TAOS AND BEYOND . . .

An absolute "MUST" on Kay's list was the Fechin House in Taos. It was the only reason for side-tracking there, but we were so happy that we did. The house was phenomenal, almost shrine-like, yet such a comfortable space. I could imagine the upstairs room for painting . . . wonderful light and an atmospheric feeling with attention to craftsmanship.

No words are needed to describe these works by Fechin, and what a delight to examine them up close! Leaving Taos, we crossed the Rio Grande Gorge . . . Kay was ecstatic to see the water so far below, and on such a blustery day, we nearly lost her over the edge.

Then there was the Earthship site, we passed shortly afterward. I had read about this innovative building community and was fascinated to see it in person. I would have loved to have more time to spend there.

And, just a short time later in southwestern Colorado. . . . . SNOW!!!

SANTA FE?!

I could spend the rest of my life in Santa Fe! Downtown has retained its small town charm and the architecture is very appealing and serene . . . charm exudes from every direction. Believe me when I tell you that nearly every house in town is a painting!

The Loretto Chapel was at the top of my list for things to see. There is a movie with Sidney Portier based on the story of the amazing staircase in this chapel. I provided the link for those of you interested in reading about it. Regardless of how and by whom it was built, the staircase is a marvel of engineering and design, built with only basic carpentry tools.

Canyon Road? You could spend WEEKS just browsing the galleries on Canyon Road. We visited some great art galleries here, including one with two small original Fechins. We met and spoke at length with Barry Thomas at Wilford Gallery, about art and his vision and painting process. He was delightfully open about his work and his methods.

Santa Fe . . . we will be back!

CARLSBAD

Being a Kentucky girl, I am pretty familiar with Mammoth Cave, but Kay twisted my arm for a visit to Carlsbad Caverns. I must say, it was a delightful visit. We hiked the mile and a half down the natural entrance along these switchback trails, totally left on our own for this section of the cavern. It was amazing, since you can't go anywhere inside Mammoth Cave without a ranger. We meandered and stopped to take photos without disturbance. It is early in the season, so there were few others to interrupt the almost cathedral-like hush of the place.

Kay was pretty happy to pose among the stalagmites and other formations, but was surprised to see so little water. Only in the lower recesses did we find tranquil CRYSTAL CLEAR pools for her pleasure (after all, it IS all about KAY!)

The Witch . . . if you look closely you can see her broom, with the lower part of skirting and legs to the left of that.

To give you a sense of scale, Kevin posed for this photo. Kay is so small, she would have been lost in most of the photos we took in this cavern. The "Big Room" has a floor area of 14 football fields, with amazing natural formations everywhere, each one unique!

BIG THANKS to Mike for all the wonderful photos I am sharing!!! :)

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY

I have heard about the rare beauty of the Texas hill country, and Renate and Harry took us out to view a favorite haunt of theirs, Canyon Lake, northwest of San Antonio. Although the bluebonnets had been spent, there were lovely wildflowers everywhere among the oaks and in the meadows. This little green flower enchanted me. We rarely see green blossoms, possibly because there is so much other green around us in the plant world. These were the softest sage green and the honey bees were just loving them. I would love to go back during seeding time and gather some of these for my own garden.

Thanks Renate and Harry for a fantastic afternoon spent in the country with you. We are looking forward to talking with you soon.

MISSIONS

We had a glorious Sunday to explore and photograph the five missions of San Antonio. There is so much to discover about these lovely historical churches/communities, that I have added links for your enjoyment. I want to come back and paint them! We attended Mass at Mission San Jose, but my favorite was San Juan.

"The Alamo", Mission San Antonio de Valero

Mission San Jose', Mission San Jose' y San Miguel de Aguayo, "Queen of the Missions"

Mission San Juan, Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission Espada, Mission San Francisco de la Espada, currently undergoing restoration

Mission Concepcion, Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de Acuna

SALON INTERNATIONAL

Although this seems to me like an "aside" at this point, it actually is the MAJOR REASON we began this adventure. Amazing as it seems to me, I have this little 8X8 painting titled "One Fresh Lemon" accepted into Salon International at Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio. I do love this little painting and really want to keep it within my own collection, but in order to be submitted for the Salon, it must be for sale. So here it is . . . . . . . . silly as it seems, cross your fingers that no one wants to purchase it! I know!!! Crazy! But I want to keep this one!

The Awards Banquet was lovely, with our SUPERB judge, Edward Minoff, giving insights into the processes and reasons behind his award selections. Overall, I agreed with his artistic vision. His classical training shows remarkable maturity and sound judgement. I attended the critiques Edward offered on Saturday morning, gleaning a few gems of information and insights into farthing my own artistic pursuits. I must say, I would whole-heartedly accept his authority on ANYTHING art-related . . . . . not a recommendation I would give to just ANY artist or "authority" of similar reputation. Thank you Edward!

SAN ANTONIO!

I guess you know you are in Texas when you see statues like this at the top of local businesses. This is in downtown San Antonio.

A highlight of Kay's visit to San Antonio, was to meet fellow artists Ugur and Susan! Kay confided to me that, yes, artists are artists everywhere . . . we ALL have lots of STUFF! We caught them right in the middle of moving day, so we all jumped in to help any way we could. My bad timing aside, we have had a great visit with our two delightful hostesses.

As you may or may not know, it's NOT an adventure in San Antonio without a visit to the the Riverwalk.

While Mike and I were both distracted by the photo references EVERYWHERE, clicking happily away, Kay managed to sneak off and take a skinny dip in the river. Her excuse was that it was turning dusky anyway and no one would distinguish her from the mallards and pigeons happily splashing about . . . really Kay?? That's the best you could come up with??!

Well . . . as the saying goes . . . . . whatever happens in (insert location here), in this case, TEXAS, stays in TEXAS! I have a feeling we will inserting a lot of locations in the near future . . . just sayin'