Napa Time

I've been to Napa Valley twice in two days. The first day I took my Nikon and shot all the "normal" things you'd find in Napa. Grapes, vinyards, terraced hillsides. And me in front of the sign of course. I spent the whole afternoon -- but the light was harsh and even when the sun was low the light still wasn't that great.

Saturday I went again and had a whole different experience. This time I went with a group in a van. It was fun to meet new people. The leader of the group is in the wine business in Napa, and while driving us around gave us some insight on owners and producers in the wine region. Very interesting. We stopped at a couple of wineries but didn't do their full tours - which I may go back for during the week. One of the tours actually included a gondola ride!

We visiting a few art galleries, too, which I found completely inspiring. One was a contemporary glass artist - using glass in entirely new ways. Since I have a background in glass work, I found his studio and workspace completely fascinating. New ideas are bubbling to the surface. I'm remembering the two cases of glass I've saved in my garage for 25 years. Maybe it's now time to get it out.

Too Many Ideas

Now that Karen is headed home, I'm up on the mesa with too many new ideas, and everything is packed. I'm making sketches of compositions that might come alive when I get home. It's always better to have ideas than to have none, so I'm grateful for this latest surge of creativity. I think it was spawned by the combination of looking at gallery work and conversations with my artist friends. What a treat the past few days have been!

Analyzing Gallery Art

After a day of art-making on the mesa, Karen and I were invited to the neighbors for smoked ribs and grilled asparagus. I don't think Karen knew what she was getting into when she came to visit me out here. I have a whole community of friends, totally wonderful creative people different from any of my friends in Dallas. We both had a great time visiting and licking our greasy fingers.

This morning I packed up paintings to ship, and cleaned off my work surface, so my own work is not on my mind.

Today we headed back to town to see what's selling on Canyon Rd. We picked up Raya, and the three of us visited all our favorite galleries, and added some new ones to the "must visit" list. After exhausting ourselves, we went back to Raya's studio, had a coffee, and discussed what we had seen.

That's the process that is the most valuable. It's easy to go to a gallery, look at the work, form an opinion, and move on. But sharing that process with other artists adds a layer of depth to the whole experience. We each have different opinions and none of us minds saying what we think. So at the end of the day, each of us benefits from the words of the others, and speaking for myself, I have clarified some ideas I will work on when I get home. I'm sure Raya and Karen are thinking the same thing.

Karen goes home tomorrow, and I just hate that! But I also will be very interested to see how her Santa Fe experience shows up in her work. And mine, too, for that matter!

Art Critiques with Raya and Karen

Generations 6, 20 x 30

I took advantage of Karen's being here and brought out my new paintings for critique. She likes them! I might be on to something.

For her first day here, we did the obvious, picked up Raya, ate out, and went gallery hopping. It doesn't take long to hit overload, and when that happened, we put our feet up at Raya's fabulous studio, and had a cup of tea. The conversation never lagged as we discussed art fairs, galleries, and the art we had seen. We each have different perspectives and weren't shy about sharing our opinions!

It's another gorgeous day in northern New Mexico, and we're staying home to have a peaceful art day. Karen will be sketching, and I'll be finishing my last painting in the Generations series.

Gallery Hopping

Generations 5, 20 x 30

Since I'm getting a little stuck on the Generations series, it will do me good to take a stroll down Canyon Rd with Karen Jacobs tomorrow. I haven't been to any galleries since arriving here more than a week ago. I've been painting, and enjoying every minute of it, but now it's time to get out of the house, figuratively and physically.