10 Things to do in February in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Visiting Santa Fe has become a much enjoyed vacation. I was looking forward to seeing it in February. I knew it would be a slower time of year, a time when fewer tourists might be there. I was not disappointed but perhaps there were even fewer people because of the recent downturn in our economy. Nevertheless the people of Santa Fe gave thoughtful attention to us as we visited favorite haunts and had new experiences because of the season.

1. Dining and eating in Santa Fe- We ate out in the afternoon and fixed meals at our residence. With hungry tummies we looked around and found satisying restaurant experiencesabout 2:00PM many afternoons. I would reccomend, Mateo's Miditalian Bistro, 802 Canyon Rd-the Tumbleweed Salad was a delicious treet. Zia's, and The Shed were favorites but I loved trying to figure out the ingredients of the Mongolian Mousse at Bert's La Taqueria.

2. Arty ambling- Walking around with no particular goal other than looking is an activity which I enjoyed on Canyon Road and the Guadaupe district. Talking with artists in their studios such as Antony Corso and Nina Tichava was illuminating. Finding out their personal motivations and experiences enriched the experience of looking.

http://www.tichava-mill.com/.

3. People watching-Morning coffee and newspaper reading at the Downtown Subscriptions at 376 Garcia St. Next door to one of the finest bookstores in Santa Fe.

4. Stretching- Sunday morning, all levels, yoga at Yoga Source, www.yogasource-santa fe.com.

5. Bathing - Ten Thousand Waves, communal womens bath, a good buy. Much more to be found at http://www.tenthousandwaves.com/.

6. Shopping - February a time for sales and good time for shopping from shoes, fashions and art. Sweet Feet, 100 E. San Francisco St. , Goler Fine Import Shoes on Palace St. Donald Pliner has visited the Goler store for the past 20 years in February.

7. Theatre- The Lensic theatre is one not to be missed, it is a restored 1931 theatre and we were able to see the Russian Theatre Ballet perform "Giselle". It was a packed house and you could see and meet the local Santa Feans.

8. Super bowl watching at the bar of the The Spa of the Loretto. A good choice with appetizers and drinks. Not a too raucous but interested group.

9. Discovering new tastes - the Acuyo Elixir, a chocolate drink, rich and intense with a taste of anise at the Kakawa Chocolate cafe, 1050 Paseo de Peralta http://www.kakawachocolates.com/, and of course the ritual purchase of Ohori's coffee, if you are not in Santa Fe it is http://www.ohoriscoffee.com/.

10. Standing in the winter sun against an adobe wall drawing.

The rough and smooth of Santa Fe

Over the years I have seen Santa Fe, New Mexico,in many seasons except winter. This winter was the first winter month I have spent there. Santa Fe always teaches me about brown and texture. In winter raw texture is paramount. What makes Santa Fe so harmonious is the manner in which natural texture is incorporated into the man made structures. I think this is why people love to return to Santa Fe. It is not a city of overpowering buildings, it is accessible.

I stayed in an adobe home at the end of Canyon Road right near the Acequia Madre and walked many mornings to a coffee shop on Garcia street to sit and read and think.

Quick Draw!

Hurtling through landscape in our jolting Penske truck I continued to notice the color of the landscape. I decided to tackle quick draw landscapes so I could record the memory of the forms and colors of the land. 1. I began in Arizona as we careened through the painted desert. My hand jiggled and I had only time to select quick colors and moosh them on the page.

Drawing and making fast choices certainly helps one edit and focus on a few things. I was interested in observing the color of the geography. I ended up making several of these drawings but will share only 3 of them.

2.This second one was done while heading out of Albuquerque.

The purple of the western mountains appeared as the Penske truck got closer to the foot of the mountains. The deep purple becomes deep blue and disappears finally into deep green pinon trees on dun colored earth.

3.The earth then rises out of the ground in long bony reaches of violet outside of Santa Fe where it rests on expanse after expanse of blonde colored grass.

So we bounced on home to Denver and off-loaded the airplane. The following week I returned to Santa Fe to continue to discover and reconnect with that ancient town.

Aerial perspective

In Oregon I had the opportunity, and I took it, to view the landscape of Oregon from a new perspective. I was able to look at the Oregon coast near Florence from above in this wonderful sculptural plane.

Look at the land patterns on the coast and as we approach the coast. I wonder how Leonardo Da Vinci would've painted this view?

Would he have used the materials and patterns that Frank Stella the artist whose work was shown in the Kansas City post used?

Going Green in Oregon

While leaving Oregon last week in a Penske truck filled with an airplane my husband has been building this past year in Oregon, I had an epiphany over the color green in the landscape of southern Oregon. As we bumped along worrying about impending snow and wondering about what our trip would bring I looked out the window and saw green employed in a winter landscape in a totally new way for me.

As a plein aire artist I grapple with green almost every time I work. I love the gray green of the southwest and the greenbrowns one sees in early fall. The pure hue of green seen frequently in the summer grass is one I don't enjoy using.

Everywhere my eyes turned looking at that wet Oregon winter morning I saw the color green presented to me in a new way.Muted yellow-green mosses covered the black branches reaching out as if clothed in sleeves of form fitting silk. Out from those sleeves peeked delicate narrow branches almost rust. The lower trunks often had almost chartreuse thick moss extending up the trunks two feet or more like iridescent boots.
Then the yellow bluegreen of fields stretched over grey black earth. These fields were frequently dotted with dun colored ewes and I saw white points made by new lambs.
Oregon taught me about a new arrangement of greens and I began this long jolting ride back trying to determine the primary forms and colors of the landscape.

Up to date in Kansas City

I just returned from a windy road trip. Drove from Denver across the plains to KC. A favorite trip of mine to visit family. While in KC I went to the Kemper Gallery and saw these pieces by the same artist. Do you recognize the work? Check out http://www.kemperart.com/ and also http://www.nelson-atkins.com/. I saw the show "Art in the Age of Steam", a wonderful exhibit which displayed the history of the train through artworks from around the world. Now I am off to the west coast for 8 days. I've got my sketchbook.

Visual Memories

Last year, I was wondering at the beginning of the New Year, what will happen, what will it be like? Do you wonder this along with all your plan-making? I know that among any goals or plans comes the surprises which life throws at you. Some are marvelous and some you just live through in the best possible way. I looked back through my sketch book and found places I had been and memories which came back to me as I looked at my sketchbook. One resolve I did make and keep was to carry the same sketchbook with me when I left Denver and record what interested me

I seemed to do a series of landscapes this past year and although this is not land, it is definitely a dogscape. These dogs represent half of the "pack" my sister Krista and her husband own. They are city dogs so one could call this a city scape.

To the right I have a snowy scene from January 2008 in Sunriver Oregon. My husband was attending a workshop on how to build an airplane and I was left to my own devices in a beautiful snow. Each day I tramped through this snow for coffee and to notice people and scenery. Then I returned and drew a number of sketches out the window of our condo.

The following three landscapes are all places above 7,000 ft and in three different mountain ranges in either Central America or the center of the USA.

I was in Solala, Guatemala in February volunteering for HELPS International and working with the Cascade Medical team from Eugene, Oregon. Each day I got an hour away from working in the kitchen I would go to a point which overlooked Lake Atitlan and draw the volcaneos on the other side. I will be returning this February and hope I am able to catch the people which come to the clinic in my drawings.The drawing to the right was done looking at the Collegiate Range in Colorado. This was done the week after returning from the warmth of Guatemala. The snowy range of mountains in Colorado was stunning to experience. In the fall I was in Steamboat, Colorado and the colors of the Aspen were astounding.

The upcoming year promises to bring many more sketches. Meanwhile I love looking at the daily sketches by artists all over the world on http://www.urbansketchers.com/