Llano Quemado, N.M. - 27 July 2019 - This year's monsoon season seems to be happening all around me, only one brief storm Thursday afternoon. No reason for complaint - have lived in this new studio for about ten days. Surrounded by mountains, I sit on an old railroad bench under the portal and watch the rain clouds build for the afternoon storms. At dinnertime I can sit at the dining room table and watch the sun set. One more time I am convinced that there are gifts hidden behind life's darkest times!
Still unpacking boxes. Setting up my work area today - putting out my brushes and paints. Plenty of room for my large easel which can now be raised about three more feet to accommodate large canvases. Hoping to set up a new palette to start work early next week. Also planning to restart my print business again - a bright sunny room for the computer and print bins. Another room has been converted to workspace for framing and storage. And....wait for it....a dishwasher!!! My Art Gods have outdone themselves this time!
Arrived at the tail end of our first monsoon season - August, 1967. My grandmother's greatest concern as we left Chicago was that I wouldn't be able to speak the language in this foreign land! My twin daughters were six months old and their brother, John, was a year and a half! Was so tired those first days....as the kidlets napped, I would sit on the front steps of that old adobe house on Alegre Street and wonder how the hell I landed on this alien planet called Santa Fe, New Mexico! The altitude required adjustment and my body just did not want to keep up with the change. Cold weather in the morning, warm and sunny until the dark clouds built up in the early afternoon and the heavy rains began. Cold evenings. Bought my first cord of mixed pinon and cedar logs for $50.00! It was not apparent to me then that this strange place was where my Real Life would happen!
Here I am on the edge of my 52nd year of New Beginnings. Now what? Well, this new place is so full of promise. Just a little south of Taos proper and Ranchos de Taos, Llano Quemado is on a rim road; there is one spot on the drive to the house where I can look out the car window and my view encompasses the great big New Mexico sky, Taos Mountain, the fields and farms in the valley below. Yes, I have already visualized this painting in my head - making the sketches, mixing the colors! Imagining that little valley as the colors change in a few weeks.....gives me palpitations!
A true Virgo, I do not enjoy sudden changes, and once again I am continually surprised. These past three months have left me breathless! A life and death rescue surgery in April, an unexpected eviction from the house on Victor Court and SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!! I AM STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE in this dream house with views that stir my soul every day! Remembering the message in that wonderful book by Amy Sher, This is How I Save My Life - be courageous and as long as there is breath in this body, keep moving - KEEP PAINTING! Beyond grateful!
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