Bell Mell Connections: Following The Predictions of Edmundo Segundo

 October 20, 2025

   As you undoubtably know, I spent some quality time in the same art studio as Ed Mell. I learned a ton and I owe some of my modest skills to being in the same room while the Master did his daily work.

A tiny part of Ed Mell's collection in his studio

(photo by David B. Moore

for Phoenix Home & Garden) 

Ed Mell in his studio

(Edmundo passed at age 81, last year)

Ed Mell Bell pieces

(notice which scratchboard is in the first photo)

Bell Mell Ripoff

(Poaching From The Master)

   Edmundo always predicted I would return to the saguaro as my main subject matter. It makes some sense, since they loom so large in my line of vision every day I go outside on the great Sonoran Desert.

Crazy Arms 1987

   This big, bent bad boy was about fifty yards from our house towards the cave. Every arm is just as I drew it, bent by the cold air that hovers in the creek that Cave Creek is named for. I also shot tons of reference photos of saguaros in our neighborhood.

Saguaro Contact Sheet, 1988

   And, from time to time, some of these reference images show up in my work.

Daily Whip Out: "Saguaro Ridge Rider"

"Cave Creek Crazy Arms"

Cattletrack Art Print 5/38

   Sometimes I see the strangest things on my morning walks with Uno. Here are two jackasses jawing, while a cow climbs the fence to get at the leaves on that tree. 

Gurnsey Fence Climber

Yes, I know, if someone told me this I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Perhaps this social climbing bovine is a fan of Waldo.

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson