 |
| Tara and Linda |
Yesterday's wind ended up becoming today's snow and rain. But for the morning, we had a nice, dry slot of weather to paint in. After a breakfast of poached eggs and toast – one of our participants shared a new technique for poaching eggs – we took a short ride over to scenic Arroyo Seco.
 |
| Church of the Most Holy Trinity 9x12 oil |
Arroyo Seco was settled in 1804 on a Spanish land grant that was deeded back in 1745. In 1834, the Church of the Most Holy Trinity was erected. It was because of this church, styled on the earlier Nuevo Mexico mission churches, that I steered our group to Arroyo Seco. The building has some beautiful lines and is in a beautiful setting. The rest of the village, which is not much more than a crossroads, has a number of small shops, many of them occupying historic structures. Despite the overcast day, it was a delightful place to paint. Parking was easy, the coffee from
Taos Cow was fresh and tasty, and the locals didn't seem to mind having a group of painters around.
 |
| Arroyo Seco with Taos Mountain 9x12 oil |
By lunch time, the wind had gotten up and snow squalls were swirling over Wheeler Peak and Taos Mountain. The mountains even disappeared behind the snow for awhile and rain spat down on our rental. By early afternoon, though, the snow and rain stopped, so a few of us headed to town to check out the galleries. I shared some of my favorites with the group:
Parsons Gallery of the West,
Act One Gallery and
Total Arts Gallery. Parsons has one of my very favorite painters,
Walt Gonske (about whom I wrote here), and
Jerry Jordan. I was excited to find the work of
Dinah Worman in Act One, and also to find some nice pieces by
Doug Dawson and
Bill Cone in Total Arts.
 |
| Robert paints from the back of his truck - quite a studio! |
We also stopped by the Morada - more formally known as La Morada de Don Fernando de Taos -- to take a few photos. Once home to a local group of Pentitentes, it was bought in 1979 by the Kit Carson Museum and then, after a public outcry among the local religious, given to the local parish, which hopes to restore it at some point in the future.
 |
| La Morada de Don Fernando de Taos |
After the gallery tour, some of us adjusted paintings. I went through the ones I did today and made a few tweaks. It's hard to paint these wonderful adobe buildings in the kind of overcast light we had today. Tomorrow, we're expecting sunshine for our visit to the Mabel Dodge Luhan house.
For dinner, we headed over to
Orlando's in nearby El Prado. I've been to Orlando's before, and it's a great place for New Mexican cuisine. Think chile rellenos with green chile sauce!
