Saint Francis Church, Santa Fe. Oil pastel.
Saint Francis Basilica, Santa Fe. View from the Plaza.
My recent visit to New Mexico was the tail end of a 10-day road trip that went through the Canyonlands of Utah. Santa Fe got added to the itinerary because of a lovely exhibit currently showing at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. I just had to see it. “The Faraway” features familiar O’Keeffe paintings of Northern New Mexico alongside photos, sketches and artifacts of her camping excursions. As an artist who sketches and paints when I travel, I was curious to see exactly how she worked (especially in the rustic conditions of nearly 70 years ago), and how she translated her field work into those huge and glorious paintings. A few of the installations showed me exactly what I wanted to see: field sketch, next to final painting, next to photograph of the actual location. It was so cool to see what she saw, and how she sketched and painted that reality into her own voice. In that spirit, I offer a sketch and a photo of Saint Francis Basilica in Santa Fe. I am working on a small painting of this piece, which will be showing in November at Stonehenge Studios, and of course posted in the travel section of this site!