MY TRIP TO NEW MEXICO

DECEMBER 2010

It is my birthday month, I won’t say what year I am celebrating,  but I’m getting up there.

Decided to give myself a great gift and feed my wanderlust , so I  called my friend Lee out in T Or C,

( Truth or Consequences NM),  packed my cowboy boots, a box of paints, a few sweaters and headed west to my favorite place in the U.S.- the state of New Mexico.

While up in the mountains and down in the canyons near Abiquiu’, Taos, and  Santa Fe,

I had a life changing experience.

I had visited Taos and Santa Fe in the past, knew how it fed me as an artist and my wild Indian woman spirit, however, I had never been to Abiquiu’ or the Ghost Ranch  and where Georgia O’Keeffe hung out. I have always loved her work , it inspired me as a young artist and I figured I would get some creative juices flowing pretty quickly. I wasn’t prepared for grandeur of the vistas or the vibrant colors of the desert rocks and skies. Each moment seem to unveil an new palette of color and combination of light and shadow.

I understood immediately why Georgia couldn’t leave here, becoming a recluse and  dedicating her life to her art. She gave up all the comforts of her life in New York.  She drove a Model A  Ford Alone ,out West for miles alone on dirt roads , shut out the monkey chatter in the world  so that she could  hear the quiet voices of her creative spirit.

She didn’t let the pressures of judgment of her current society dictate her bohemian way of life, people thought she was the most avant-garde woman of her day, I felt a surge of fire in my gut while I was there,  and I respected her all the more.

With each new day as I painted  plein-air under the blue skies I began have experiences  I have never  had in my life. I jotted down my raw feelings, and took tons of photos, knowing that one day, back in my studio in Florida I would relive these feelings and inspirations. My soul had grown because of these things and maybe my art would to.

Here are excerpts from my journal…

“I see the colors of the desert  red, sage green, gold, blues and orange, as I walk on the mesas and in the canyons that Georgia walked and painted”

“I hear the movement of the wings of the black crow as he flies overhead , in the quiet dry air of the desert.“

“I smell the pinon burning, opening my senses with memories of older days”

‘Skies so big that they wrap around me and change from hues of lavender, peach and grey to  bright corals, yellow  and reds against the bright blue morning sky.‘

Thanks Georgia, for being the trail blazer for all of us women artists of the world….showing us that loving yourself and your art is not selfish.To follow your own voice and be true to yourself and your art.

To create one’s own world in any of the arts takes courage. Georgia O’Keeffe