We saw this mint colored mountain north of Window Rock, Arizona. It was really stunning against the red rocks. Apparently it's a holy site that medicine men visit. They use the green earth for their sand paintings.

About a half hour west of the Hubbell Trading Post. I don't know if this is still part of the volcano fields or not.

Exhibition

I hope you get a chance to come see this show. I have two pieces in it. That's my scale piece, Home, on the announcement. (upper right and lower left photo)

Pants

O.K. I'm not done telling you about Arizona and the Hubbell Trading Post but this kid just cracks me up. He does not wear pants. At least as far as I can tell.




And then when they DO finally get some clothes on the kid THIS is what they come up with:

My nephew. Living the good life.

Rabbit Brush

Prairie Falcon Story

One day Olivia and I were hanging around outside the hogan at the Hubbell Trading Post. This guy caught our eye. We are avid birders. My definition of "avid" means that we look for and try to identify birds everywhere we go. Sometimes we even go places just to look for birds. But, and this is a big but, we are not experts at identifying birds. So we spent a day or two checking this guy out and working on his/her identification. He/she liked this tree just beside our hogan so we had several opportunities to observes and photograph him/her.


The visitor center had several books about Arizona birds and after much debate about this birds size we eventually settled on the id of prairie falcon. Later some locals confirmed this for us.


On our last day at the Hubbell Trading Post I saw a commotion along the fence.


This prairie falcon was stuck between the two fence layers. It's actually an inner zig-zaggy (technical terms only here) fence and an outer squarey fence.


The squarish outer fence had large openings but some barbs on it. The inner fence's triangular openings were too small for the falcon to fit through. So OF COURSE the falcon was trying to fit through the triangles. (does this clear up the sex identification for anyone else? ok. I'm trying not to generalize so I won't say that this man bird was more or less beating his head against a brick wall.)


Along comes Jay and his friend to the rescue. They were innocently walking down the road when I dragged them over to come do something about the poor falcon. Jay managed to grab ahold of the falcon who then refused to let go of the fence. But finally Jay removed the bird from the fence. And then he said, "Now what do I do with it?" So I guess it's clear here that none of us really knew what we were doing. But Jay was much braver than I because I said, "Wait, let me take a picture." And then I said "O.k. now, wait and let me get out of the way."


Jay's friend suggested throwing the falcon up and letting him fly away. Jay gallantly waited for me to run away and then did just that. The prairie falcon flew off without incident although I was immediately mad at myself for not getting any inflight photos. But it's difficult to be a wimpy scaredy-cat and a good photographer simultaneously.


The prairie falcon flew off happily ever after. The End.

Rocks and Hills

Hills

Canyon de Chelly White House Ruins Trail

Canyon de Chelly has one trail you can hike without a local guide. The White House Ruins Trail is fantastic and a good workout. The rest of the canyon can be hiked with a Dine guide. You can sign up for free guided tours at the visitor center which I'd really like to do the next time I visit.

Canyon de Chelly

I made this drawing at Canyon de Chelly, one of my favorite places. I spent about 4.5 hours working on this, sitting slightly sideways on the rocks. I can really draw rocks non-stop but the sideways sitting thing was problematic later in the day. Canyon de Chelly is about 30 miles from the Hubbell Trading Post. I made several trips to the canyon during my stay at Hubbell. I discovered that you can camp for free at Canyon de Chelly. That is on my to do list for another trip. I'd love to spend more time drawing and hiking the canyon.

Hubbell Trading Post

A view through the fences at the Hubbell Trading Post to Hubbell Hill. We were at the trading post for two weeks. It was a fantastic experience.


This is the hogan where we stayed.

What Gate?

Olivia and I arrived back in Albuquerque, NM around 4:50pm the night before Matt flew in to the Albuquerque Airport. We went back to the Petroglyph National Monument. The rocks were really stunning next to the dramatic clouds and I REALLY wanted to make a drawing. Unfortunately for us the park closes at 5pm. There's a nice spot up the hill (with the great rocks) that isn't really monitored. There's a gate for the parking lot so I decided we would park on the road and walk over to the picnic table to do our drawing. I figured maybe someone would come tell us we needed to leave but maybe they wouldn't mind if I finish my drawing first.

This is where Olivia says "What about the gate at the bottom of the road?"

And I say "There's no gate at the bottom of the road."

So the both of us draw on our merry way. Frantically drawing, actually, because I was trying to finish before we got kicked out. Olivia also made a really great drawing. I'll have to photograph it for you. We still really haven't unpacked. Anyway we spent an hour there working. Some teens came up in a car and hung out below us for a while. Olivia said if they started smoking pot she was out of there. I admired her anti-drug stance but told her that pot smokers were not generally dangerous. So after an hour we finished and got back in the car and drove down the road and guess what....

THERE IS A GATE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ROAD!!!!

We were locked in the Petroglyph National Monumnet!!! Luckily I'd been driving on dirt roads all over the reservation and built up my off-roading confidence. (Maybe a little too much but that's a story for a different day.) Also luckily, the side of the road seemed to have a dirt driving path. SO...we drove over a bush, down the hill, up the hill, and around the gate to freedom.

Petroglyph National Monument

I love the textures in this place. These photos were taken at the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, NM. We stopped here twice. Once on the way to the Hubbell Trading Post and once when we came back to Albuquerque to fetch Matt from the airport. The rock formations are a stunning dark color, almost black in some areas. It looks like perfect rattlesnake territory but we didn't see any.

Maramac Caverns

Another shot of beautiful Maramac Caverns. When I look at my photos I can forget all the cheesy, annoying things they make you go through to look at the awesome formations. This is a photo of some kind of special rounded formations that only form under one particular set of circumstances. I can't remember what those are, although I think it had to do with being under water. But my experience of this portion of the cave was overwhelmed by a crazy lady (probably just temporary insanity) who decided to get a photo of all 4 of her kids backed by the stunning formations. Kid number 1 (ish) didn't want to cooperate and so set off a reaction that resulted in his mom screaming at him to sit their and smile g-dd-mmit while the rest of the 40 people on the tour wondered what she was thinking. Don't know if that will make it into the Christmas cards but I used the opportunity to point out to Olivia how wonderful her own mother really is- ha.

Oil Pastels

Most of the work I did while at the Hubbell Trading Post are oil pastel over ink and acrylic on paper, 22"x22". This is my most abstracted image. I sat just outside the hogan working on a large stone table sitting on a log bench. The log bench was actually just a portion of a trunk cut the correct height for the table. I made several of the drawings from this position because it was a comfortable, beautiful place to sit.

Back Home

I have just returned from my residency at the Hubbell Trading Post in Arizona. It was fantastic and I have lots of great stories and photos to share. But FIRST I have to get the photos all down loaded onto my computer. That simple task is causing me some anguish. But never fear I'll conquer this annoyingly difficult chore (which should really be simple but of course is not...thank you computers) and have things up and running by tomorrow.

Moving Along

We just left the Grand Canyon and are now in Flagstaff, AZ at the public library. I'm desperately trying to transfer my photos to cd's so I can take a thousand more on the way home at the end of the week. So scarry to delete photos when they are not on my own computer. Here's hoping it all works out. At least I've got the three I uploaded here!

Collared Lizard

I have better photos of this guy but this is the one where he came after me. Small but scary. He lives in the Petrified Forest National Park. I'll share more photos and stories next week when I get back home.

Made it to Albuquerque

Three days of driving and we made it to Albuquerque last night. Yesterday we drove a marathon 12 hours. Or rather, I drove. Olivia has been a great co-pilot but for some reason they just won't let 12 year olds drive. On our second day we stopped off at Maramec Caverns. It really is beautiful. In fact I wish they would just turn the lights on and let you look. Way too touristy and cheesy including a "light show" where you could hear the guide flipping the switches at the back of the room. I think that was to add his special touch to the programed light show. What a way to treat a spectacular natural form.

Last night we stayed at a friends house north of Albuquerque. Absolutely beautiful. The moon rose over the small mountain and was just gorgeous. If I hadn't been so exhausted I would have sat out and enjoyed it.

Today we head to the residency. Time to settle in and start making some drawings.

Heading to Arizona

I'm heading out to an artist residency at the Hubbell Trading Post in Arizona. I don't think I'll have internet access until I return Aug 26th. But then you can look forward to some great photos.

More Polination

Sam

For more than 14 years we had one of the worlds greatest dogs. We miss him terribly.