Santa Fe Piper

Julie and I made our way to Taos, New Mexico to visit galleries and tour the countryside on February 20, 2016. It was a marvelous vacation after a difficult year. We had cared for my mother through her final year with the help of Denver Hospice and family and friends. She passed in December 2015. On a travel website I had reserved a room which I thought was in Taos. It turned out to be a very fortunate mistake.

The “Inn at the Delta” www.innatthedelta.biz/, which is owned and operated by the Garcia family, is located not in Taos, but nearby in Escondido. It is built in Spanish colonial style. The owner is a retired Dentist, whose family had originally owned a tavern in this location. Over the years the business expanded adding a restaurant, lodging and in recent years becoming a wedding venue. Today it serves mainly as a Bed and Breakfast and Event location. The owner took us on a leisurely tour of the premises filled with drawings, paintings and ceramic and woven art, which he has collected over a lifetime. It is a personal collection with some marvelous work. After a wonderful breakfast I asked the owner where I might find some sights off the beaten path. He suggested we take the “high road” back to Taos, and stop at his cousin's weaving studio.

His cousin is Irvin Trujillo, who works from his home shop with his wife Lisa, who is also an excellent weaver. Irvin shared that his family has a tradition going back seven generations producing fine quality hand crafted work. Some of his own work is on display at the Smithsonian and museums around the world. He told me of the process of dying the wool and working the loom. www.chimayoweavers.com/

From this High road we drove toward Taos, seeing studio after studio in small towns that dot the way. The next morning we went to church in Santa Fe, then spent Sunday and Monday visiting the tourist sights. In the Plaza I met a local musician, Johnny Alston,

who has taken up the southwestern art of Indian flute playing. His ethereal tunes fit the cool clear day in a heart piercing way. He was busking on the sidewalk, and I asked Julie to take several shots. When I returned home, I worked out a couple of pencil sketches, then settled on this composition which is in Pastel and Charcoal on sandpaper.