The Tecopa Basin Artist Guild and Tecopa Hot Springs Resort will change the gallery show for the new show opening April 11.

Mary Burke King, a Pahrump resident will be on hand for the opening of her show "Large and Small," from 3 to 6 p.m. at the gallery. The name for the show only reflects the size of her pieces and not the content.

She said her works are all "water media" but are not limited to water color.

King uses a "wash" technique to create her pieces. It starts with covering the canvas, as a whole or in part, with water before any color or detail is added. The style leaves the colors light and as layers are added to the canvas, the colors go from almost transparent to a deeper and more detailed finish.

Along with watercolors, King said she uses acrylics and dilutes those as well. "I've been working in water media on and off for 20 years," she said. "I don't use acrylics very often but I do use them."

She said her pieces never end as she intended. "I start with an idea and find that as I work, the piece paints itself. It's kind of like someone writing a book. As the characters develop, they begin to write through the writer," she said.

King said she finds both her conscious and subconscious thoughts wind up on the canvas. Her art is contemporary. She doesn't paint landscapes or still-life.

King graduated in 1993 from California State University-Chico with a major in art and a minor in art history.

She has shown at Stanford University, in Death Valley, Las Vegas and all over Northern California. King and her husband, who is a painter and photographer, had an art gallery in Shoshone for three years and when it closed, they both joined the TBAG artists.

King's work will be available for purchase, and pieces range in price from around $400 to $1,000.

The gallery is located on the Tecopa Hot Springs Resort property in Tecopa, Calif. The regular hours are10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Call 760-852-4420 for more information.