New Mexico Trip

Las Golondrinas Adobe Church, 8" x 10" Oil on Panel

Last weekend I traveled to New Mexico to do some painting and pick up a painting from a show in Albuquerque. There I had an enjoyable visit with Albuquerque painter Jeff Potter. The opportunity to paint in the Sandia Mountains was hampered by cloud cover and haze from nearby wildfires so Jeff and I headed north in his pickup truck looking for weather more conducive to plein air painting. We went to a living history museum near Santa Fe called El Rancho de las Golondrinas where we set up and painted on opposite sides of an old adobe church. The painting shown at the top of this post is the one I did there. After painting we took a brief tour of some of the other places on the old ranch where park guides told us a little about the history of El Rancho de las Golondrinas. I wish I could spend more time there. History is a big deal to me. It not only provides a standard to test modern progress by but gives insight into attitudes and problem solving methods quite different from what exists today. Some of those attitudes and problem solving methods could be very useful in these times.

Later that day the weather around Albuquerque improved and I was able to go to a place near Jeff's house and do a quick painting of the Sandias. 

Sandia Canal, 8" x 10" Oil on Panel

The trip home took me through a lot of typical New Mexico landscapes of long mesas and big skies. I look forward to my next painting trip there!