Ghost Ranch Mesa Pastel

Last spring I did a pastel of a Ghost Ranch Mesa and I realized I hadn't shared it. It is timely considering my last post about hiking Chimney Rock. Enjoy!

Ghost Ranch Mesa, pastel on paper. 2013

Hiking Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch

Last week we spent our family day hiking at Ghost Ranch, made famous (for me, anyway) through Georgia O'Keeffe's sojourns there and her interpretations of the landscape, in paint. I struggle to describe the weather– it was beautifully warm and a perfect day for hiking the exposed trail– but for February, it was absolutely appalling. The dry, warm weather is nothing but frightening because of the drought damage and potential for fire. But we enjoyed the day, nonetheless.

Looking at the north end of the Jemez Mountains.

Abiquiu Resevoir is in the midground; in the background Cerro Pedernal is to the right,
the trail we've already walked is in the foreground.

One of O'Keeffe's paintings of the Pedernal

We stopped in the paleontology and anthropology museums before hiking. They are small, but set the mood of the hike, reminding us that the history of the area is long and varied. Since we were the only visitors, we got a personalized presentation in the paleontology museum, which included climbing over the partition wall to look into the magnifier at the work they were currently excavating, allowing us to see (very close up!) the skull and teeth of the baby dinosaur fossil embedded in the rock. Our state fossil, the coelophysis (see-low-fy-sis) dinosaur, was found on Ghost Ranch land, and there is a nice replica of the fossil in the museum. There is also a very large replica of a skeleton that was a relative of modern alligators (or crocodiles?) and I swear the guy giving us the tour called it an "alligatorsaurus". The swampy, wet scene in which the alligatorsaurus was swimming was a time in New Mexico's history that was remarkably different than the current desert we live in. The alligatorsaurus was just one of many other fossils that have also been found at Ghost Ranch ("Did you see the cabin on the drive in? The alligatorsaurus was found just behind it and down the hill," says the tour guy to us.) With the history surrounding us, we set off for the hike, starting right out the back door of the museum.

 

The kids model at the beginning of the hike.

Our destination, Chimney Rock, is in sight!

 The trail is about a mile and a half from the 

parking lot to Chimney Rock.

 The trail meanders over rolling hills until the final climb to the top of the mesa.

In a freakishly warm February, it was perfect. 

In summer, it is a bit brutal. Take water!

 

And we've reached the top! Chimney Rock, Cerro Pedernal

and the whole valley spread out below us. 

Georgia O'Keeffe had a cabin in the valley 

that can still be seen from this vantage point.

 

 At the top, two crows surveyed the valley. I can imagine

the peace and immense perspective that can

be gained from spending time gazing at the view...

Despite the warm weather, it was too breezy for us to spend very long at the top, so we headed back down the trail. The formations are really spectacular, especially in the clear, crisp desert air, and the oranges and golds of the sandstone were quite bright. Since our morning started in the museums, our stories for the hike circled around the happenings at Castle Fossilis– an ancient golden sandstone castle that used to be home to queens and princesses, as well as dinosaurs. According to Alanna, even the crowns once worn by the queens and princesses who inhabited the Castle Fossilis can be uncovered in the rock.

On the way down, Alanna, in her 4-year-old exuberance, tripped and fell, bloodying her cute little nose. For her, the story changed into "This is the hike I'll remember forever and ever as the Bloody Nose Hike," which was not as charming as the goings-on in Castle Fossilis, but gave us a real connection to the place.

 

Looking back at these photos, I was reminded how truly beautiful the colors are in this part of the world. No wonder so many artists and photographers are enamored of the possibilities. Above, the Ghost Ranch complex is in the foreground, tucked away beneath some amazing mesas.

Happy hiking!

Green Beginnings

A few things on my studio table:

A textured green and golden painting, with a hand-written base layer. I intend to draw on top– a portrait is feeling right, but I'm not sure if it will be a portrait of a person, a plant, or heck, maybe even the dog.

And a few other little items. I am playing with paper clay, as per ideas in Unfurling, A Mixed-Media Workshop with Misty Mawn: Inspiration and Techniques for Self-Expression through Art by, well, she's in the title, Misty Mawn. So far, it's fun and easy to work with, and takes paint well. We'll see what emerges from the blue dish and hearts. I also have this fantastic tea tin that stacks four little canisters one on top of another; I'd really like to re-purpose it and make into something beautiful. I'm thinking collage and paint, with some drawing and doodling all over.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Carrot Love... From our garden last fall.

I couldn't resist this photo of homegrown carrots, who clearly love and need each other. And were delicious to eat, too. Family and friends are worth holding on tight... as is a good garden! And art! And Crafts! And music!

For the kids' class Valentine's this year, we made Friendship Necklaces. Now that we're in the public school system, I'm trying to eliminate– or at least reduce– the amount of candy/junk food and waste we participate in, although I (obviously) have no control over what other parents decide to do. So, we aren't giving Valentine's candy or throw-away mass produced cards that no one reads anyway. Instead, we made necklaces! My kids are always willing to help when paint is involved, so we painted and stamped about 50 wooden medallions. I added the "friends" circle and doodles, with help from my husband (who also drilled the holes for the string, I might add). I also got help from the kids with stringing the medallions and beads, and we added a small Be My Valentine card, recyclable, of course. To be honest, I love spending time with my kids doing these sorts of projects. They seemed to be pretty happy with the results and with giving them to their classmates, too.

Valentine's is a low-key holiday for us; we'll stay home and enjoy each others' company as a family this evening. My 7-year-old son insisted I write "Valentine's Pizza" on our calendar about 3 weeks ago so we could remember to make one for our usual pizza and a movie Friday evening activity. His Ranger Rick magazine for February had a Valentine's pizza recipe for the cooking project, which included heart-shaped dough and, especially important to a 1st grader, heart-shaped pepperoni. I guess I will be carving pepperoni this evening!

Here's the recipe from Ranger Rick

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Sketchbook Pages

It's only been in the last year that I've been regularly sketching in a sketchbook, a new habit I'm trying to make more frequent. Here are a few sketches from the last couple of weeks.

 

I clearly prefer pen and ink drawings. The first page is a doodle I spent a couple of days on, especially focusing on trying to work recognizable nature images within the decorative aspects of the doodles. The others were sketches in preparation for the postcards for Signed, Sealed and Delivered (also here and here). I didn't end up using the windows in any images for the show, and the hands and flies are part of the piece I forgot to photograph before framing because I was under a deadline (my fault). When I get the pieces back, I will photograph them and post them here.

Dried Apples and Acts of Genius

 I may be exaggerating a tad.

But you know when you have those moments where you change your usual behaviors and suddenly you can't imagine how you spent all that time doing it so backwards? For years, we've been happily dehydrating apple slices in our Excalibur dehydrator. We figured out a couple of years ago that we didn't have to douse the slices in citric acid to keep them from browning (they don't, even if left untreated), and through trial and error we discovered long ago our preference for thinly sliced apples that dry crispy and chip-like. But there we were, slicing tens of pounds of apples by hand, spending an evening cutting, placing, and cleaning up. And then poof! I thought to use the food processor, one of my absolute favorite kitchen tools. So now I can get 5 trays filled with thin apples slices, into the dehydrator and get cleaned up, all in about 10 minutes.

The food processor's slicing blade does leave behind a small amount of little pieces and paper-thin slices that just stick to the trays when dehydrated, but even that turns out to be a bonus– a little snack for the one doing the dehydrating! They're tasty with a little yogurt or even better, fried up with a bit of butter and some cinnamon. I also did carrots this way earlier this week, and am so inspired that I'm on the lookout for more fruits and veggies to dry this way, even though this isn't the time of year to find and use excess produce. But I'll be ready come August!

Pod in the Sagebrush Sea

Pod in the Sagebrush Sea, 1946. Mixed Media. 2014

The second altered postcard I entered in the Signed, Sealed and Delivered show at Fuller Lodge Art Center (the first is here) was even more fun to work on. The hand-colored photo is of Blanca Peak, near the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, and I added a pod of humpback whales navigating the sagebrush on the valley floor. I am hoping for a few double-takes from viewers as they put the juxtaposition together.

Pod in the Sagebrush Sea, 1946. Mixed media. Back 2014.

I enjoyed working on the back immensely, layering paint and pen doodles. In fact, working on this set the tone for the next four cards and I think it has also pointed me in a direction for exploration that I am very excited about. I used bubble wrap to print some greens and yellows, and drew some layered aura rounds and a few plant- and vine-like shapes. I am very happy with the result.

The postcard is postmarked September 1946, and is again addressed to the Kings, at the house my grandparents lived in. The note is a little more interesting, with Evelyn remarking to Mrs. King that she and Mrs. Ballard had spoken and there would be no further duplications at their meetings. Which of course begs the questions, What meetings? and What was duplicated? It sounds secretive and exciting, if you choose to read it that way. Evelyn further confirms spending the day with Mrs King on Nov. 14th. Finally, she signs off "in haste" which deepens the mystery... if you, or rather I, decide to embellish the story in my head.

Altered Postcards. Mixed media. 2014

 All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable pair of little artworks.

Randall Davey Adubon Center and Sanctuary

We hiked at a new area on Saturday that was surprisingly delightful. Even though it's January, and dry DRY dry, it was a beautiful day for hiking at the Randall Davey Audubon Center. I need to keep an eye out for programs that we might do this summer, and I'd love to go back and tour the Randall Davey house someday. Since this is an Audubon Society property, it contained a meeting center and a short (1/2 mile) set of trails with bird feeders and some nature information. The trail linked up to the Bear Canyon trail, which went up a tiny drainage, and which we would definitely love to come back to. We all had a great time!

Since it was a cloudy day in January, and I forgot the camera and was using an iPhone, the photos were pretty washed out. I'm reading a book on photography and trying out some different techniques; thus, I washed the photos of the kids on the trail out further as a way to emphasize their little bright spot of color in the rather monochromatic scenes.

Lower on the trail there wasn't any ice or snow.

As we went higher, the ice covered stretches of the trail.

Alanna enjoyed the ice most of all, pretending she was ice skating and falling down a lot.

The end of the center's trails and the beginning of the Bear Canyon trail.

That black blob in the distance is Aaron.

As we were hiking we had a lot of fun making up a story about ice spiders. We first saw a frozen puddle in which the water underneath had soaked into the ground, leaving a thin layer of spindly ice sheets in the grass– an ice spider web. We then kept an eye out for ice spiders, and decided the pinon pine branch tips that fall to the ground were spider-like, and even found some caught in their own webs. Rhys then proposed that the Old Man's Beard draping the trees were the baby ice spiders, although Alanna maintained that Old Man's Beard was keeping the trees warm and dry. This sort of storytelling made this trail even more unique for our family, and encouraged us to be more observant in order to pick out the details of our surroundings and connect them in a creative way.

Our first ice spider web spotting.

Another ice spider web.

An ice spider, busy at work making a web.

Baby ice spiders covering a branch, ready to... keep the trees dry and warm!