Take Time to Look

Four words on a bracelet became my mantra recently during four days in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I found it at the Georgia O'Keeffe Welcome Center in Abiquiú, a short drive from one of the artist's desert homes, the other 13 miles away at Ghost Ranch. She moved between the two locations regularly from 1949-1984, obviously taking time to look along the way. How could she not stop every few yards and be inspired by a canyon, cliff, mesa, or sky the color of lapis lazuli?

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Georgia O'Keeffe, New Mexico Landscape

Georgia O'Keeffe - Black Mesa Landscape

I took Ms. O'Keeffe's advice to heart (I don't feel that I know her well enough to call her Georgia) and began to look more closely at what might speak to me. I share a few of my sightings, a couple of which caught me by surprise.

Rock along a trail at Ghost Ranch

Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch

Mosaic at Sante Fe Botanical Garden

Shop in Santa Fe Plaza

Dead tree painted orange at Santa Fe Botanical Garden

So what pops out at you when you look at these photos? I asked myself that question along with... what do they have in common?  And the answer came, not so much as a revelation, but a validation of what I already knew. It's the same reason I'm so intuitively  drawn to Ms. O'Keeffe's paintings.

COLOR!

Colors of sky, rock, sunshine, of smiles and joy.  Colors that lift my spirit and spark my imagination. Why not paint a dead tree orange rather than cut it down?

I close with one more photo, which Ms. O'Keeffe would certainly appreciate since she loved painting flowers – big, colorful flowers.

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Georgia O'Keeffe - Austrian Copper Rose IV

What might we notice today?