landscapes, large and small

Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu, Dry Waterfall, Georgia O'Keeffe

 I keep thinking about New Mexico--the colors, the landscapes, the fantasy of an abobe cottage with views of pink and black hills. Next weekend I hope to start returning to the Catskills after a long construction-related hiatus. I look forward to all the greens, the waterfall and rolling hills, to immersing myself in nature. But I know I will have to return to New Mexico one day. "The world is wide here," Georgia O'Keeffe said about New Mexico, "and it's very hard to feel that it's wide in the East."

I had planned to go to the studio today and paint, but I have a crushing headache, and so am spending a quiet Sunday reading, thinking and enjoying flowers* inside, and finally outside, where the first ones of the year have appeared. Spring starts slow in New England--the trees and flowerbeds are still bare, so I treasure this glimpse of blue near the base of the birdbath. I can see it from the kitchen window--the cats and I are constantly entertained by the birds that come and go--I open the window and listen to their songs changing with the seasons.

*flowers from Bow Street.

on Santa Fe and expectations

I did not expect to like Santa Fe--assuming that excessive money and "style" (a word that makes me grit my teeth) would have leached it of character, that it would be an overwhelming experience of bad art, high prices, exploited Native Americans, Navajo blankets, and turquoise--a caricature of what it once was. There was quite a bit of that, but Santa Fe's essence as a lovely, interesting, historic town prevailed.

 I enjoyed wandering the streets and visited four of the museums--Georgia O'Keefe; Indian Arts and Culture; International Folk Art; and Contemporary Native Art--and am sorry I didn't have time for the four or five others--an astonishing number of museums for a large town/small city.

The ubiquitous strings of chilies, simple adobe buildings, touches of bright color, and use of natural materials harmonize beautifully.

I came thisclose to bringing home a string of chilies.

here and there

I came to New Mexico because I wanted to see new landscapes. Different colors, textures, light. Sometimes the Northeast feels so crowded and insular, and come November, dark and cold. I've been dreading winter.

Tomorrow I will go home and enjoy the last weeks of autumn. I'll try to be positive and look forward to the good parts of winter--the warm and cozy books, fires, hot chocolate, snow days ones. I will think back on pink hills and green chili enchiladas and be grateful.

vistas, New Mexico

I rhapsodized about New Mexico's varied landscapes in my last post, but didn't include pictures of them. My little point and shoot camera and I cannot do them justice. For example, the above is another picture of the Taos Pueblo. Taos is at 7000+ feet altitude, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are more than 13,000 feet, but you get no sense of that from the picture. They look like big hills.

I am better with the closeups. 

However here are some vistas, to give you an idea:

 The leaves on the cottonwood trees glow. It's strange to see all that vibrant yellow against the stark mountains.

Just a taste of what I've seen. Do an internet search for "New Mexico landscape images" for more and better.

"The skies and the land are so enormous, and the details so precise and exquisite that wherever you go you are isolated in the world between the micro and the macro, where everything segues under you and over you and the clock stopped long ago."

                                                                  --Ansel Adams (on New Mexico)

landscapes, New Mexico

The most striking thing about New Mexico is the constantly changing landscape. Pink mesas. Deep gorges. Gray buttes. Alpine meadows. Snow-capped mountains. White sands. Massive cottonwood trees whose yellow leaves glow as if lit within. No wonder Georgia O'Keeffe was so inspired.

Above pictures from the extraordinary Taos Pueblo. You can read about it about it here and here.

a quick hello from New Mexico

Saint Pascual, adobe, chiles, fresh tortillas, new friends. 

Heading into the mountains today.