Rio Grande, Near Taos

Rio Grande Near Taos

Oil on canvas, 10x10

I've spent the past couple days in and around Santa Fe and Taos, and I have seen beautiful, amazing things. 

The land is lovely here, with colors that are bright and subtle, large and small, strong and gentle all at the same time. Maybe it's the time of year, or maybe it's how it is all the time in New Mexico. 

I found myself recognizing parts of the area - not the houses or the roads or the businesses, but the colors and the trees and the fields. On my first trip to Arizona - three years ago? Four? - I came through this area, but from the north. 

I had pulled over to contemplate painting a pretty field with brush just turning red at the tips. Trees outlined the sides of the field, and a giant rock formation warmed its back. And as I looked, it all came back to me. I had been here, indeed - and what I was recalling was years ago.

Turns out I was in Abiquiu, NM, where Georgie O'Keeffe lived and worked. It is a tiny, quiet place, with a post office, a few galleries and the Abiquiu Inn, which offers tours of O'Keeffe's home and studio. I didn't take the tour, but I did imagine O'Keeffe living, looking and painting in the area. 

In the afternoon, I headed up toward Taos. It is a nice little town, with some traffic problems even in early March, and not many places to get a cup of coffee. I thought about going to see the ski area, but again, I didn't. I wanted to paint, not tour! 

My favorite part of the day was seeing the rivers and the rocks, and the beautiful colors of the brush and the trees and the land itself. 

Today, Thursday, I set up for the Rio Grande Arts and Crafts show, which runs from Friday through Sunday. Then on Monday, I head home. I don't expect to paint on the way home, though if I see something that demands it, I will! 

Thank you, each and every last one of you, for helping to make this trip possible. 

ps., this sounds like the final newsletter but it's not! 

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A gorgeous New Mexico sunset

I love this lone tree, on the plain near Taos, and I plan to paint it soon! 

The colors of the brush along the rivers in this area of New Mexico made me think of a sunset, right there on the ground. This, and the two photos that follow, are from Abiquiu, where Georgia O'Keeffe lived and painted. 

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And what's a day without dinos? I found these in Holbrook, AZ, on my way to New Mexico. 

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This guy was walking along with his human, and was very interested in me. I think he would have been friendly, but his challenging look made me keep my distance.

Near Rio Rico

Near Rio Rico

Oil on canvas, 10x10

The Tubac Arts Festival went on for five days, and I have to say, I am glad it's over. That's just tooooo looooong, at least for me. Someone said that it's a good two-day show that takes five days, and I'd have to agree. 

I sold three paintings during those five days, and I was happy to sell them. Also, I am now represented by a gallery in Tubac, Art Gallery H,  and this is very, very exciting. 

One thing I'm learning about my paintings and art shows is that I don't do well in places where there are lots of retirees. My stuff doesn't appeal to them, perhaps, or maybe it's that they just have enough art already. 

I do believe that if you fall in love with a piece, you'll make room for it no matter what - but first, you have to fall in love. My loud, heavily surfaced, bright pieces are not for everyone, and I know this - and perhaps retired folks are a large part of "everyone." 

A great thing about this show was that Cynthia Battista, my friend from New Milford, CT, had gotten in, and our tents were side by side. We shared a lot of laughs, a lot of gripes, a lot of too bads, too. Being next to a good friend truly does halve the pain and double the happiness. 

This week, I am painting around here. I've been invited to a show near Phoenix this weekend, and am considering it. This morning, I feel that if I never do another art show, that will be well and good. But by this afternoon, who knows. 

My little painting in the big Arizona landscape

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Grasslands, Sonoita

Oil on canvas, 30x30

A NUMBER OF YOU who have sponsored me for paintings larger than 10x10, and here's one of the ones I've done so far. It is 30x30, and I painted it standing on the side of the road in Sonoita. I love the yellow grass there, and the ragged mountains, and the feeling of the huge, arching sky. 

While I was painting, a local came along and told me I was painting The Biscuit - that rounded peak over on the right-hand side. 

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My dad, who is an excellent painter, had never painted with a palette knife, but wants to learn. I made the painting of the dog, and Dad put in the background - and did a great job! 

Throughout the length of the show, people brought their dogs - and quite a few were in strollers. 

What a face! You'll see this one in a painting soon. 

This sweet couple bought "Through the River," the lower painting on the wall. We were all pretty excited about it. They are going to repaint the room where the piece will hang - the new color will highlight my painting! 

One of the very best things about this show was that my friend, jeweler Cynthia Battista, got in and we had booths side by each. This was a long and trying show, and it was wonderful to share the ups and downs with a good friend. 

These horses pulled a free trolley up and down the streets during the event. I felt a little sorry for them, but someone who knows horses said they were fine, and that they like to work. They didn't look unhappy, I can say that. 

Each day of the festival began with this guy, Al Topping, who took my parking money (yes, they charged the artists to park). Al has a great, dry sense of humor, and he made me laugh every morning. And he spent 40 years as a cameraman for ABC news! When I asked him why he was working the parking lot from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., he said that fees from the lot benefit the Center of the Arts in Tubac, and his wife is the head of it. "She's a mean brunette," he said, "And I do whatever she tells me." 

A Journey into Joshua Tree

Red Rocks, Joshua Tree 

Oil on canvas, 10x10

After seeing the Pacific, I headed for Twentynine Palms, Calif., and the Joshua Tree National Park. 

I usually avoid places that are already protected, but one of my friends and sponsors asked me to paint Joshua trees, and so I went. It It was a marvelous, enriching, soul-filling experience. I loved it. 

Joshua Tree National Park, all 1,234 acres of it, has been protected since 1936. It's been a national park since 1994. It is filled with Joshua trees, and with amazing and extremely bizarre rocks. In places, it was like being on the moon, or underwater, or in someone else's dream. 

Joshua trees, according to the ever-helpful Wikipedia, grow pretty much only in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada - the Mojave Desert. The trees like it best when they're at an elevation between 1,300 feet and 5,900 feet. Joshua Tree National Park is one of the trees' most favored environments. There's also a Joshua tree forest in the Mojave National Preserve.

 

The trees were named by Mormon settlers crossing the Mojave in the mid-19th century. The shape of the tree reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer. 

 

And they do look like people, in a way. They have a single tall trunk, and their branches are gnarled, with no little twiggy branches, just the main ones, twisted and turned, graceful and grotesque at the same time. They do look as though they are imploring, praying, raising their arms to the heavens.

 

Maybe it's because of the name, or the people-like trees, or the strange and amazing rocks, or the gorgeous, breathtaking, open landscape, or maybe it just is the aura of the place, but it seemed like a spot in which God was very close. It felt like a place of the spirit, a place of the soul. 

I spent two days and a night there, painting and camping in the van. I wanted to hear the quiet and see the stars, and watch the sun come up, all of which I did, shivering through some of it. 

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I'd always imagined Twentynine Palms to be an exotic and graceful place. Haven't you? Doesn't it sound like an oasis, a place of light and elegance? 

It is anything but. It's a dusty, sort of scruffy place, rough around the edges, not very friendly. Someone was shot and killed there on the night I spent in the park. 

There are some fun murals there, though, on the sides of buildings and stores. 

***

On the way to Joshua Tree, I passed through a gigantic windfarm. It went on like this, on both sides of the highway, and then continued on the road onto which I exited. It was pretty amazing. And some of the windmills were turning in the light breeze, but most weren't. 

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There's more to Joshua Tree National Park than trees. There are also fascinating rocks and rock formations. Some are made of thousands if not millions of small (probably not so small, really) sharp-looking rocks. Others are piles of oddly smooth and rounded rocks. I've not seen anything like either formation. Between the strange trees and odd rocks, it felt a little like being on another planet, or undersea, or in some other time. 

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I took these three pictures during the same sunset! 
It just got better and better and better. 

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The moon set, and the dawn was just beginning when I took the photo below. 

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

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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. 

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 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...

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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

would be done by day's end.

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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.