Another One!

Yes, believe it or not, I finished another painting this week. I was in the mood for something that didn't require a lot of detail and was more impressionistic so chose this Yucca grouping for my focus. When I go away from realism I always feels as if it is undone, but I know if I keep futzing with it the result will not be impressionistic; but, rather, poor realism. So, finished I declare this!

I so enjoyed painting with my Thursday afternoon watercolor group today. It had been too long! I find the painting to be so therapeutic for whatever ails one! While I am so pleased with my husband's progress in his rehab after his many health issues this summer, I still find myself needing to have another focus for my own mental health. Painting and jewelry-making does this for me. I created a wrapped cabochon pendant yesterday and that was exhilarating, also. If you would like to see the pendant, click here. So, you see, I am gradually returning to the creative things so dear to me.

What will be next? I am sure the Watercolor Workshop elves are planning what will be our project for the month of September, so I will await that and see if I can't particiapte in the monthly challenges for once.

Complementary Iris

I am posting this finished painting mainly because I want to show I actually finished something during these past three months. While I am not particularly proud of this one, I am glad to have stuck with it and gotten it done during all the stops and starts I had to work on it. I think a few of my creative muses have started returning since I am planning my next painting now...a larger desert landscape.

Anvil Cloud

I've seen photos taken by others of anvil clouds, but could not remember ever seeing one for myself. Well, today was the day. While driving home from some necessary errands, I saw this anvil in the northeastern sky. I pulled into a parking lot and tried to get the best shot of it with no palm trees intruding in the shot. I was curious about what phenomena causes an anvil cloud to form and good ol' Google led me to this explanation:

Anvil clouds, which are mostly ice, form in the upper parts of thunderstorms. They get their anvil shape from the fact that the rising air in thunderstorms expands and spreads out as the air bumps up against the bottom of the stratosphere. You will often see streaks of snow falling out of the edges of anvils. This light snow usually evaporates as it falls through the relatively dry air surrounding the upper part of the thunderstorm.


Cool, huh?

Getting back to normal

As we are slowly emerging from our difficult past few months here, I am realizing how truly blessed I have been to have such a supportive group of online friends who care about our struggles. I received a message from Barb Sailor that contained this little message at the bottom and I thought it particularly pertinent to my thankfulness to my online buddies, so will share it with you.

Have a good Saturday, all!

Got my hubby back!

I am pleased to announce that my husband has returned home after far-too-many days and weeks in hospitals during these difficult past two months. There may not be too many free minutes for artwork for the near future, but at least I will have everything at hand to steal a few hours here and there painting, at home, instead of sitting around hospital rooms. It has been a difficult time, but we are both committed to Tom's making a good recovery and staying away from hospitals!

Complementary Iris - WIP 2

Due to hubby's health issues I have not been able to work on painting much lately, but I managed to paint with my art buddies again yesterday afternoon and made this much progress on this painting. I, obviously, will not make the July 31 deadline for this group project, but I like it well enough to finish it for its own sake (and mine!). Leaving it untouched for over a week does not make for a fast finish, but I enjoy working on it as I can.

Complementary Iris WIP

Due to my husband's two hospitalizations, I have neglected my artwork for quite awhile. I did paint with my buddies Thursday afternoon, though, and started this painting of an iris. This will be my entry into the project files for the Watercolor Workshop this month. We are to paint something using complementary colors, and this photo was one of the projects for last month that I did not participate in, so I thought I would combine both months and use yellow and purple for my two complementary colors.

The cactus painting I started so long ago is nearing completion, but I felt I needed to start something else and work on that while I consider what else needs to be done. I dislike letting paintings sit for so long because I lose my enthusiasm for the project, but it couldn't be helped this time. I will post it when I get it finished.

Why I have been AWOL

I have not been attending to my blogs or e-mail lately, I apologize for that but life keeps intervening. My husband is back in the hospital, and my focus has been on him. He is doing fairly well at this point, and we are hoping he can regain enough strength to come home and stay out of the hospital!

Yesterday, I decided I needed a "mental health" day and I spent two hours painting with my watercolor group at the art club. I truly love my art buddies! It did a world of good for me and I got started on an iris painting. I'll post the WIP when I get a photo of it, or the final if I don't get that done. The good news is that I am painting again!

Quick Note

Hi everyone...this is just a quick note to explain my absence from all Internet/Art related things for quite awhile. Twelve days ago my husband awoke me at an early morning hour having a seizure. While in the emergency room he was noted to be having some serious heart arrhythmia's which necessitated his being placed in the ICU, where he was told he needed a pacemaker. He was transferred to a hospital which performed those procedures and had that done. Complications followed, it was a rough course, but I finally brought him home Wednesday afternoon. This, after 10 days in the ICU.

All of my artwork has been placed on hold while I try to help him deal with all of this during his recuperation. We are handling things as they come and doing fairly well with the impatience of a slow recuperation. I promise to participate more fully ASAP.

Addendum

I, happily, want to report that all is well with Tom's arm fistula for dialysis. The surgeons were able to open the blockages and we will begin dialysis again tomorrow with newly-flowing vessels. We are both tired, but relieved, that we made the correct decision to return early from our vacation and get this taken care of before it became a lot more difficult to repair (as our surgeon confirmed as if we had waited 24 more hours).

We remain committed, however, to dialysis in the motorhome as we travel and will follow our instincts and the advice of our support people through NxStage and DaVita and continue in our travels. We hope to return to Chama to our favorite RV park ever, Sky Mountain RV Park, either later this summer or early in the Fall (when the colors are supposed to be magnificent) and regain more of our vacation experience we missed this time. In the meantime, we are taking care of business dialysis-wise and everything else that has to be done and will resume traveling as we can.

Back to the Desert

We had to return early from our time in Chama. Tom's dialysis fistula needed to have a procedure to open up the narrowing of the vessels so we made a fast two-day trip home and he will have the procedure this morning. I miss Chama already! It was so hot while unloading the motorhome yesterday, although it was warmer than usual in Chama when we left, 80-degree heat differs quite a bit from 110-degree heat!

We plan on returning later this summer, so please wait for the travelogue to continue.

Painting, At Last!

With all of our exploration days, train trips, etc. this month I have not painted very much. Yesterday and today, however, I did work on this painting. It is for my SWAP (Sharing With Artist Partners) partner coming up later this month. I am showing this here, now, but don't tell anyone I did that. I will keep the recipient's name secret until he/she receives the painting. I love these swaps, I receive lovely paintings in return as well as having a secret for awhile.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

On Saturday night, before our train trip on Sunday to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary, we were treated to this wondrous sunset. I took this photo without any special settings, it just had this glow on its own.



Here Tom and I are, enjoying the open car of the train and the special scenery. We had wonderful weather the entire day. This was a special treat for our anniversary. The other passengers, the great docents who narrated our train trip and provided entertaining and interesting information, the great lunch provided at Osier, and just spending the special day together made for a wonderful celebration for us.



On a horseshoe turn I was able to photograph the front locomotive and a few of the front cars. This is a coal-powered, steam engine from the late 1800's; restored and used as a tourist train for the past forty years.



As we neared Chama on our return home, no more steam was needed as we had crested the highest point and it was all downhill from there, so the engineer released a huge jet of steam to clean the deposits left in the boiler from the minerals in the water. This was an impressive sight to see.



They had such a great snow pack and wet winter here that the wildflowers are in great form. These are wild irises, which made for many photos from the train.

All-in-all we had a wonderful day and now, when we chase this train from the highway, we will have special memories of what it was like to be on the train. I was able to photograph all of the trestles we have taken photos of the train passing over, only this time it was from the train!

Chaco Canyon

Thursday we traveled to Chaco Canyon, south of Farmington, NM. This is a canyon which contains the ruins of the Chacoan people, who inhabited the area and built communities from A.D. 850-1450. They must have been wonderful engineers and workmen since their architecture showed such great skill and beauty. My photo program is not cooperating very well with me in creating a panorama of one of the Great Houses so I can't show you that here, but this photo shows some of what their ceremonial areas contained.

Paula Devereaux

While shopping at the local grocery store here in Chama, I saw a very attractive lady wearing a gorgeous southwest necklace. I spoke to her and told her I admired her necklace, she said she liked mine too! I was wearing one of the neck rings with a pendant that I had rock hounded and polished. We got to talking and discovered that we were both artists and we exchanged business cards. We talked for about 10 minutes right in the aisles of the store, had a lovely conversation. She has invited me to her studio here in Chama, which I hope to take her up on before we leave.

In looking at her website, I was awe struck by her talent. This is no hobbyist artist, she has been a professional artist for 35 years, working in bronze and wood sculpture, painting and pottery. Do check out her website, her work is amazing!

Snow Run-off

Wednesday we spent the morning exploring some of the roads we have not traveled so far and one road that we wanted to return to and see if the snow had all melted. Well, it had not! There will be run-off for quite some time if the drifts we saw are anything to go by. This vista is on top of a mountain, on a road designated as "Spruce Hole". We had wondered what that might be and it is a large valley where it is protected as a birthing area for elk, peregrine falcons, etc. No hunting allowed. As you can see, one can see for miles atop this mountain. We were at the 10,800 foot elevation.



There were many run-off streams we found, most of which had tumbling water. It made for great photography opportunities.



There were quite a few places where the water was streaming below the still-frozen snow drifts, forming an ice bridge. Here, you can see where the water is rushing down on the upper right and exiting the bridge at the lower left.

Photographing water of any kind just fascinates me, I think that comes from being a child of the desert, where there is little water.

Another Day in Chama!

We are having a quiet day here today. Yesterday afternoon was a rainy and stormy one but no big problem, just thunder/lightening/heavy bursts of rain. We had a dialysis session and hoped that the power would not cut out part way through the session, and it held just fine.

Good news to report...Bill, one of the owners here at the RV park, returned home from the hospital yesterday! We are all glad for his recovery and it was good to see him this morning.



The day before yesterday we spent the day in Alamosa, CO. No exciting details to report for the trip, just a nice day and we got some needed shopping done. On the way back, we passed by the Trujillo Meadows entrance. Just last week, when BIL Jim was with us we had tried to go past this point and the whole area was covered in fairly deep snow. What a difference a week makes! The snow run-off streams are still running, but I suspect they will soon dwindle, as will the roaring Rio Chama. At this point it is running swiftly and high.

BTW....we did book a ride on the Cumbres & Toltec train for our 40th wedding anniversary on June 6. We wanted to do something special on that day and it seemed like the perfect thing while we are here in Chama. We will ride the bus up to Antonito, CO (the eastern terminus for the railroad) and then ride the train back to Chama. This way we can see everything from a different angle than when we were train-chasing. I'll be sure to post photos from that trip here!

Bill/Mollie and Tom

I have some good news and bad news to report! The bad news is that Bill, one of the owners of our favorite park, was hauled off to the nearest hospital following an attack of acute appendicitis. They, when operating, they found that that he had a leaking, gangrenous appendix and, thus, is confined to the hospital until at least Saturday. Everyone, including Julia and her father and mother, and his brothers who are arriving this weekend for the Memorial weekend, are working to make his absence less noticeable around the RV park. Tom, who loves Mollie, their dog, decided that he could help by exercising Mollie with a golf club and tennis ball in Bill's absence. So, they played together for well over an hour this afternoon. I don't know about Mollie, but Tom is still "napping" after his romp with her and the tennis ball in this high (almost 8,000 feet)! altitude!

Weather is still good, all temp variations considered. The wind has subsided, somewhat, so we are happy about that. We explored some, but will do more tomorrow, stay tuned!

Snow in the Mountains

Tom's brother, Jim, has arrived safely back home yesterday. Here is one of the photos we took while exploring the snowy mountains near here. The Spring run-off is exciting to see. Where, last summer, there were no streams exist now many streams...some quiet and some roaring with whitewater. We went as far up the mountain as we could in our 4WD vehicle and then could go no further as the road was covered with ice and snow. On our way down the mountain, we found this stream with the snow drifts covering part of it. I discovered, to my chagrin, that the stream ran underneath the snow and when I tromped over the drift to get the perfect angle for the photo my leg sunk straight down in to the water! Who knew?! Anyway, I got my camera dried off first, before worrying about my wet pants leg and all was well.

More to come....

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

As we did last summer, we took Jim on a train-chasing jaunt this morning, the first train run of the season. We had great weather, great fun, and it was such a lovely experience to be doing this again.

This is the steam engine for the railroad and it is truly spectacular when it leaves the station, belching black smoke and steam. This shot was taken near the tracks on its first crossing over the highway.



This is the train coming toward us through the aspen groves. Jim was standing ahead of me, taking photos, and I caught him also.



As many times as we went past this point on the highway last year, neither Tom nor I noticed this additional trestle. So, we made sure we caught the train going over this today. Cool, huh?

I have taken so many photos, and of course, will no doubt take many more so stay tuned for new adventures. Don't give up on me if you don't hear from me here for a few days...so many things to see and so little time!