Georgia O'Keeffe Country

This past weekend the family drove to Abiquiu, NM for lunch and to see the breathtaking scenery.  We drove through the heart of O'Keeffe country and it was like stepping into one of her paintings.  I have always been a huge Georgia O'Keeffe fan because she is the first famous artist I took an interest in when I was young, her work just spoke to me.  Her paintings are not hard to miss in New Mexico since images and prints plaster many businesses here.  Even in my wedding photos I am standing in front of a wall of various O'Keeffe prints with my husband.  She's everywhere!  The first artwork I ever owned were a couple landscape prints of hers, that was before I ever knew I would become an artist myself.  Today I am a fan of her life, how she came to New Mexico and lived in solitude in the middle of nowhere to produce her artwork.  How she drove out to the desert in her truck to paint the mesas and hills from life, and her deep love of the country here.

 

     

  ~O'Keeffe's beloved Pedernal~

 

I thought I'd share a few of Georgia's landscapes along with some photos of the colorful hills and cliffs of Abiquiu.  Portrait of an Artist, the biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, by Laura Lisle is the biography I read and really enjoyed.  And if you'd like to see gorgeous photos of her house in Abiquiu please see the photos from July 1981 Architectural Digest Here.   

 

 

         



above photo by Annie Leibovitz, hills behind Georgia O'Keeffe's home

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks Nat'l Monument, NM

On Mother's Day we all took a picnic to Tent Rocks National Monument near Cochiti Pueblo south of Santa Fe, NM.  It was a beautiful trip and the weather was perfect when we arrived with patches of clouds creating light/shadow on the hills and rock formations in a very magical way.  You could feel the history of this place and the ancientness of the rocks, the history of time passing slowly in front of you as you study the color and layers of sediment in the cliffs.  I love how everything seems to reach upward here, like fingers trying to touch the clouds and sky.  Even the old pinons and juniper have heavy branches aimed skyward, and pine trees growing out of rocky outlooks like lonely sentinels.



I hadn't visited Tent Rocks since I was a little girl, yet it must have made quite an impression on me because as soon as we hit the trail I had such a nostalgic feeling.  It must be the magic of the place.  I was so amazed by time, and being there with my children and sharing this with them when it only felt like yesterday that I had been running on the trail.  I remembered collecting Apache Tears when I had been there before, which are buried in the sand all over the area.  Apache Tears are small round pieces of obsidian, or volcanic black glass, that have been worn smooth by the wind and sand.  The tale behind the Apache Tear is that in each stone is an embedded tear of a weeping Apache woman which you can see if you hold the translucent stone to the light.  The women were not only mourning the death of the warriors after a great battle where many had fought and lost, but also for the death of the 'great fighting spirit' of the Pinal Apaches, which is quite sad.  Now, they are said to be good luck and offer protection, that the weeping women shed all their tears so you don't have to.

~Apache Tears~

 We took the back roads home and enjoyed vast views to the west and an amazing sunset.  It was a perfect day.

It's Spring and Love is in the Air~*~*

 Once there was a fine young coyote.

 

 King of his domain

 

 Along came a lovely lady

 

 Their paths crossed

 

 She was demure, he was charming

 

 a chase ensued

 

 together, at last!

 



Sunrise Springs, La Cienega

 

 

 

 

Randall Davey House II

Randall Davey house in Summer

I thought I'd post a few more pics of the intriguing Randall Davey house where my sister was married.  I had to research Randall Davey to find out more about him and his artwork.  Davey was a prominent artist in New York City in the early 1900s.  In New York he studied under Robert Henri and eventually became an assistant instructor.   During the summers he travelled, painting and teaching with Henri across the US and Europe.  During that time Henri suggested to Davey that he visit New Mexico, most likely due to Henri's contact with the Taos Society of Artists, and in 1919 Davey drove across the country from New York to Santa Fe.  Once he arrived in Santa Fe he knew he would stay.  He bought an unused mill and converted it to his studio and home which were eventually donated to the Audubon Society and is part of 135 acres of national forest and the Santa Fe watershed land at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Davey loved New Mexico.  And what a dashing character!  He owned horses, played polo, and frequently painted polo scenes.  He had a great bar tucked away in the back of the house and was a purchaser of locally made spirits during prohibition.  There were many gatherings and social events at his home, they sounded quite lively.  He hired locals to pose for his artworks, asking neighbors to wear costumes so he could paint different scenes.  He also loved music and taught himself to play cello, which he had received as a Christmas present.  There are many portraits of local practicing musicians during that time hanging in his home and studio, along with still life, formal nudes and landscape, not to mention the many fantastic murals in and outside the home. 

"Living out here in New Mexico I can see the political manipulation in the art world back east, and I know that if I chose I could have more success with my work if I wanted to play their game...  But I prefer to live here and paint for myself, and get along with teaching.. and raising chickens."

"I wouldn't trade my life here where I can hunt, shoot, ride, for all the committee-going and boot-licking you've got to do in a city for anything. An artist might starve for food here, but he'll starve spiritually in a place like New York."

--Randall Davey

the artist's cello

The Studio

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