I don’t think I’ve ever documented a trip so fully, but this one was indeed special. The nice thing about blogging is that readers can choose to read and/or look as much, or as little, as they please. So please do read on … or not 😉

As we headed out from the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, I took one last picture …

Then we headed to the Taos Ski Valley, just to see what it was like on the way up into the mountains …

Don got out to walk around, but I took a pass. He came back saying he felt like his feet weren’t attached. I wonder why …

Then we headed down the way we came …

Back in Taos we had a great lunch of chillies rellenos and enchiladas at La Cueva, visited a few more galleries, and spotted a good candidate for a future visit …

After which we finally headed out of Taos …

on our way to the Abiquiu Inn (already documented in real time here). And in a bit of perfect timing, I picked up a message from Barbara Clark saying that her paintings could be seen there …

The paintings were hung in the Inn cafe, where we had a trout dinners two ways: blue corn tacos and a more traditional grilled fillet. The kitchen was slammed, so our meal was somewhat extended, which ended up being a good thing as we got into a great conversation with the folks at the next table.

They were from Baltimore and were planning to paint out at Ghost Ranch. And in a wonderful coincidence, it turned out that she interned with Textile Curator Linda Baumgarten at Colonial Williamsburg around the same time as I started working there … over 40 years ago! So of course I told them about my visit to the textile vault at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

We parted after dessert and then, on impulse, I went back in and asked if there was some way to contact them. With a wry look, Kathleen Kotarba said she had a website, but her husband Michael didn’t, although he could be searched online. And search for them I did …

It was the perfect lead-in to our last art-full day.

We didn’t spend all our time in galleries and museums, although my posts so far have certainly given that impression. As the rain cleared, there were hints of some beautiful sky-scapes in-between the clutter of wires …

So we pulled into the back of a service station with a clear view and I switched to video …

Then, after grabbing a late afternoon lunch, we headed out to the Rio Grande gorge to see if we could catch a good sunset …

While we waited, I turned the camera to Taos Mountain in the east, only to find it blanketed, the wind whipping the clouds against its flanks …

Until at last the light faded …

and we headed back over the bridge on the way to yet another dessert-for-dinner …

It’s hard to believe we were in Taos two weeks ago … it feels both like yesterday and forever ago.

Our first full day began with an inspiring studio visit with painter Barbara Zaring …

who I learned about from reading Natalie Goldberg’s Living Color. I had emailed asking if she was showing in any galleries, to which the answer was no, but she invited us to her studio instead. I wish I had pictures, but it just didn’t feel right somehow to take pictures in her home, and so we spent a half hour talking, which went all too fast.

She had one painting on the easel, which she explained had been cut down from a larger piece that no longer had “juice.” And my eyebrows surely went up as she told of another painting that she had cut down and cut down until there was nothing left … a fate she has visited on about 20 other also-rans. Barbara explained that she needs to feel and see “juice” as she paints and so, after years of painting landscapes, one day found her realizing that just wasn’t working for her any longer, and she moved on to abstracts. “Juice” … gotta remember that.

As we left the neighborhood Don slowed the car and asked me to take a picture or two …

Then we headed to the Harwood Museum, where we strolled through the galleries (click any image to get an enlarged view) …

including the Agnes Martin permanent installation, with which I got up close and personal (museum security must hate me, but I do keep my hands behind my back to reassure them I won’t touch) …

As always, we stopped in the museum’s gift shop, where we learned of an interesting local artist, whose greeting card …

led us to track down her paintings at the Ammann Gallery just off the Plaza. It was a cooperative gallery and Laurie Balliett just happened to be “on duty” when we sailed in shortly before closing. Long story short, we ended up buying this oil painting which was so recently completed that it wasn’t yet dry …

so she will ship it to us in a week or so. I loved that there was green in the sunset and chamisa in bloom at the bottom.

Better yet, upon learning that she likes to paint en plein air, I asked, “Where did you go to paint this?”

“Out my back door,” she replied. What a life … no wonder her smile is so genuine!

And in hindsight I realized how much the colors reminded me of the Dan Namingha painting that I admired in Santa Fe, both so true to the land of the high desert that we have come to love …

But wait, there’s one more thing. I had looked longingly in the windows of the Common Thread the last two times we were in Taos, but both times it was closed. The third time proved to be the charm, but oh … with our suitcases full to overflowing, what was I to do when faced with this array of fine cottons block-printed in India?

In the end I chose one print to make into a boho top and let Don talk me into a linen dress that was “one size fits all” and too good a buy to leave behind …

It was only later that I realized I could have picked out more fabrics and had them shipped home. Maybe next time 😉