Outside of Sedona - and Heading Home

Outside of Sedona

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Yes, I am headed home. Home! 

While part of me is sad that this trip is over, more of me is just missing home so deeply, I can taste it. Missing my husband, missing our dogs, missing my friends, missing my house and my studio and my beautiful little town. 

But I have had adventures, and wonderful pleasures, and I have seen amazing things and met wonderful, fascinating people. It has been the trip of a lifetime. 

This is one of the paintings I haven't posted yet - and there are a few more, which I will post once I reach Wachapreague. These are long, long driving days, with iffy internet connections at night... But lI'll get all the remaining paintings up on our Facebook page, on the blog, and on the California Calling page on the Jacobson Arts website. 

Meantime, I loved going through Colorado, which I haven't seen since I skied there as a kid. It was thrilling to see antelope, and huge, craggy snow-covered mountains, and to drive along at 7,000 feet, close, close, close to the clouds. 

It was not quite as wonderful to drive during a gale (60-mph gusts!) through Kansas, watching 18-wheelers sway and tip so dramatically, I got scared and got off the road early. 

But today, the wind was gone, and Kansas, with its rolling hills (yes, hills!) and huge, open spaces invited my mind to wander, and think, and imagine and dream. I loved Missouri, with beautiful farms and lots of good-looking cows. And Illinois, I saw in the evening dusk, warmed and sweetened by a soft, gentle sunset. 

 

Halfway through Missouri today, the land began to look like the East. Along the highway, deciduous trees grew, their wintry branches just starting to turn red at the tips. Houses were made of wood, with barns and horses and plowed fields. Lawns were grass, not gravel and cactus. It is the landscape I grew up with, the landscape I know. I've been away from it for two months, and it looks different and somehow new again. 

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Winter caught up to me in Colorado, with a blizzarding snowstorm that blew in on an amazing wind. The gale lasted long after the snow stopped falling - if you can call a horizontal path "falling." 

Can you imagine going to school out here? I think I was in Pecos Valley, NM. 

Here's me with hair as red as when I was a kid.

A farm in New Mexico, demanding to be painted. 

And yes, more dinos! These are outside of Santa Fe. 

Gorgeous sunrise in Colorado.

And crossing into Colorado. 

I am somehow not surprised that there are no services in Bovina. Bet there are lots of cows, though. 

Colorado mountains in the bright morning light. 

Wouldn't you take your dog here to be groomed? I know I would! 

I had a pretty good show in Albuquerque. The best part was meeting Juanita and Bill Williams, who had the booth across the aisle from me. We became fast friends, and I feel lucky to have met them.

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Dog of the Day

This stuffed dog was near a booth at the Rio Grande show in Albuquerque, and it looked so real, it startled me nearly every time I saw it. 

Near Salt River Canyon

 Near Salt River Canyon

Oil on canvas, 10x10

I left Tubac on Monday morning, a day later than I'd hoped. The delay came for an unusual reason. It rained! 

Dad and Paula say that a full day of rain is a very strange occurrence in Tubac - and it did rain, steadily and heavily - for the entire day. Mostly, the rain soaked into the ground; the river that runs through town also filled up a little. 

So I left on Monday, and drove north, spending most of the day on Route 77, and all of the day driving uphill. Up and up and up and up. The big van did great, but it was a slow day. 

I stopped to paint just outside of the Salt River Canyon - and while I love the painting I did, I sort of wish I'd waited for the canyons and deep, deep gorges. But I did spend a lot of time painting in the Grand Canyon. So I'll address Salt River when I get home. 

***

That one day of rain made wildflowers bloom all around Tubac and Green Valley. 

And the rain brought an incredible clarity to the sky, as well. 

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Above is the Salt River Canyon, one of many photos I took and

 plan to paint over the course of the summer. 

The air was clear and the clouds dramatic over the high plains near Show Low, AZ, 

Here's me with my scary sunglasses... 

And here's a fun sculpture that I enjoyed seeing in downtown Tubac. 

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Dog of the Day

Here's Barkley again! He got loose and wandered over to see me as I was packing the van. He's been shaved for the summer, and was happy and wagging and full of love. 

Tusayan Field

Tusayan Field

Oil on canvas, 6x12

After painting the amazing scenes of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, it was reassuring and comfortable and fun to paint a small field at the side of the road in Tusayan, Arizona. 

As you all know by now, I am a sucker for the pale yellow grass that grows around here at certain elevations. I captured the pale color of the grass in this painting, but can't quite make that pale nearly white yellow come through on the computer. But it's close. 

This scene was just one of the lovely, quiet, small scenes that I love. The field that someone drives through to get home. The piece of land that no one notices, but which informs and enriches their day and their environment. 

Sometimes I make these paintings large, but there's something in my heart that speaks to the small painting, that you can put on a small wall between two doors, in the sunny corner of a small bedroom, in the space below the cupboards. These are paintings that become part of the environment of your home, in the way that the landscapes are part of the environment of your life. 

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Grand Canyon Morning, 20x20

I did paint the Grand Canyon again, on a crisp and very cold morning. It was again daunting and challenging - and I loved it! My painting in the landscape is below. 

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I saw this twisted tree on the road from the Grand Canyon to the mountains. Its bark is really fascinating. 

Just outside of the Grand Canyon, and in many spots on the road from the canyon to Monument Valley, there are these sort of open air shacks where Native Americans sell stuff. Many of these look as though they've been abandoned for years, but this one, just outside the Grand Canyon, was open and busy.

My friend Heather, visiting California this past week, needs some help! It's January - but there's no snow! How can it be January? Heather and her husband Joe are now back in Maine, where there's plenty of snow.

Randy Clough, a Navajo I met in Monument Valley, really wants a dog. But he says his grandmother told him Navajos can't pay for dogs. So he is waiting for the right dog to show up. I suggested he go to Best Friends in Utah and barter some money for a dog.

***
Dog of the Day

Here's Heather's husband Joe, in sunny California with a beautiful Dog of the Day!
The dog's owner thought the dog and Joe resembled each other...

On the High Road to Patagonia - and in the Town, Too

On the High Road to Patagonia

Oil on canvas, 10x10

What a great day I had on Monday! I was set to go to Tucson to get my Arizona tax ID number (somehow my application got lost... ) - and then I remembered it was Martin Luther King Day, and all the government offices were closed. 

So instead, I painted. I headed to the Patagonia/Sonoita area, a hilly region with mountains in the background, and in the foreground, the amazing yellow grass that I love so very much. 

Also, my dad and Paula and their hiking group were out in the Sonoita hills, so we made plans to meet at a restaurant in the cool little town of Patagonia. 

If Peter and I lived out here, Patagonia is where we'd live. There are about 900 people there - a metropolis by Wachapreague standards!  There are two galleries - one is a community-centered gallery with tons of programs. There are a number of shops, two grocery stores (looks like one is an organic/coop kind of place), at least two restaurants and a hotel. There's a post office, a police station, a radio station, a yoga place, a bakery and what looks like a building being renovated, with room for studios and shops and the like. There's a school, a bird sanctuary, and heaven knows what else. 

As I waited for my dad and Paula and the group, a feisty Chihuaha - an unneutered male - pranced up the sidewalk. People were calling to him, and reaching out for him, but he eluded all of them. And eluded me and my camera. A couple of kids came by and said his name was JoJo, and that he gets out all the time. Eventually, the dog catcher came by, asking if anyone had seen JoJo. 

A while later, a guy drove by on a four-wheeler, holding a white dog in his lap. They both looked pretty happy. 

I had a great time painting, taking photos and meeting the friends of my dad and Paula. Today, I head to Tucson, and tomorrow, California! 

Here's my painting in the landscape

***

THANK YOU, EVERYONE, for weighing in on the Instant Claim idea. Some of you liked it, but more of you wanted to see all the paintings before choosing. So we will stick with the original plan! Next time, maybe, we'll try the instant claiming. 

***

 

 Best Gas Station Ever! It's in Patagonia. 

 Here's the walkway in front of the Gathering Ground in Patagonia, where I met 

Dad and Paula's hiking friends. 

More Patagonia

Beautiful cliffs and gnarly trees on the way to Patagonia

Here's some of that gorgeous yellow grass. Look for this one to become a painting some day.

A house in Sonoita 

More of the mountains and grasslands near Patagonia

He's waiting for someone inside...

***

Dogs of the Day

 

He's Bandito, though his owners call him "Bandit" when the Border Patrol is around! He's about 4, and was born and raised right in Patagonia. And he was a great dog! 

St. James Church - and the Last Leg of the First Leg

 St. James Church, oil on canvas, 10x10

Here's my painting in the landscape

After getting the oil changed and tires rotated on the big van, I had planned to leave Las Cruces Saturday in time to reach Tubac before dark. But I got on the wrong street, and when I turned the van around, I saw a church that called out to me. So I stopped and set up my easel and did the first painting of the trip. 

It felt great to paint! It felt like the beginning of restoring my self to myself, after all those days of driving. 

So I finished the painting and got back in the van and headed west. In an hour or so, the land opened in front of me in a cascade of blue mountains, under a blue sky with long thin clouds. I was mesmerized watching it, and thinking how beautiful it was. Then it occurred to me that - DUH! - I'm a painter, and I should stop and paint!  And so I did. 

Blue New Mexico Mountains
Oil on canvas, 10x20

                                          

                                                          Balloons in the sky over Las Cruces Saturday!

I pulled off the highway, and turned right. The pavement ended in 20 yards, and the road turned to dirt, and went off into the distance, disappearing into the prairie. I set up near some sort of utility building surrounded by chainlink fence topped with barbed wire. I'd just started painting when a guy in a car came along, wanting to know what I was doing. He said he lived down the road, in a house I couldn't see. 

It was fine that I was where I was, he said, but if I was there near dark, I should think about leaving. 

"Strange stuff happens here," he said. "Bad stuff like drug deals and stuff." 

I painted quickly. 

***

 

The sun, the sky, the rich colors of the landscape in New Mexico took my breath away. 

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Good to know that I can get STUFF at the Continental Divide. It would hardly be 

America if I couldn't! 

Really? Mom and Pop's Pyro Shop? Think this is a good idea? 

I saw this very close to the Continental Divide. If I go back the same way, I'm stopping in. 

***

The dust storms along the highway in New Mexico are pretty monumental. Last year, I had to get off the road, the visibility was so low. My father tells me that every year, there's usually at least one enormous multi-car pileup because of blowing dust. 

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I think I was in Arizona when I took these last two photos. The grass in the high meadows is a marvelous shade of soft, buttery yellow. This photo comes close to showing it, but doesn't quite capture it. There's a lot of it in Sonoita, and I believe I am going there today to paint. 

***

Sunset in Arizona was especially beautiful, as I knew that the longest leg of driving 

would be done by day's end.

***

Dog of the Day (Night)

At a rest area in Arizona, I met Angie, who was a real sweetie. She and her human were from Fairfax, VA! Amazing! They were moving to California - well, they were moving for a month, to try it out, see if they liked it. It's a small world, indeed.