Halloween • All Saints Day • Dia de los Muertos
Three intertwined events in New Mexico
I honored two – stayed away from All Saints Day though – no church for me
One of my only spiritual experiences happened in a church on All Saints Day
and it scared the heck out of me – cut too deep
anyway…..
I’m completely embracing Dia de los Muertos
I pored over ofrendas reading every scrap dedicated to people who have passed through this life
danced to the beat of a skeleton samba band
oohed and aahed at the Marigold y Muertos parade
pounded the earth to the ancient sounds of Aztec drumming
Every day I become more and more New Mexican
feel it seeping like sand into my every pore
aaaah……amor
It was brief, but I ran out with my camera to collect evidence of it’s existence. Snow in the desert always makes me happy!
Poor neglected blog – I keep daydreaming of these beautiful, thoughtful, erudite posts and they’ve just accumulated in my brain like a logjam. Oh well, I need to brush those aborted posts aside and get on with it! My parents just got into town – we’ve been cleaning house preparing for their arrival – and having a lot of fun doing other things also! Lots of weekend adventures. Balloon Fiesta being a big one and the other being a trip to El Rancho de Las Golondrinas. Here’s my favorite image from Balloon Fiesta – it feels primal.
My boy and his girl – dancing at our block party last weekend – a lovely evening full of friends, good food, firepits and candlelight, music, dancing, and s’mores. I wish I could have captured the sounds of that evening – the ebb and flow of the many conversations, the music, the fire crackling of the fire – lovely, lovely, lovely.
We actually stalked this guy – I was so excited when I first saw him that I dropped my camera and missed the shot – so Chris drove ahead a few blocks and we waited for him to pass us. Thankfully he did not see the crazy woman in the minivan snapping pics of him. That would have been awkward. 
One of my favorite things in the world is playing in Photoshop – textures, layers, colors, filters – I seriously can’t get enough!! Here’s what I did tonight – took a boring photo and made it say what I want it to say!
Original
My version
So, got a new job – it starts on Monday – doing the same old, same old at a sign shop. I’m still looking for other work as my ideal would be something part-time so I can focus my attention on other parts of my life (family and art, specifically).
Speaking of art – my gallery – The Wooden Cow Gallery and Art Space – was just named the Best Gallery in The Alibi’s “Best in Burque” edition. How cool is that?? And we just opened six months ago?? We Rock!
We had our first Friday opening yesterday. One of my friends, Maggie Tomei, was our featured artists. Maggie’s work is amazing and I’m so glad that our gallery was able to provide a forum for her to present her work. The theme for our show this month is Waste Not – all works have to utilize some sort of found, recycled, repurposed, etc. o.bjects. It was our most submitted for show so far – and we juried in 15 artists! All with very cool work.
Small story from the opening:
One of the theme show artists introduced me to her dad, noting that he is a photographer who has his work in galleries on Canyon Road in Santa Fe (ie. fancy, expensive, international galleries). And HE shook off that introduction and proceeded to tell me how pleased he was that we had given her the opportunity to show her work, how amazing her work is. He was sooooo proud of her – they took so many pictures of her and her work last night.That is why I am a gallery owner – I love helping artists get their work out there to the public – and I love watching people interact with and be touched by the work we show.
I also attended the opening at Chroma Studios Gallery – I have my encaustic work there – and it was their one year anniversary celebration! Paula Manning-Lewis and her husband Aaron Lewis own it – and they are a dynamic duo – she is a painter and he is a musician/singer/songwriter. Paula was just featured on KOAT discussing opening a small business during these economic times and she was dead-on with everything she said.
Both openings were well-attended and people were buying! It just goes to show if you have good work there’s always a buyer for it.
I also stopped in at Matrix Fine Art and finished paying for a print I’ve had on layaway there – it’s now hanging in my home and I love it even more! And I got to see their new show featuring the work of Stacy Hawkinson – his work is fun and vibrant – and he’s a really cool guy.
I’d really like to do a nice thoughtful post – but I’m reduced to pics once again.
I’ve come to the realization that I just can’t do a photo a day at this point – too much going on in my life – being sick this past week has sucked! In a concession to that I’m renumbering my “photo-a-day” to the date I took them. I will still try to take a pic everyday – I’m just not going to beat myself up when I don’t manage it.
