2023 Desert Fables

Rachel Ivanyi’s watercolor paintings and their preliminary pencil sketches illustrate the book The Neotenic Queen: Tales of Sex and Survival in the Sonoran Desert, by Alejandro Canelos. These illustrations help tell the story of how the various inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert live, survive and continue as a species. Natural history-style watercolor paintings portray dramatic scenes that blend science, fantasy and a sense of humor to help connect people to the environmental realities influencing the wildlife of this region.