Day One in Santa Fe

For the next four or five weeks, I'll be immersed in various artistic endeavors in Santa Fe, sometimes  nicknamed "The City Different." I hate that moniker, so I'll just call it....Santa Fe. The state of New Mexico, on the other hand, is often referred to as "The Land of Enchantment" and boy is it ever!

Funny that in Michigan right now it is hot and sunny, the weather most people think Santa Fe experiences all year 'round. They don't realize that at 7,000 feet, Santa Fe has four distinct seasons including cold winters, often in the teens at night. But it is overcast and nippy this May morning, with an occasional drizzle. 

Arriving at our home yesterday made me giddy. Pinch me! The house is actually an old adobe home that was refurbished a few decades ago. It's part of a small compound of 6 houses now. When we aren't here, we do short term rentals and for that purpose our home is called Casa Rosemont. However, nothing about it feels like a rental. When you walk in, you are entering a cozy, arty, well-stocked home (thanks to Dick, tons of CDs and videos.) You can tell this isn't Grandma's house. And to think I toned it down a little so as not to frighten potential renters!

Here are a couple of photos for today. As I venture out I'll make sure I take my camera with me, even if it's my little Canon PowerShot.

Exposed adobe, just above the dining room cupboard:

This is where I hang my hat, with Georgia O'Keeffe smiling above (and hiding the circuit breaker box.)

A few years ago I found this antique stool...someone thought it was a birthing chair!?! 

Even the bathroom is fun:

It's Earth Day! I plan to participate in the Earth Mosaic project and urge you to do so, as well.

One of the things I love about New Mexico is that it is impossible to be unaware of the beauty of our planet Earth. While looking through my photos from the Land of Enchantment, I came across images of one of my favorite structures which happens to have been built from scratch using sun dried mud bricks.

Every artist and their relatives and neighbors have photographed/painted/sketched this adobe church in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. In fact, it is said that no other public building in the U.S. has been depicted as often. Built between 1772 and 1816, its official name is the Church of San Francisco de Asis.

While at one time it loomed large among the dwellings in the village, the distractions of traffic, businesses, parking lots and power lines now make it easy to miss. If you're driving north on NM68 towards Taos, it's on your right just before the intersection of NM518. It will take your breath away.

The massive bulk seen from the road is actually the back of the church. I have photographed it a few times and noted, as countless artists have, that it offers as many different looks as there are moments that the sun skims across it's earthy skin. What strikes me most is that the lines and curves are quite sensuous. The photo above, which I shot in 2004, looks like woman's curves, don't you think? Considering its patriarchal history and intent, I see this is a quiet victory for matriarchy.

One of Ansel Adam's photograph of the back of the church:




An O'Keeffe painting:




This is an old photograph of the front of the church:




A painting I began a few years ago and never finished:




Two photographs that I've taken, with a solarized effect:

Bali-bound, and an homage to travel in the 50s

Today begins another adventure in travel, a photographic expedition to Bali. On the way, we have overnight stops in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur with enough time to explore a neighborhood or two in each place. I've packed my camera gear many times for trips such as this, but each time I do I start the process from scratch. How many photo cards should I bring? How many photos, realistically, will I take? What lenses do I really need? Should I take my tripod?

Can never have too many

Thousands

Wide angle, zoom and macro

Yes

We will be visiting our friends Stacey and Rob from Arcangelo Productions. It's always an adventure spending time with Stacey. Although Ive only known her for a couple of years, she could easily have been that grade school friend who made me laugh uncontrollably in church and hiked her uniform skirt up an inch when the nuns weren't looking.

Today I'm going to post some photos that I stumbled across yesterday. These were taken near Pie Town in New Mexico, and are an homage to a very different era of travel.