More New Mexico Journal Pages

The New Mexico journey continues with more journal pages.  From Albuquerque, we took the Turquoise Trail scenic road to Santa Fe.  The Tinkertown Museum near Sandia Park contains outsider artist Ross Ward's lifelong work (40 years) to carve miniature wood figures and construct Tinkertown with many different vignettes of villagers working, playing, eating, shopping.  My favorite was the old fashioned circus that came to town.  Outside the museum, he constructed many ironwork figures and sculptures.  We stopped for lunch at the Ghost Ranch Cafe in Madrid.

We arrived for a few busy days in Santa Fe with not much time for sketching.  I really liked the pockets that I included in my journal to collect postcards and other ephemera.  I folded a manila file folder to make a pocket, folded the page in half, stitched tape on the book-bound edge.

Highlights of Santa Fe for me included the International Folk Art Museum, Canyon Road and other art galleries, The St John's Bible exhibit at the Museum of History,  Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (more on this museum in the next post) and several good restaurants- Pasqual's, La Casa Sena and il piatto.

Our journey continued on the scenic High Road to Taos.  We stopped to see the El Santuario de Chimayó. It's a pilgrimage site where the Crucifix of our Lord of Esquipulas was found in 1810.  The chapel was built between 1813 and 1816 and is much smaller than I expected it to be.  The dirt is considered to be holy and many come here searching for spiritual, emotional and physical healing.

I've wanted to visit Chimayó for many years.  It reminds me of how this part of the US was once Mexico.  The beliefs of Mexicans, Pueblo Indians and the Roman Catholic Church mix to create a sacred place.

Behind the chapel, I found this shrine to the Virgin de Guadalupe.

The next post will highlight Taos, Taos Pueblo and Georgia O'Keeffe.

New Mexico Travel Journal

I just returned from a wonderful trip to New Mexico and want to share my travel journal with you.  I made the title page before leaving home.  I liked the  "funky minuscules" inspired by Tracy Bautista in Lisa Engelbrecht's book entitled Modern Mark Making from classic calligraphy to hip hand lettering.  I used these letters and inspiration from a lettering class to be taught by Jill Berry at Portland Art and Soul.

My travel journals always include a visual calendar.  I stamped the month and dates, added my sketches and other ephemera that I found a long the way.  We started our trip in Albuquerque and spent two nights there.

 

Our first stop was Old Town Albuquerque.  We ate lunch at the Church Street Cafe patio and toured the area.  The sun felt so good.  It'd been cold and pouring down rain in Portland when our flight took off.  It didn't take long to re-acclimate to 80° temperatures.

 

I liked the colors and arid desert of the New Mexican landscape. The aerial view flying into Albuquerque caught my attention.  The circle crops below looked like  labyrinths from the air. The next day, we visited the National Petroglyph Monument and took a little hike in Boca Negra Canyon.

 

I enjoyed sketching some of the petroglyphs that were painted/carved on the volcanic rocks along the trail.  I'll have more pages to share as they are completed.

Happy May Day

Congratulations to Marilyn for winning my blog giveaway.  Thank you readers for stopping by and wishing a happy blog anniversary.  

I hope all of you have a Happy May Day.  I remember the flower baskets that we made as kids and hung on the front doors of neighbors and family members.  We filled the baskets with spring flowers in bloom-  lilacs, tulips, bluebells, lilies of the valley and rhododendrons. We'd ring the door bell, hide and gleefully see the reaction of the May Day basket recipient.

Today, we sketched at Monticello Antiques and thought about May Day traditions.  I wonder if children still make and deliver flower baskets.

Last week, we spent some time at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden sketching.  This garden is a Portland treasure.  When it started to rain, we headed indoors.

Hopefully, we'll return and spend more time sketching here.

This next week, I'm off to New Mexico and may not blog until I return home.  It's my first trip there and I'm looking forward to the art, culture, food and sights of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos.