by Bill Singleton, illustrator & Tumamoc Art and Science Program instructor (BillSingleton.com)

Two years ago today, I explored Tumamoc’s base with my new acrylic gouache paints and recorded this classic Sonoran Desert plant and animal scene—the barrel growing up out of the “nurse tree” shelter provided by the palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla), the accumulated sticks, seeds, bones, and other bits that comprise a packrat midden.