After the Storm

A Crescent moon hangs over my home and Kim’s Airstream (see previous post A Very Mini Artist’s Colony in New Mexico) in the early morning after the big snowstorm…

It’s impossible to capture the beauty of the sun as it rises over the mountain, lighting the valley as Kim and I take a morning walk on the old land grant path behind my home, but I can always try…

Arriving back on the land, a snow covered scene of this summer’s picnic area draws a fine point on the season’s dramatic change…

… as do these snow covered morning glories–ghosts of summer past I’m thinking…

I take great pleasure in my wood piles all safely covered, dry underneath their protective tarps, and ready for the fires that will keep us all warm this winter…

Here in New Mexico the sun always comes out after the storms creating the most beautiful cobalt and cerulean shadows you could ever hope to dream up…

But of course we must dig out from the snow…

… making ready for the next big one, a good morning’s work…

And there are often consequences that come with a storm like the loss of power due to a tree limb taking down a power line. But there is always the wood stove on which to make the day’s pasta sauce…

… and Kim’s 60,000 BTU gas burner (he says after working in a commercial kitchen one wants lots of fire when you need it–a good thing to have when the power goes out I can tell you) to cook the pasta…

… and that same wonderful wood heater to warm the plates…

I live a privileged life up here on the mountain, one made up of many diverse and beautiful experiences: quiet solitude within nature, good friends, good food and good dogs (oh, and yes, I must include the cats if I know what’s good for me), snowstorms that bring the summer’s water and that immerse me in a sense of the land, wood to keep us warm, challenges that keep me on my toes… so much life that it seems I’m going to burst sometimes. And it is this intensely meaningful life that finds its way into my paintings…

… that in turn find a wonderful home in Hand Artes Gallery here in Truchas…

As an artist, as a human being, I just don’t think I could ask for more…

And as I write this the snow is falling once again, my three well fed dogs have gone out to survey their land knowing they have a warm fire and love to come home to. And within me more paintings are waiting to be born.

Love to you all,

Jeane