Gurukirn Khalsa Artworks Gallery

• Agua Fria After the Rain

  Watercolor, Panel, 8" x 10". Inspired by a Mike Hernandez workshop at Scottsdale Artist School.

• Dark Horse Moab

  Acrylic, Panel, 8" x 10". This is my favorite version of the Dark Horse formation that I've done.

• Ayer Lake II

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 14". This is the 2nd version of Ayer Lake at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, AZ. The dramatic formations shimmer in the reflections below.

• Wild Poppy & Daisy

  Watercolor, Paper, 7 x 5. In 2001, there was a striking wildflower bloom in Arizona. I took pictures of the flowers at Lost Dutchman State Park and did this painting from them.

• Vumbura View

  Watercolor, Paper, 9 x 11. In 2021, we took a trip to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Africa. This is the view from the front porch of our lodging. At night, hippos passed by under the porch as they were grazing. You co…

• There Was Water. Once

  Gouache, Paper, 10" x 8. One of my favorite places to paint is out on Table Mesa Road off of the I-17. The New River crosses the road in several places, this being the 1st. At some times there is water in the river, at…

• Sm. Med. Lg.

  Watercolor, Paper, 10 x 8. I had done many versions of the view from the ramada at Pine Cove Campground at Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Hobe Sound, FL. They all feature a palm tree at the end of a finger of land,…

• Sycamore at Montezuma's Well I

  Watercolor, Paper, 11" x 14". This was one of my earliest plein air paintings, done at Montezuma's Well National Monument, near Camp Verde, AZ. I sat on the ground and painted this sycamore tree with its blazing colors.

• Sunflower Dance

  Watercolor, Paper. More sunflowers from my garden.

• Snoopy

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9"

• Badger Springs

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". This area of the parking lot at Badger Springs was flooded, with beautiful reflections.

• Seven Springs Sycamore

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". A tough old sycamore tree out by Seven Springs, AZ.

• River Road Moab

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Done at the last time the Red Rock Plein Air Competition was held in Moab in 2019.

• Point Reyes Weather Station

  Watercolor, Paper, 8" x 10". A cloudy day in Point Reyes Seashore, sitting on a piece of driftwood.

• Hart Prairie Aspens

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". I did this during a weekend paint out organized by the Arizona Plein Air Painters, near Flagstaff.

• Loxahatchee Shady Path

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". I've done several versions of this path at Arthur R Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge near Delray, Fl. A very magical place.

• Loxahatchee (2)

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". Another view of the marsh at Loxahatchee, FL.

• Northern Avenue Canal Eucalyptus

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". This painting was accepted into an exhibit on trees at the Cahoon Museum in Barnsable, MA.

• Oak Creek in the Rain

  Watercolor, Paper, 8" x 10". I was doing this painting sitting next to Oak Creek during a paint out organized by the Sedona Arts Center, when it started raining. You can see the raindrops in the picture. Look closely an…

• High Five

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". This was a study in negative painting.

• Guru Sangeet Singh

  Pastel, 20" x 16". The child of a friend, his gaze is full of wisdom.

• Har Rai Singh and Peaches

  Watercolor, 18 x 14. My son, with a cockatoo on his shoulder!

• Golfo de Papagayo

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". A view of the bay in Costa Rica.

• Gods of Nambe III

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". A hoodoo out by Nambe, NM, which I've done several times.

• Growing Up

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". I won 1st Place in Water Media at the Red Rock Arts Festival in 2019.

• Gods of Nambe II

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". Another view of the hoodoo near Nambe, NM.

• Ghost Ranch

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". Done during the Plein Air Convention at Ghost Ranch, NM.

• Flower Dance II

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Inspired by a Stan Kurth workshop at Arizona Artists Guild.

• Fall on the New River

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Out off of Table Mesa Road, near New River, AZ.

• Dark Horse Again

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Another version of the Dark Horse formation in Dead Horse State Park, Moab, UT.

• Desert Ocean

  Watercolor, Paper, 7 x 10. On the south side of the Agua Fria National Monument. off of Coldwater Canyon Road.

• Carved In Stone

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Up in Sedona, AZ.

• Cold December Morning

  Acrylic, Panel, 6" x 6". One of a series of palm trees I am working on. Received Honorable Mention at Arizona Plein Air Painters show, 2024.

• Ayer Lake

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Another view of Ayer Lake at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, AZ.

• Bulldog Canyon

  Watercolor, Paper, 14" x 10". A striking formation in the Bulldog Canyon in the Tonto National Forest, AZ.

• Along River Road

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". It was quite cold that morning along River Road outside of Moab. My fingers were numb at the end of the paint out.

• Sawtooth Mountains Pinal County

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". I learned of this area from a bird watching trip and love the jagged shapes of the mountains.

• Here Comes the Sun!

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". My daughter had planted some tall sunflowers by our kitchen. This one had a lovely face.

• Golden Temple III

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". This piece was done for a book I wrote, Pure Longing Fulfilled, in 1999. It chronicled many of the experiences I have had as a Sikh, including visits to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

• Dark Horse Moab

  Acrylic, Panel, 8" x 10". I am grateful for Plein Air Moab, which is an open plein air competition. Dark Horse is a formation that can be seen from Dead Horse State Park near Canyonlands National Park in Utah.

• Looking Down of Ash Creek I

  Watercolor, Paper, 9 x 12. I have been to this location many times, off of Dugas Road, near Mayer, AZ. I love the flow of the trees along the river.

• Purple Haze

  Watercolor, Paper, 20" x 13". Someone had planted this artichoke plant in the neighborhood and then abandoned it. Still, it has come up on its own year after year. I did several studies of it because I found the diverse…

• Pure Longing

  Watercolor, Paper, 28" x 16". Among the founding principles of Guru Nanak was the equality of men and women. Unfortunately, over the centuries the endemic cultural mores of India have been overlaid over the Sikh faith,…

• Looking Down on Ash Creek III

  Gouache, Paper, 8 x 10. This was a later version of 'Looking Down on Ash Creek', which I did in gouache on black paper. The original color of the paper show here and there, especially in the edge of the mountain ridge.

• Purple Prickly Pear

  Watercolor, Paper, 17" x 12". Prickly pear cacti do certainly have amazing forms, don't they?

• Guru Ram Das

  Pastel, Paper, 38" x 30". Guru Ram Das was the 4th Sikh Guru, a man of peace and humility. He had a very long beard and was said to have washed the feet of the poor with it.

• Out on Vulture Mine Road

  Watercolor, Paper, 7 x 9. I did this during a Wednesday Morning Plein Air Group outing, outside of Wickenburg, AZ.

• Princess Warrior

  Watercolor, Paper, 26" x 21". Sikhism has a spiritual warrior tradition called Sant-Sipahi, meaning 'Saint-Soldier'. This painting is reflective of the women in history who have also participated in this tradition.

• Fiore de Venezia

  Watercolor, Paper, 15" x 9". My daughter and I were on a day trip to Venice and got off on the wrong stop on the water taxi back to the train station. Still, we found a little park with these lovely flowers. I took a pi…

• Agua Fria Morning

  Gouache, Paper, 9 x 12. The clouds were outstanding in this image at the Agua Fria National Monument.

• Desert Thorn-Apple

  Watercolor, Paper, 30" x 20". Such a lovely plant, but toxic apparently. Goes by various names such as jimsonweed and moonflower. Very common in the Hassayampa River Preserve where I took this reference photo.

• Archeress

  Pastel, Paper, 24" x 18". Early in the morning, the model for this painting and I climbed the hills in Espanola, NM to take the photos for this painting of a Sikh woman warrior. As she had a black belt in karate, I thin…

• Hanging Out on the Oconaluftee

  Gouache, Paper, 8 x 10. I was impressed with the tenacity of this tree, hanging way out over the Oconaluftee River, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the 2024 Plein Air Convention.

• Elevation

  Watercolor, Paper, 28" x 20". This painting is part of a series of iconic Sikh women that I did in the early 2000s. This particular portrait is of my daughter, her hands raised in elevation, reaching for the sky.

• Agua Fria Afternoon

  Gouache, Paper, 8 x 10. This is a rework of another painting. I heightened the values and softened the background mountains to give it a faraway look.

• Granthi

  Watercolor, Paper, 26" x 21". A friend of ours who is versed in Sikh music and scripture was the Granthi, or presiding head priest, during our Baisakhi parade. I got a picture of him standing for the Ardas, the opening…

• Brown's Ranch Trailhead

  Gouache, Paper, 12 x 9. This plein air painting was done at a Wednesday Morning Plein Air Group session at Brown's Ranch Trailhead near Scottsdale, AZ., in gouache on black paper.

• Meditation

  Pastel, Paper, 12" x 9". I tried to capture the essence of peace and poise that comes from meditation in this portrait of Yogi Bhajan.

• Alligator Alley

  Watercolor, Paper, 15 x 19. This is a larger studio work done from many previous plein air studies of the view from the Pine Cove campground ramada at Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Hobe Sound, FL. I lengthened the…

• Master's Gaze

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 7". I had to have a drawing done for an art class and had procrastinated until the last minute. I put this little one together and was pleased with the fresh quality that resulted from it.

• Pine Cove Vista

  Watercolor, Paper, 11" x 14". This is one of the earlier paintings I did at the Pine Cove campground at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Florida. There is a ramada with a nice bench which makes a perfect spot to do a pl…

• Amrit

  Acrylic, Canvas, 30" x 40". Amrit is the Sikh baptism ceremony and is done when a personal is ready to accept the responsibilities of being a dedicated Sikh. It includes the sipping of Amrit, nectar water, as a means of…

• Swamped

  Watercolor, Paper, 11" x 14". This painting is a studio work based upon a number of studies done at this pond by Pine Cove campground in Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Hobe Sound, FL. The lily pads are just the whit…

• Master's Gaze II

  Watercolor, Paper, 18" x 13". Yogi Bhajan, who had been my spiritual teacher for 32 years, died in 2004. Afterwards, I was pretty down for several years. Finally, in 2006, I did three portraits of him, and felt that thr…

• Loxahatchee Entryway

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". The little gatehouse at the entry to the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge is just visible in the distance.

• Q Ranch Vortex Tree

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". The Q Ranch is a unique establishment near Young, AZ. A bed and breakfast, it attracts diverse groups such as birders and archaeologists. There is a ruin on the property where many examples…

• New Mexico Meander

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 9". I enjoyed the shape of this winding stream. The day I was sketching, a fisherman was standing next to the stream way out in the meadow.

• Valles Caldera Meandering Stream

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". Valles Caldera National Wildlife Refuge is a magnificent area near Jemez, NM, across the mountain from Los Alamos. Large herds of elk are frequently seen grazing in the meadows, which are th…

• Dolores River

  Watercolor, Panel, 10" x 14". While attending a workshop with Gerald Fritzler in Colorado, we traveled to this location along the Dolores River near Gateway to paint. I found the contrast of blue water and red cliffs ve…

• Abiqui in Winter

  Watercolor, Paper, 7" x 9". One can just see the touches of snow here and there on this hill in Abiqui.

• Surf at Asilomar

  Acrylic, Panel, 6" x 6". I did this little painting at Asilomar Beach on the first day of the 2014 Plein Air Convention in Monterey. It was really cold - my fingers were numb by the time I finished.

• After the Rain at Table Mesa

  Acrylic, Panel, 8" x 10". The wash at Table Mesa is often bone dry, so it is a pleasure to paint it after a rain, with the red cliffs reflecting in the pool below.

• Table Mesa II

  Watercolor, Paper, 11" x 14". The TT Ranch has operated since the late 1800's near New River, AZ. The roof of one of the ranch houses is just visible beneath the tall eucalyptus trees.

• Table Mesa IV

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". Table Mesa is on BLM land north of Phoenix. The Table Mesa is a dramatic formation with striking shadows and is one of my favorite places to paint.

• Creekside at Banjo Bill

  Watercolor, Paper, 14" x 10". Creekside at Banjo Bill was done at a picnic site in Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona for the Yavapai Open Invitational. Do you see the face on the big rock on the upper right? It was something…

• Breaking Through the Clouds

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 12". This was the view from my balcony at the Best Western Arroyo Robles Hotel in Sedona. It was a great place to celebrate my birthday.

• Windward Shore Oahu

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". I sat by the side of the road doing this painting, until it started raining, and I had to pack up quicky.

• Loxahatchee

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is an amazing place near Boynton Beach, FL. Everglades habitat, waterflow, and wildlife are studied to preserve this fragile ecos…

• Out on Bishop's Road

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". I did this painting sitting in my car by the side of the road, not far from Bishop's Lodge, where Bishop Lamy once lived. His life is chronicled in the wonderful book 'Death Comes for the A…

• Slide Rock Apple Orchard

  Watercolor, Paper, 16" x 12". Done during the first plein air paint out that I attended, sponsored by the Arizona State Parks.

• Jumbo Reservoir CO

  Watercolor, Panel, 9" x 12". I traveled to Colorado in 2010 to attend a plein air landscape workshop with Gerald Fritzler. As a group, we traveled to several remote locations to paint. There was still snow on the ground…

• On the Way to Taos

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 7". If you look, you can just see the tin roof of the ranch house by the bend in the river.

• Jonathan Dickinson State Park

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". The Loxahatchee River flows through Jonathan Dickinson State Park and I once saw an alligator casually swim under the netting in place to secure the swimming area, which is right in front o…

• It Was Such a Windy Day

  Watercolor, Paper, 11" x 15". Another painting inspired by Jean Haines after the 2015 Plein Air Convention. This one is again a scene from Asilomar Beach. It was the first day of the convention and so windy that many ca…

• Hart Prairie Aspens

  Watercolor, Paper, 14" x 10". The Arizona Plein Air Painters arranged a weekend paint out at this Nature Conservancy Preserve on the back side of the Snow Bowl peak where I did this painting. The whiteness of the aspen…

• Ironwood Forest National Monument

  Watercolor, Paper, 9" x 9". This was another studio piece I did of the Ironwood area. I was working on conveying the angular structure of the mountain with a flathead brush.

• A. Ironwood Forest National Monument Study

  Watercolor, Paper, 6" x 6". I did this little studio painting of a mountain in Ironwood Forest National Monument near Tucson. I tried to retain the feeling of a plein air piece, in a square format.

• Will of Ironwood

  Watercolor, Paper, 12" x 12". Will of Ironwood is a studio work based on studies I did at Ironwood Forest National Monument on the way back from the 2016 Plein Air Convention in Tuscon.

• Golden Tree at Goldwater Lake

  Watercolor, Paper, 7" x 5". I was invited to be a participating artist in the Yavapai College Open Air Invitational in 2011. The stipulations required that we do all of the work in Yavapai County and that we do it all f…

• Ancients of Torrey Pines

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". Torrey Pines are a rare species found in very few places, including here near San Diego. I sat on a bench and did this painting while the rest of my family was playing at the golf course ne…

• Cottonwoods Turning

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". Rio Salado Park in Phoenix was turned from a wash filled with old tires and trash to a thriving riparian area by a city bond initiative. I often paint down there because within 15 minutes I…

• Silver Feathers of Canyonlands

  Watercolor, Paper, 11" x 14". The first year I went to Plein Air Moab, 2012, I was entranced by these bushes with silvery fronds. They seemed so etheric in the harsh landscape. I subsequently contacted the National Park…

• Ancients of Tesuque

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". The hoodoos in New Mexico have great character. They look like giants' legs to me.

• Beyond Ojo Caliente

  Watercolor, Paper, 10" x 14". After a soak at Ojo Caliente, I traveled up the road a bit and pulled off to do a painting of this lovely vista. The junipers and pinion pines contrast with the red earth.

• New Mexico Riverbed

  Watercolor, Paper, 7" x 11". I received a scholarship from the Scottsdale Artists School to attend Plein Air Bootcamp taught by Linda Glover Gooch. I was the only watercolor painter in the group and did this little pain…

• Aqua Caliente Park Tucson

  Watercolor, Paper, 14" x 10". I traveled down to Tucson to take part in a Tucson Plein Air Painters paint out at this lovely park. Surprisingly, it was quite cold, even though it doesn't look it.