delicate arch, arches national park

i am at a loss for words to describe the beauty

i saw on my recent trip to arches national park in colorado

 and  monument valley, utah.

balance rock, arches

so i quote edward abbey,

'out there is a different world, 

older and greater and

deeper by far

than ours,

a world which

surrounds and sustains....'

my iphone pics will give you a taste of 

the beauty.  hopefully you will one day

be able to see with your 

own heart.

cairns point the way to the trail 

a meal enjoyed at jeane-pierre restaurant and bakery in durango, colorado 

an large, intact skeleton found on a hike

brought home to my friends' for future project.

we felt like amateur paleontologists.

 sunrise over arches

 sunset, monument valley

rico hotel, rico, colorado




we have been in a drought situation in southern california.

this means 5 minute showers, drought tolerant plants,

reusing water runoff to water plants.  my eyes were singing

to see green everywhere!

telluride, colorado filling up with tourists for the 

blue grass festival this weekend

my travel journal, a gift  made by terry garret

sculpture in front of our friend's front door

 petryglyphs in arches

and a few of my teabags drawn with 

few supplies while on the trip 

i am a big sports fan so we watched the copa america

tournament along with keeping up with the nab finals.

i am glad to be back posting here on my blog.  

tell me what you have been up to!

posting with paint party friday friends.

thank you eva and kristen for hosting 

the weekly group of creatives for over 6 years!

Is posting a sketchy, unpolished piece like going outside without your make up on? 

 Maybe, but is there anything 'wrong' with either? 

 While here in cozy corner Utah this week I've done some loose gestural drawings 

using Inktense color blocks, not focusing on a finished piece right now,

 enjoying the spontaneous mark making and attempting only slightly at making it recognizable...

and did I enjoy it. One is my memory of Stewart Falls, the other of a rolling stream 

where i sat looking at the bridge, water running merrily over rocks 

and all the different colors of green wishing i had my sketchbook. 

I'm thinking that creating in different ways with different mediums 

can only feed my painting. What do you think?

Along those veins I made a silver bracelet in two hours. 

I selected a stone and wire for the cuff, 

designed an organic shape for a platform, 

cut a bezel, 

soldered them together, 

set the stone,  textured the platform. 

And voila. I made jewelry  many years ago 

so the process was not totally new to me 

but it was fun to revisit.

Happy Paint Party Friday to all participating 

and a lovely weekend to you. XO