Artist: Stephen Estrada
Title: Storm Over the Sacramento Mountains
Medium: Oil on canvas – 40″ x 30″
Price: $8,000

“The western escarpment of the Sacramento Mountains looms over the Tularosa Basin near White Sands New Mexico. More than 60 million years ago its 10,000 foot peaks were at the bottom of a shallow sea when the mountains began their slow rise; an ancient process that still continues. Lying at the foot of the mountains is the Tularosa Basin, a closed ecosystem. The valley was verdant but fragile prairie grassland until the early 20^th century when overgrazing diminished the “sweetwater” aquifer causing salts to seep back into the natural underground pools. Sierra Blanca, the highest peak of the Sacramento’s is sacred to the Mescalero Apache who live here and call themselves Shis-Inday, “People of the mountain forests.” I was driving south to El Paso when a storm overtook the range, shrouding it in rain and clouds, wearing it down even as it tilts skyward, replenishing the land and aquifer that will return long after we leave.”