Month: August 2010

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Streams

I woke up this morning, and realized (startled) that I had slept all night. It’s the first time in months and the number of times in the last 5 years I can count on one hand. Yay.

It’s amazing how much it impacts your outlook, energy and all that. After doing some things that had long been waiting for my attention (laundry, cleaning bathrooms, etc) I realized I didn’t really have time to paint before I had to head to the gallery. Hmm. what to do? I sat down and started sorting through “reference photos” stored on my hard drive. lots of them. I ran across some that made me smile, and some that made me teary. Some that I moved to the desktop to use for reference in the upcoming work I’m planning to start.

As I scrolled through the years I ran across this:

I heard a noise as I came out of the bedroom one morning to make the coffee. I looked out the back door (glass) and saw him. I thought he had a gorgeous tail, and if the door hadn’t been between us, I could have reached out and touched it. That’s the concrete of our back porch under his feet. That close. Stunning. Then Chloe (our dog back then) sauntered out of the bedroom and saw him. Need I say more? We decided to build a fence.

It reminded me of the first days we lived here, specifically building the house and moving in (it’ll take a book to tell that story).

The first morning we lived in our house, as I was sitting at the dining room table, I felt someone looking at me. Looked up and there, peering in that same back door was an elk. Female. Looking in longingly, like she wanted to come in, like we had taken her favorite grazing area. It was not lost on me. When we were building, every morning I’d come back to the construction site to find new prints in the soft dirt that would become our floor. Then I’d clean up the skat from various soon to be rooms. A tinge of guilt clouded my heart, that we were invading.

Now we’ve been here 16 years.

We don’t see the coyote, the bear, the mountain lion (it still prowls our yard, we find the prints in the damp mud beside the garage) or the elk as often as we used to. But we do hear them. We hear the owls hoot, the eagle screech, the coyote’s wail and the elk calling in the fall. It’s where we live, and hope we leave but a tiny footprint when we’re gone.

It’s raining now in Angel Fire while I type this as I wait in the gallery for the next car load of customers. The air smells fresh with wet pine. Remember it, I say to myself. Remember it.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Fall is in the Air

It’s fairly quiet this afternoon at the gallery, so I grabbed my bag of what I’m working on, slid the phone in my pocket and headed for the door. Crystal blue sky looked inviting as I stepped outside, but then, whoosh! the wind hit me. Quite a cool wind mind you. The smell of Fall distinctly in the air. At once refreshing, but still caused a deep sigh. Can it be already? Wow has this summer rocketed by.

I stood there for a few minutes, and then decided good music inside would be more conducive to finishing the scratchboard piece I had in my bag.

So that’s what I did. And it’s done now, at least for the scratching part. I’ll take it home now and paint it, perhaps in the morning (I don’t open the gallery till noon on Wednesdays). I’ll post a pic once it’s finished.

I do have to fiddle with the new Sony A/V receiver first, mind you, to try one last time to see if we can make it work. Not my idea of fun, mind you, but gotta try it before they’ll take it back. Got it from American Express Rewards, along with a new HD TV. Read, great reward, but nightmare. TV is great. Receiver constantly and immediately goes to “muting” once you’ve selected a source. HDMI flickers black on and off and on and off..though we’re not really sure if that is the receiver or the satellite receiver. I thought AMEX rewards would take it back and replace it, but I apparently called three days too late after trying over and over to find a solution. Sigh. Hopefully the “test” Sony asked me to do will go quickly and it will either solve the problem completely or completely not, so that I can head to the studio and paint for a while before I head in to Angel Fire.

I thought about hanging out here for a while this evening, to watch the celebrated burning down of the “Central Reservations” building across the street. Guess I won’t be using that as a landmark any more! If you’re in town, head to Centro Plaza and enjoy some bbq on the Fire Department while you watch the show. I wonder how long it will take? Likely not long as it is wood and wood and old, so old. I don’t think I’ll hang out though. Been here all day and am more than ready to head home.

Anyhoo…cheers to the Fire Department and may the wind die down!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Unexpected Visitor

here I was sitting at my desk, laptop on my lap, chair twisted so I could see out the doorway and window, up popped a prairie dog not 5 feet from me. I lept up and shouted “get out!” (like it speaks english!) and whoosh it ran between two jewelry displays and curled up in a ball.

Good grief. I ran to close the other gallery door, and whispered “thanks” to God that there was that hidden pocket door between the “office” part of the gallery and the front part of the gallery. Then I bravely placed the ladder next to the display where he lay terrified. I climbed up the ladder and began swishing at him with the broom, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge him from his hiding place.

Brother. Now what. I went outside to see if there was another soul in the building. Yes! Don’s vehicle was there at the end in it’s usual place. And so down to the end of the building I marched, watching backward to see if it ran out on it’s own. I returned with Don and Brinn in tow. We carefully blocked off access to any other potential hiding places and then Don went at it with the broom, it ran out, and tried to head to another spot, Don caught him swept him across the floor and it ran right behind the door.

Time for plan C. Brinn went to get the fireplace gloves while Don stood guard, the poor traumatized rodent now huddled behind the door. Gloves on, Don picked him and took him outside where it ran away, glad for it’s life. Behind it left wet spots from the release of his terrified bladder and yes other stuff too. ugh. So much for leaving the out side doors wide open. At least when I ‘m the only one in this part of the building. I’m sure it looked like a good safe place to wander and look for scraps of food. I’m afraid he didn’t get the best of the Art Gallery, and I hope he learned his lesson. The lady at the Art Gallery has a big broom and lots of Friends. Be warned prairie dogs, squirrels, chipmonks and all…enter the Art Gallery at risk of terror.

Enough excitement for me. Anyone have some wine?

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Quiet Saturday but for Loud thunder

Thunder is booming outside. O dear! On the other hand maybe it will send some Summerfest revelers toward this gallery! That would be a good thing. We’ll see.

In the meantime I’m doing some catching up. Bookkeeping, (ugh) up-cleaning, touch up here and there. Still need to stain one side of the front door, and stain the door between the two rooms, but it’s not to pressing. If it’s this quiet tomorrow maybe I’ll tackle that then. It’s kind of weird to be the only open business in the Centro Plaza on a Saturday afternoon. Hopefully as people get familiar with my new location and new hours they will come find me!

In the meantime I’ll keep my hands busy getting things ready for Arts About Town and the next trail event (Labor Day weekend) Can you believe it’s less than a month away? Stunning how fast this summer has flown. Before that, there will be my 7th Annual MFAF Gallery Reception. It’s a bit later in the month this year. Mark the calendar for the 31st (it’s a Tuesday) and plan to come to the festivities. It’s always one of the biggest receptions of the year.

Speaking of which, I need to get to work on the invitations. Later, friends.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM