Sunday, March 30, 2008

Santa Fe

I do 100 Things about me over on my other blog. And today I did a post on Santa Fe that I thought I would share over here because it was very inspiring too me.

I feel very connected to Santa Fe/Taos area.

For years before I visited Santa Fe I had these dreams where I would wake up and know I was dreaming of Santa Fe. I had never been. I really hadn't see many pictures of it. I just knew it was Santa Fe. So I shared the dream with Michael shortly after we were together. A year after living with him, he made my dream of visiting come true by taking me to Santa Fe.

It was truly amazing experience.

Art - We could have spent all the days we were there seeing art and not covered it all. Michael and I both love art, so it was very nice to go in and out of galleries seeing art with him. There are over 300 galleries and museums. The Georgia O'Keefe Museum was closed but we went to 2 others and then many many galleries. The art is not just southwest art either - it has classical, modern, folk - paintings, sculptures and photographs. Just everything you desire in art is in Santa Fe. It was very inspiring looking at all the different types of art. We looked at art everyday and never got through even 1/3 of the art available there. One of the places I really enjoyed was The Awakening. It is a monumental work of art...very powerful The ceiling and walls are covered with 8000 sq. feet of carved and painted wood. The pictures on the website and in the brochures do not do it justice. They allowed you to touch the works, take all sorts of pictures, lay on the floor or benches to look at the ceiling and have paper and pencils in the space in case you are inspired. It was inspiring. I did not sketch, but Michael took lots of pictures. Jean Claude Gaugy is the artist that created The Awakening. His work with color and line expresses emotion and movement. I really enjoyed witnessing his works.

(clicking on the images will take you to a bigger view of the photo)

Two pictures from The Awakening....
























Two other pictures - one of a sculputre in front of a gallery and then the second were part of a garden. They had dessert type plants and flowers and then these scupltures with twirly pieces on them that turned in the wind.




















Architecture
- Michael and I both like adobe style buildings so of course we saw plenty in Santa Fe. The main street in town leads to a cathedral....St. Francis Cathedral. It is really one of the few buildings that is not done in the adobe architecture. Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy built a Romanesque cathedral. There were so many beautiful churches - from the St. Francis Cathedral. To Loretto which was Gothic style and has a spiral staircase that has no visible support - no dowels or nails were used in building it. To the oldest church in the USA which is San Miguel Mission. Michael took several pictures of adobe style churches. They were just so beautiful with the beams, craved doors, stucco, and iron work.

San Miguel Mission














Loretto
















St. Francis



















St. Francis













The plaza area downtown is lined in galleries, museums, and then shops that sell everything from high quality fashions to trinkets in a five and dime general store. There is a building called the Palace of the Governors on the plaza. Outside the Palace under the portal Native American women offer all sorts of goods for sale. It is called the market. For about a block women are sitting with their goods on the ground. They have blankets spread out with their good on them - LOTS of jewelry. Others have dolls, pottery, organic foods and herbal remedies. What I thought was interesting is that it is 80 degrees maybe 78 and all the women have long sleeves plus some with coats and sweaters and others under blankets....like it is cold. Some that are in the sun have umbrellas. But most are under a covered porch area.

Palace of the Governors







So many other things I could highlight because something I could not get over is how Santa Fe has everything - scenery, architecture, food....just cultural, history and art pouring out of it.

Oh I didn't mention Taos - the reason is we only spent a little time there. We wished we had been able to spend more. It is more artsy and rustic then Santa Fe but we had a nice time there too.

And just 2 more pictures even though Michael took a ton of pictures and this is just a small handful....



Friday, March 28, 2008

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am thankful for....

1. The delicious dinner I made tonight. We went to Famous Dave's BBQ a while back and had Wilber Beans. Well we really liked them so I was making bbq baked beans tonight decided to doctor the can of Bush's baked beans. I added pinto beans, green chilies, onions, bbq sauce, mustard, brown sugar, garlic and just a little bit of sausage. I didn't have bacon it would have been bacon instead of sausage. Michael said it was a keeper and I agree as they turned out so delicious.

2. The flowers Michael gave me yesterday. They really brightened my week.

3. The beautiful spring weather and being able to have the windows open.

4. A week with no migraines.

5. Lemonade that I made this week. It sounded so good with the spring weather.

And one more just because...

6. For Eat Pray Love having such a deep impact on me. It is making me feel and think in ways I haven't for a while.

I recognize that I have much more to be thankful for in my life.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Alcohol Inks

I picked up some Adirondack Alcohol Inks by Ranger. It says they can be used on metal so I was thinking of trying them out when I alter an altoid tin. I will post some pictures of how it turns out. It might be a while before I can get to it though as I am busy with work stuff.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am thankful for...
1. That the homemade donuts I made today turned out - first try.
2. Quality time with Michael tonight
3. For the absolutely beautiful day we had today
4. For being able to have all the windows open because it was so nice today
5. For feeling better...less coughing and more energy

(cropped image is from a calendar I made)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Art-less

I haven't been doing much art lately because I have been so busy with work. I am creating websites, logos, business cards, letterhead and postcards so they do tap into my creativity. But I haven't gotten around to sitting actually at my work table to create something that gets my hands dirty instead of digital graphic work.

Michael is going out of town in a couple of weeks so I am actually hoping that I will be able to use our that time we spend together in the evening to create. I also can't sleep well when he is gone and I usually feel very create late-late.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Gratitude Friday

5 Things I am Thankful for....
1. Warm clothes for when I am sick
2. Movies to pass the time when I am sick
3. A good cup of tea and book
4. Michael taking good care of me
5. Michael giving me Dances with Wolves this week to enjoy over and over again

(the thumbnail is from a journal cover I created as a gift for my sister)

Thursday, March 06, 2008

my art is back....

I finally got some of my art back on to my website. I did a different type of gallery. The code is cool because it is all css - I know speaking geek. But usually things like that run with java which is a much more complicated coding language. Anyway my art is back up and that makes me feel a little better. But I really want to do a redesign of the website now.
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