June 24, 2010

Each morning I begin to write. I check the calendar, and am always amazed that time passes, quietly and so swiftly. Yesterday was again a very hot day, the wind blew from the East and therefore the smoke wasn't as bad as it has been. The fire is south of us, and usually the wind comes from that direction, or slightly southwest. But by late afternoon I am exhausted, I dream of cooler days in Northern New Mexico.

In February my sister and I took a trip to Sedona, Arizona. I wrote in my journal, "The red rocks rise above us in fantastical shapes, it is an open air cathedral. We are surrounded by magic." We got sandwiches and went for a picnic, before our hike in Boynton Canyon. The day was perfect, the temperature couldn't have been better. I think there are certain places that we keep forever in our hearts. We are, who we are, because we have been there.
And Sedona is one of those places.

It is through the mark, made by the hand, that art speaks for everyone, sometimes it is an abstract narrative, but it speaks of longing, grief, joy, beginning and endings.

The artist seeks color that is beyond what is seen with the eye. It is color that touches the soul. It is the mixing of colors, and color laid side by side to achieve vibrations which give meaning to what is seen. And it is the interrelation and interaction of color and forms which also give meaning.

In art there is another dimension. It exists in the mind and part of it is the untold story, which gives gravity to all that is apparently visible.

My work is not so much about the external world so much as finding the place that the external and the internal worlds meet; heart, mind and deed.

In creating my work, there is always an element of surprise. I do not know what it will look like until it is finished. And often I do not know how,-- yet, as Susan Griffin says, "something wants to be seen."

"And the the "person" who became intensified with the life of nature, the rhythm of the seasons, the light and the color of New Mexico landscapes. Loving it, wanting to be a part of it, wanting to know it,...down to the crystalline structure of the mineral grains, the chemistry of the clays, the relationship between heights and depths that shape the rivers." --Peggy Pond Church, Bones Incandescent

I like to think that I am the "person" who became intensified with all of New Mexico!