are joyful ones created with juicy Golden acrylic paints on stretched canvas. Today's art in her "Wonders of the World" is a detail from a Sedona painting she will finish for tomorrow. This work is 36" x 18".

(Sedona is one of my favorite destinations. For this project, as I looked through some of the photographs I've taken there, I felt a little homesick.)

If you have just joined this blog journey:
Evening of the Dragonfly is a novel set in the 1980s, a time less complicated than today. Farrah Ferand has a high school art teaching job in a small Virginia town. She meets Dirk Lawrence, a businessman from the city, who takes an interest in her and in her painting and is helping her build a studio over the garage in her rented home. Farrah is thrilled to have the studio because she has a one-person art exhibition scheduled. As she works on new paintings, Farrah realizes things about herself, her relationships, and the tragic loss of her mother. We encounter some of her realizations as new paintings and parts of painting are unveiled each day during the A to Z Challenge. My book is available in trade paperback and as an e-book.