Durango and Back to NM

Monday, we drove to Durango, CO. This is such an interesting town, with lots of Victorian architecture and quaint main streets. This photo epitomizes my memories of Durango, with the Victorian iron fence and flowers. Every storefront had hanging baskets of glorious flowers, all along Main Street. I took lots of photos of the grand hotels, etc. but this fence and flowers say it for me.

This is the Animas River. We decided to follow it along its course back to New Mexico on the way back to Chama. It was this low in some places and deeper in others along the way. The Animas River Valley was a very pastoral valley, with lots of hay fields and horse farms.

We happened to be driving through Aztec, NM and noticed a sign for the Aztec Ruins. We decided to see what that was about and I am so glad we did. These were the ruins of a large village. Some of the main kivas were restored, but lots were just the walls remaining. This was one site of ruins where we were allowed to wander throughout the rooms. Of course, the people of these village were very short people and we spent a lot of time bending to pass through 5-foot doorways. There were many manos y matates in the plaza of this village that had been excavated from the ruins. These were the grinding stones for their cornmeal.

We will be leaving this great place on Monday, we will miss the cool weather and wonderful scenery we have been able to experience. But, we plan to come back for the Fall colors that promise to be wonderful here. Just wait till you see those photos!

Another One From My Bucket List

I have really not become a train nut or something, but there is something so exciting about seeing views of an old steam train in this beautiful setting that I have taken hundreds of photos. While out exploring, we came upon an old train trestle. We eventually figured out it was being used by the Cumbres and Toltec railroad. I thought it would be so cool to show this trestle with the train locomotive going over, so that got added to my photo "bucket list" of have-to-have photos. We figured out just about when the train would be at the trestle after leaving the station (see above photo) . We drove up the mountain and set up the cameras and waited...and waited...and waited. For those of you who might be in the Chama area and want to take this photo, the time it arrived was 11:18 AM! It finally climbed up the mountain and here is the photo I was waiting for below.

Now, if I can get a photo of an 8-point buck elk before we leave I will leave satisfied! They certainly can see me coming with my camera because they hide from me. Others here have seen them, but I have not been in the right place at the right time. Sigh.

Rusty Creek

This is one example of the rusty creek beds in the area yesterday. I have some great shots of mountain streams that I want to paint, and they will all have this same color of the creek beds...rusty rocks! In fact, the name of this creek was Rusty Creek....duh!

To Summitville and Beyond

I took this photo to show you how high we climbed on the dirt road we took yesterday. This was 12,000 feet elevation! Surprisingly, neither of us noticed any difference in our breathing or any signs of being that high. Of course, we weren't hiking up there, but riding in the Xterra, but that is pretty high in the air.

This was our view on the way to the top of Lookout Mountain. These rocks contain so much iron they are this magnificent color in many places. Additionally, the water that flows down the mountains is so acidic and filled with iron that it is rusty! A sign said if you placed a nail in the creek water it would disintegrate within eight months! I will have to post a photo of one of these rusty creeks.
This is the ghost town that was Summitville, CO. This was a large mining area, I assume of iron ore given the nature of the rocks. All that is left of this town are many little shacks such as these and, now, a reclamation project sponsored by Superfund money, to return the area to its former environment. From the looks of the reclamation ponds and the scope of the job, this looks to be a big, long-term project! I spoke above of the rusty water...the reclamation ponds they were cleaning up had "bathtub rings" along the top, of rust. Really was an interesting sight/site to see.
This will have to be one of my fav photos for this trip. Along the Conejos River there was a herd of probably fifty horses running along a dirt path. I thought they must be a wild herd until we got to the end, by the river, and saw this one lone cowboy herding them to a different pasture. They were beautiful horses, with the sun shining on their backs in the early morning hours. The cowboy wasn't bad, either! I took many photos of these horses running, but I wanted to show one with the cowboy in it, bringing up the rear. Isn't being "out West" just great?!

Stay in the Car!

Yesterday we went farther afield as it was a "day off" of dialysis. We covered the 23-mile gravel road that we took from Horca to Platoro a week or so ago, which travels along the Conejos River. From Platoro, we took the 29-mile gravel road up the mountain to Summitville. It was such an interesting trip. Along the way, we came upon this sparkling little lake. Although we were on a public "road", the signs along this lake stated it was private property and had warnings of
"stay in car"! Well, Tom stayed in the car, but I quickly set up the camera for a panorama, he stopped at the right spot and I shot this series of nine shots over the hood of the Xterra and then we made a swift retreat. Shhhhhh....don't tell anybody! The scenery along this road was just gorgeous. Tom reminded me how many times I was using the adjective "gorgeous", so I switched to "majestic" as we climbed higher and higher.

I will post some more photos here shortly, we had another great day!

Barb's Hollyhocks

I posted my painting of the hollyhocks here at the RV park earlier. Barb, who was painting from the same photo as I, chose to paint the watercolor underpainting on sanded paper and then finish with soft pastels. I love her version! To see hers, go to her blog, it looks so soft and lovely.

Spontaneous Photos

Chama, NM is one of the train stations of the Cumbres & Toltec Narrow Gauge Railroad. We were heading to the store this morning and saw the smoke, which meant the train had left for the morning run to Antonito, CO. We raced ahead, stopping in five places along the highway where we could see the train well. It was such a fun time, staying just ahead enough to set up for more camera shots.

This is truly one of the advantages of taking these trips that I enjoy the most...the spontaneity of setting out to do one simple task and being able to take advantage of these special opportunities that present themselves! We plan on returning here in a few weeks, late September and early October for a week to take in the Fall colors. We have seen so many aspen, oak and evergreens here that it promises to be spectacular when they all turn colors. Hopefully, the week we have chosen will be the peak for the leaves!

Rio Chama

I was standing on a footbridge over the Rio Chama and took this 9-shot series of photos to stitch together into this pano. I also took the shot from the opposite side of the bridge, looking downriver, but have not processed that one yet. Like I said earlier, this was a beautiful area with beautiful weather....I love photographing landscapes when there are clouds in the sky.

As usual, click on the photo to enlarge it for more detail.

Great Day

This is one of the many views we enjoyed yesterday. The Rio Chama, south of where we are staying, is running much higher and faster there than here. There were many rafters and kayakers on the river and it looked like they were having a ball. When I say "we" I mean the four happy "campers" below.

This motley crew consisted of our good friends, Barb and Charlie and Tom and I. I had set the self-timer on the camera and tripped my way back in time for the photo. That is the Rio Chama behind us. We had great weather, wonderful scenery, nice picnic lunches and, best of all, a day spent with these two great friends. They are leaving Chama today, it has been so nice having them with us!

To make the day even greater, when we returned I was paid for selling another pair of earrings from my display in the RV park office. I have had lots of time for making jewelry and painting while here, I hope that continues!

Another Great Adventure

This is one of the many landscapes we visited yesterday. We were planning on taking a short morning trip to a road we had not traveled yet and then return for an early dialysis session. Well, one state highway led to another county road that looked interesting, which led to something else and it was after 2:00 PM when we finally returned. Of course, stopping every few minutes to take photos added to the time we were gone! The colors of that area were just phenomenal. This is part of the area that Georgia O'Keefe lived in and painted during the last part of her life. I can certainly see the wisdom of her choice, it is such a varied and colorful landscape here.

This is part of Lake Abiquiu. The water was so glassy and still when we were there! Wouldn't this be a wonderful place to have a houseboat?!

For my next project and post, I will stitch together some of the many series of photos I took for panoramas. Like I said, I took many photos!

Painting day

As requested by Susie Short in my prior post, here is the painting I worked on with Barb during our painting day. The RV park where we are staying this month has beautiful hollyhocks growing down the slope from the laundry room. I took photos the first day we were here and worked from those. I brought only a block of Arches 300-lb paper with me, as well as Pelikan transparent paints as my travel set. I am unused to working on the more absorbent 300-lb paper, as well as the more opaque paints, so this isn't what I expected for a result. However, I am not displeased with the softness of it. I think that hollyhocks require a more subdued effect since they are such an old-fashioned flower, or at least when I see them I feel nostalgic.

I am working on another painting now of the Rio Chama, which runs right beside the park. When we were here in May, the snow runoff made it run more swiftly and high up on the banks. Now it is a mere stream and rocks are visible on the sandbars.

I start working on another posting for today which shows some of what we saw on our adventure yesterday.

Barb and Charlie at Chama

Our good friends, Barb and Charlie, joined us in Chama for a few days. They are staying at a nearby lodge. She and I had great fun painting this morning at our motorhome while Tom and Chalie went for a drive for some photo op's. The temperature was perfect, Josh Groban was playing on my iPod player and we were painting together. As Barb said, "it just doesn't get any better than this!" I agree!

Wildlife!

We have been seeing quite a few critters in our explorations here. The chipmunk is robbing seed out of the bird feeder set out by one of our fellow RV'rs here at the park. The wild turkeys were seen along the highway and stayed there long enough for us to turn around and get some photos.

We hear of bear sightings and elk sightings down by the river just after sundown, but unfortunately that is when the mosquitoes are the worst and they like my skin too much to venture out at that time. This trip we are parked up above the river, in the open where the skeeters are not so bad. Our friends, Barb and Charlie, are due in tonight and she and I have a date to sit out by the river to paint one day while they are here in Chama. I am planning on changing that to sitting under our awning by the motorhome and painting from photos I have taken of the river! Don't like those mosquitoes!

Mule Deer in Chama

We went into the heart of Chama to the one grocery store here yesterday. I have learned to not venture forth in this area without my camera since there seems to be so much to photograph. Yesterday was no different. By the side of the main street in Chama was a grassy area; standing in this area, eating breakfast, was this beautiful Mule Deer. It just stood there and posed for me, we were not very far away from her and she was not bothered at all.

Right near our RV park I have so far seen multiple chipmunk sightings, a deer and a fox. Being from the desert I never get to see these critters; we only have coyotes, jack rabbits and the occasional bobcat! I am promised photos of the bear that comes down on occasion to the river here in the park, so will share those when I receive them. I have left my cell phone number with one of the campers at the river's edge that if this bear returns to give me a call and I will hurry there for photos.

Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park

We drove to Alamosa, CO yesterday and decided to go up to the nearby Great Sand Dunes Nat;l Park. When we lived in Colorado Springs, CO back in the late seventies we used to go four-wheeling in this park, which was such fun. We only took photos this trip, however. The day was cloudy so there weren't the good shadows on the dunes, but the valley it extends into was so pretty I thought this would be a good pano shot. Another great day of exploring.....

Panorama

This is an eight-shot pano of the Trujillo Meadows Reservoir. It is of the north end of the lake. I also did a pano of the south end and will try to upload that in another post. These large files take FOREVER to upload to the blog, but at least it accepted this one. This was a glass-smooth lake when we were there and you can see the circles where the fish were jumping. No license, no fishing poles....so sad. It sure was a pretty area, though.

Hopefully, you can click on the photo and it will show more detail in a larger view....hey, I just tried it and it did enlarge it....cool!

Conejos River Valley

We drove from Chama toward Antonito, CO yesterday, turning off before we got to Antonito. One of the joys we find with exploring the areas we visit is the spontaneity to go off the beaten track and see what we can find. We saw the turnoff to Trujillo Meadows, had heard of that from friends, found a pristine reservoir there. I took some photos to stitch together of the lake and will do that later. When we left there, we found another side road that wound through the Conejos River valley, 23-mile dirt road that had breathtaking scenery the whole way. The round trip of 46 miles took us over three hours since we kept stopping along the way, frequently, for photo op's. It was a lovely day, perfect weather, wonderful scenery and the joy of discovery for us. We are so thankful that doing the dialysis in the motorhome successfully allows us a return to what we both enjoy so much...exploring places we have never been. Life is good!

Chama, NM

We made it to Chama, NM on Saturday afternoon. This will be our home for the next month! We chose a route through northern Arizona, driving to Gallop, NM the first day and driving through Farmington, NM to Chama on Saturday. This rock was one of the many we saw on this route. I think this must be the balanced rock capital of the world!

Proud Grandma!

Our son sent this recent photo of our Aubrey practicing mixing colors with her watercolor set. How fun is this?! I can't wait for our next painting session together, hope it will be soon. I want to send her some pieces of good watercolor paper. She likes my little surprise packages and I think she is ready to progress to Arches! We still have her first painting hanging on our refrigerator.

Also, please note the chair upon which she is sitting...we gave that to her for her first Christmas. She was too young then to appreciate it, but Patrick says she has claimed it as "her chair" and uses it all the time.

WIP 2, or 3 or?

Okay, I did it again. While at the Art Club this afternoon I was painting away and listening (okay contributing) to the conversational thread going around the room, and neglected to take photos of what I was doing during the WIP phases of this painting. Here is what I arrived at home with...a painting deserving of marinating on the board for awhile. I like the atmospheric perspective of this, and achieved most of the color goals I had from my reference photo, but will still await more thinking on this one. These canyon painting require a bit more THINKING than others! If I concur about what needs to be changed, I will attack a full sheet with this painting scheme.

Be aware, be very aware!

Time For Another WIP

One of my top painting goals is to be able to paint the Grand Canyon as I see it. I have had this ref photo sitting and marinating in my mind since I took the photo last August when we drove to the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon, from the west side of the canyon. The colors of this part of the canyon are wonderful and I hope to be able to capture that. This will be an 11x15 study, if I can learn enough from doing this study to do a credible job I will do it for real on a full sheet...gulp!

I just know that I am not getting any closer to realizing my goal by NOT trying to paint it so will dive in and see what happens. My approach to line drawings on watercolor paper is usually a very minimalist approach. I don't like the construction lines to show through the painting so I draw the drawing on the paper with a #2 lead pencil, soak the paper and then staple onto the Homosote board. After this is thoroughly dry, I use a kneaded eraser and erase much of the darkness of the lines. I took this photo before lightening the lines with the eraser. This is far more of a detailed drawing than I usually do, but when trying to paint these canyon walls faithfully I usually get very lost so will try from a more detailed approach this time. That seemed to work better when painting my Canyonlands painting two years ago.

Kokopelli With Staff

Those of you who follow my blog may recognize the reference photo for this painting from below. This is the Kokopelli with a staff that I hiked up to near Deming, NM. I took so many petroglyph photos at this site, but this is my fav...a wonderful, huge Kokopelli with a staff instead of a flute. I took this with my longest camera lens since by the time I found it, it was higher than I had the strength to climb to get closer, and I like the look of him on this pile of large boulders anyway from this angle.

I tried to incorporate some compositional tips to make this read well, such as having one big boulder and a dead tree branch pointing to the center of the photo and having the Kokopelli in a "sweet spot". It was so hot at the time we found him that I wanted that to show in these rocks, also.

Diana Webb and I met at my house this afternoon. It was such fun meeting with Diana and her husband, Jim. I met them through RVPics.com. We discussed all of the important motorhome details, they looked at my art and I gave her the prints of the paintings I had painted from her worthy photos. It was such great fun to meet with fellow RVPics members, this is a great group!

NM Petroglyphs

Before we left NM we visited this petroglyph site on a very hot day. It was an arduous and hot climb to find these but I felt it worth it as this collection was the best I have seen (and I have seen a lot of petroglyphs!). I think this one must be a drooping yucca, as the area was full of them. As they die, they look like this.

The Kokopelli glyph is the only one I have seen with a staff instead of a flute. Isn't he grand?

I believe one of these is of a tortoise, the most sophisticated glyph of one I have seen. The level of sophisticated detail at this site was unbelievable. Most of the time I cannot imagine what the figures are of, but sometimes the more sophisticated of them give a better clue. This is true of the Bighorn Sheep glyph.

It was a great, although taxing and tiring morning spent traipsing about in the ancient past. We also collected more rocks for the tumbler, this was a great place for that, too.

Now to return our home back to normal after unpacking the motorhome. We will have good memories of our week in Deming. The RV park where we stayed was the 81 Palms RV Park and it was, as always, a good home-away-from-home. The owners are always pleasant and they keep the park in very good condition. They are also knowledgeable about the area around Deming.

Still in Deming area

We visited the town of Columbus, NM yesterday and went to Pancho Villa State Park. Since I am so woefully lacking in historical retention of what happened when, I was surprised to learn this happened in 1916 and was a successful attack on this fort near the border with Mexico. The state park has a great museum with some of the historical vehicles and weaponry used when General Pershing led the counter raid into Mexico to find Pancho Villa. He never was found, but the border was once again safe.

Today we went to the desert to a place near Deming to find petroglyphs. Despite directions to find this place and knowing we were in the right place, we only found three petroglyphs. We decided to re-read the directions and plot our course by GPS readings and return tomorrow morning. Today's adventure was not a total disappointment in that we found many rocks to pick up and try to tumble and polish when home. We also saw this owl haunting the cliffs we were near. It sure kept an eye on us, must have had a nest somewhere near it was guarding. Owls can be so huge, this one was medium sized but large against those boulders.

Good weather and good times still here. We actually had some rain this afternoon, but nothing stormy. It does get hot but we are on the desert still so we expected that. More tomorrow, hopefully with photos of the petroglyphs we have been promised.

Las Cruces

Whenever we are passing through Las Cruces we always make a run to nearby Hatch, world famous for their chile peppers. We did so today on our short visit to Las Cruces and ate at our favorite Hatch Mexican restaurant, the Pepper Pot. Wonderful food! Anthony Bourdain did a recent show highlighting this restaurant, our son recognized it after we mentioned the Pepper Pot.

We also made a stop at my favorite bead store in Las Cruces, Western Traders. I find such interesting beads and findings at this store.

We are back in Deming this afternoon and will explore tomorrow some more.

Photography Safari

We spent yesterday morning at Rockhound State Park and kept looking at the ground for rocks that were interesting. This is a park where you area allowed to collect rocks and keep them. We found some jasper and rhyolite, and others that are just interesting, I have no idea what they are. We will fire up the tumbler when we return home. Here is my weapon of choice when on photo safari, with my new longer lens attached. So far, I am liking it really well.

The other photo is of a dumb photographer we saw who should have known better than to climb up on those rocks! Oh well, at least I had my walking stick for balance.

I'll do another entry for today's adventure....

Deming, NM

We are in Deming, NM for a few days. We plan on using this as our home base and scooting around nearby places and exploring more. Our first day we spent the morning exploring City of Rocks, a bizarre area of rocks resembling Bedrock of the Flintstones' fame. It is a state park and is halfway between Deming and Silver City.

These four photos are of that area. I was experimenting with my new 70-300 mm lens for my Olympus (early happy birthday from Tom!) and it was great to have. I was much farther away from these rocks than it appears in the photos.

When you see the bird in the yucca photo, I had seen this mama bird on the nest on our way past on this loop of the park and on our way out found it again and zoomed in close. I am not a birdwatcher so cannot identify her species but you can kind of see her chick to her lower right. Judging by her size and her beak, I am reminded of a small falcon I saw at Sonoran Desert Museum and it was identified as a falcon, so maybe it is one?

Windows to the Past

I promised myself I would finish this by the end of the week and I hope it is finished. I will have it critiqued by the WcW group and see what they think. I enjoyed doing this one, as I have all the paintings I have done from Roch's photos.