Tuesday, October 9, 2012

REFLECTIONS on SPIRIT of PLACE at GHOST RANCH Fall 2012



Ghost Ranch Art Studio
Wearing my new tee shirt and wrapped in a wool Indian blanket in El Rito, the sky begins to lighten pre-sunrise. Two ravens are having an urgent conversation in the purple shadows of the sage bush. I have a bit of time to finish my painting before heading back to Santa Cruz.

The Rising Moon Gallery is across from Bodie’s General Store in Abiquiu on Highway 64, an hour north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is run by two painters, Jay Buros and Bill Page and compares with the world renown galleries on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, probably a lot more interesting than many. It boasts of 80 artists, mostly local, except a few like me that slip under the seasonal wire. This is where I got the tee shirt that says, ABIQUIU, A Place to Reimagine Your Life. If there are any specific places on the planet where this is possible, Abiquiu is one of them. Before Bill and Jaye bought the gallery they generously opened up their adobe studio for a couple of Anavami's Re-mything Painting workshops which began a new relationship with the land in Abiquiu..
Ghost Ranch

I just finished giving my first 5-day Transformational Painting Workshop yesterday at Ghost Ranch: www.ghostranch.org. Every one of my eight participants have been coming to Ghost Ranch for years.  I have to say off the record that they do not come for the accommodations or the cuisine, but for the place. It is no mystery how Georgia O’Keeffe could stay engaged painting here for decades. Europeans come to Ghost Ranch regularly for the quality of classes offered, but mostly the incredible “Spirit of Place” which was the title of the nine piece show that we offered on the last day of painting.

Ghost Ranch
It was thrilling and challenging to embrace the participants that ranged from professional to first time painters. Although, I planned a Mystique of Place Workshop, the sophistication and openness of the group inspired me to introduce the Cosmological Powers also into the painting process, which proved to be very rich. 

I would like to do another workshop next year in the early fall and have found out that if I bring my own group we would have better choice of accommodations. It would cost the same for the participants but would make it work for me with a small group. I am starting a list of those who are interested, as it requires an early deposit. 

5 day workshop
Be sure to sign up at the bottom of the page to follow the blog and if you are local do come by for Open Studio Tours, October 13, 14 20 & 21, to see my two new Wall Painting Series, inspired by Italy and the Animal in the Sky Series. I just realized that the painting that I did at Ghost Ranch also has animals in the sky.

November 15 & 16 Studio Anavami is sponsoring Creativity Constellations Workshop with Krista Jarrard and Ellen and I will do a collaborative workshop December 15 & 16. Please call with any questions, 831 420-1349.