The Mitchell mesa is a peninsula of land the shape of Florida, about 25 miles southwest of Alpine Texas. It is about one and a half miles wide and three miles long and is also referred to as The Escondido. The mesa drops off one thousand feet on all three sides, and you can see a hundred miles in about any direction.
This painting is the view looking off the south rim, out over the O2 ranch towards the Christmas Mountains and Big Bend.
The vastness of the view is overwhelming, and the climate on the mesa cooler and slightly wetter, than the land below.
I was there in June of 2007 after an unusually wet Texas Spring and was able to capture this land in its full potential, thick green fields and everything in bloom, something not common in this arid part of the country. I feel lucky to have experienced the beauty of how lush this land can be, and maybe a hint of the awe people had when they looked off the rim and decided to make it their home.