PHOENIX — The plywood wall was 190 feet long and 10 feet high, running along a walkway leading to Phoenix’s convention center. It took Kayla Newnam six weeks to fill it with bright reds, oranges and indigos, a palette drawn from desert sunrises and sunsets.
Against a psychedelic and surreal sky, she painted the local cactuses and desert flowers, a coyote, a hawk, a javelina, a hare and a giant Gila monster, its nubbly skin, she said, meant to recall a football.
“They were looking for something that captured the spirit of Phoenix, and the biggest thing for me is the sunsets,” said Ms. Newnam, who favors pink hair and spotted cowboy boots. “We are a huge desert, with a huge city inside it.”
