Corrales, Bernalillo, Algodones

I went looking for the gold.

Autumn Gold. New Mexico Gold.

I spent the last two mornings driving and shooting photographs.

My destinations were Corrales, Bernalillo, and Algodones.

I think I could still spend another eight hours driving down little dirt roads

and not see everything there is to be seen.

Here are some of my best shots:

 Beautiful old cottonwood

 Fall Harvest Decorations

 The Old Church Road acequia

 Virginia creeper and adobe

 Loved the light on these prayer flags

 Dried corn stalks against the mountain

 Harvesting the apples

 Oh my gosh, the cranes were out!

I saw them in several fields.

They noticed me but I was very quiet.

 An old tractor put out to pasture.

 Beautiful horse

 The cranes are everywhere.

 The old church with a little fall color

 A warm adobe against the fall colors

 Cactus pear fruit

 The old peace sign near the Milagro Winery

 Pumpkins are still in the field!

 Sweet peas are still blooming!

 The last of the red leaves on an old shrub

 Actually right near my house.

Oooh, scary.

 Also near my house.

Even scarier!!

 Headed out to Bernalillo

 Along the road, a nice sweet little stream

 with the Sandia mountains as a backdrop.

 Beauty in the fall colors

 Stored hay for horses and cows

You can see the Algodones plateau on the right.

 The Algodones plateaus

 An old abandoned camper under the cottonwoods

 A very brave unescorted chicken

 Beautiful dry arroyo

 Virginia Creeper and old shutters

 The Albuquerque Open Space (yes, I went there too).

Serenity with the ducks

Hope you enjoyed this photo tour.

I have a craving to take as many pics as I can

these next couple of days because the gold is fleeting.

new directions

Hi all,

There has been a lot of really cool stuff happening

the past several months:

I was chosen as Poster Artists for the Corrales Harvest Festival.

I went back to Weems Gallery Old Town.

I collaborated with twelve other wonderfully talented artists on a group show.

I took day trips to Chimayo, Truchas, Penasco, Dixon, Jemez, 

Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch and the Christ in the Desert Monastery.

I painted at some great locations!

I also bought a new small paint box to use in my car.

Here is the Festival Poster:

A few of the paintings I have at Weems Old Town Gallery:

A few of the paintings from my plein air collaboration 

with my new artist friends:

I had such fun painting in Corrales, it's a beautiful village

and the people are so welcoming.

And here are just a few photos of my recent day trips!

Enough to keep me motivated during the winter if I have to paint from photos:

 Whew. Now is the time to step back and re-evaluate.

This is the time of year that I think about what I want to do next year.

What direction do I want to go?

What projects might I want to work on?

And this is what I have come up with:

~Have my "SOUP AND SANTA" event the first weekend in December.

~Just REALLY enjoy the holidays!

~Paint one large old-style acrylic each month for one of my galleries.

~Start a new small 6x8" series

~Work on a series of figures and nudes

~Do LOTS of plein air painting

~Enter a couple of shows

And last but certainly not least, get in shape for knee surgery!!!

That is the biggest one, because I now

realize just how much more I could do artwise if my knees were good.

More plein air painting, more hiking, more everything.

What are your plans for the coming year?

I would love to hear from everyone about their vision and goals, 

personally, artistically, and spiritually.

Here's to a great holiday season!