I spent two weeks on the edge of a massive preserve in New Mexico, USA, “Ghost Ranch, an Education & Retreat Center, nestled amidst the breathtaking red and yellow cliffs of the Piedra Lumbre, is where vibrant colors dance to life, and the intersection of history and spirituality is discovered.” This a 21,000 acre preserve of land and the ranch’s facilities and programs have been leased to and managed by The National Ghost Ranch Foundation, Inc., an independent, 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
There were 7 artists in my cohort, we were each assigned an adobe casita that had a door to our bedroom, and a door right there, just the second door on my adobe porch to a large airy, brightly lit studio space. Our casita were in a private section of the Ranch, backing up to nature with no one beyond our houses. I loved the isolation, I could catch my breath, I remembered a part of myself that has been dormant in the background of householder life. The residency included access a large private well lit studio to spread out and paint. I lived in inspiration from nature, at almost 7000 ft in altitude (2133.6 meters), the light was striking, it was so different at that height. I think many of the same rocks I collected from the rivers at that height to admire, had I brought them home to my less than 700 ft altitude 213.36 (meters), I think the colors would have changed dramatically. The land there felt telluric lines, like the idea NASA talks about the land has electric currents on the earths crust, which reminds me of fairy lines, special energy lines on the planet like our meridians in our body. Like the idea nadi and marma -energy points on our body, this is how I recieved ghost ranch in my body, like that.
(in the 20th century this was a city slickers paradise like lynburg, cary grant, rockefellers, johnson & johnson & georgia okeeffe all came to ghost ranch, dude ranch city slicker playing cowboy to relax, and even oppenheimer, ansel adams, dh lawrence, h huxly – came to ghost ranch, oppenheimer liked to relax here while working on the bomb)) not to mention the Spanish having owned the property for a period of time and the 10 thousands years of vibrancy before that (and for before that dinosaurs- lots of them), Ghost Ranch felt special, and the history of Ghost Ranch is something else, read the book!
With the grace of time for self reflection, way up high above so much of the world, I had a personal revelation. That I have lived a life of being othered. My lived life experience are so niche I would be surprised if anyone else in the world has lived a parallel of my life. If you are unfamiliar with the myriad of my life and doubt my sincere expression, please email me for further conversations. I have lived life relentless in my pursuit of experience (the gamut, unifying, adventurous, clarifying etc etc etc), collecting information, gathering cultural understandings, pursuit of the subtle/mystical and concrete and a person curious to peel back more layers of the onion of my understanding of consciousness. The way I have come to understand it, and many before me consciousness is fundamental. (as a current favorite physicists explains in here)
I had not realized this under ground ore in my artwork (as the subconscious masks stuff so well for us), and until I found myself night after night over those two weeks-sitting for two hours+ at a time in the glorious middle of no-where and every-where -starring at the milky way above my head, contemplating a favorite poem
“A thousand years ago five minutes were
Equal to forty ounces of fine sand.
Outstare the stars. Infinite foretime and
Infinite aftertime: above your head
They close like giant wings, and you are dead.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
– it is worth it to read the poem in the full, imo
These nights with the milky way gave me the luxury of time and clarity to see my life and this is where this new piece of information surfaced from my subconscious and I now share it with you dear reader. So now I know more about my art and I am sharing that here with you. Being a painter, is about becoming a painter, just like being a person is about becoming a person.
*The placeholder picture was from the chair on my studio porch.
280 Private Drive 1708, Abiquiu, NM, 87510-2001