Saturday, March 24, 2012

Return of the traveler

 Wonderful to be able to get to Tucson and be able to hold Mama's hand and see light come to her face.  We had some good sharings and I am grateful that I can be with her as she makes her way through these last years...wheelchair bound, dazed and confused, but laughter still rises from her soul.  Good to share some of these visits with Martha and to visit her life, meet her friends and support team.  But ever so grateful to return to home, yard, cat, manfriend, studio and my life!
 Did ads which needed doing, did some films as part of film festival and then made it into studio for a bit yesterday afternoon.  Not to challenge myself too much I did some small 6x6 studies in oil from photos taken while on our day adventure to Buenos Aires Wildlife Area just north of the border.  Wonder large grasslands of this abandoned ranch which sits just east of the Native sacred mountain Boboquivri.  I didn't include that painting because the shot was just too blurry...see last photo scooped up here.
 Martha in red and Liisa, friend from Vermont who has moved to desert west of Tucson, were my companions for this day hike.  The weather was turning more chilly...they call it winter and here that is obvious as all the grasses are still in winter tones.
 Here is the lake we walked around, now dry as the dam went out years ago.  I was so taken with the grass textures and different types.  Martha recognizes a maze, but I think it is only irregular growth.  How will these become paintings?  More to be explored.  I turned down the chance to be an inspirational speaker next weekend at a local conference....just too much all at once.  I need to channel the inspiration into my own work rather than talk about it.
 The California poppies were blooming.  Liisa calls out "Martha, you have got to stop!"  Wonderful to walk among them.  We were driving some of the back roads in the preserve, but when we neared the mountains and the growth was thicker, we started to get paranoid that folks could be hiding in the growth...that does go on unfortunately.
View of Boboquivri, sacred mountain.  I felt its presence all day while we wandered.
Must be off...its almost movie time again...seeing Windfall about wind power and a town in upstate NY which defeated the project.  A political problem we are dealing with here in VT.

More soon again.  Glad to be back.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Love these sketches and the wide open spaces in your shots, the prospect of walking far far out into them.

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

Beautiful photos...the winter colors of Tucson are subtle and rich. Good to get to the studio and stay with all that impressed you in color!

Maggie Neale said...

Annie and Mary Ann, thanks for your visits and your words. Big spaces, big skies, inspiration. Snow blows today; good to remember Tucson.

janetvanfleet said...

Interesting about wind power. I am just back from a tiny village in Spain called Acequias. There were huge windmills around on surrounding hills in the Sierra Nevadas, and they were really beautiful, doing their slow dance. I saw windmills all over in Spain and then in Ireland when the plane was coming in to Dublin, and it was good to know that the need for power was up front and clear through these installations.