Sheila

Today I challenged myself to paint without expectation. I grabbed a recycled sheet of paper, paint and a palette knife. At first I was placing tiny patches of color, calculating even spacing and distribution of each color. Blue, Shiraz, kiwi, natural buff and sun-kissed peach.

I caught myself, and started again. Smearing paint and then scratching into it. Smear, scratch, repeat. I used texture sheets, and scribbled with pastels once the paint was dry. Pink, bright blue, dark blue, orange, white. Still going for loose and “thoughtless”. But hoping to somehow bring it together. So, not carefree and abandoned at that point.

I held up the finished piece for inspection. My first thought was, “Looks like the Easter bunny barfed up his jelly beans.” Best to call it a work in progress.

Day 28. 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Then I remembered Dotty’s thoughts on Day 28.
“It feels like an optical illusion that lets me see the same scene from multiple perspectives. The one that keeps catching me even though I can’t hold the perspective long enough to explore it is of my looking into the endlessness of the universe to discover that what I thought were planets and stars all these years are in fact flowers.

If Day 28 is the universe, Day 29 is the Big Bang.

Day 27. 8 x 8 Acrylic on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Keep it simple sleepy. Still in recovery mode from the hectic trip, one more day ought a do it. Sleepy, sore, slow. It will soon pass, but that’s my reality today.

I did manage to finish painting before 8 pm. Yay! I will get to bed early. Which is a good thing. I did a stupid thing just now. I deleted my internet program. I thought it was the old one, and it kept popping up. But nope, it was the new one. Crapparoo. And I am too sleepy to remember if it is on a disc or what. I just called my techie brother to fix a problem with my DVD and streaming. And I’m gonna have to bug him again tomorrow. Really hoping it is not something he installed from online, because then I will be S.O.L.

Before putting brush to paper, I played with stripes in Photoshop. I varied the widths, to see how they made me feel. I meant to have more sky, and less earth. Oh well, still like it. Leaves more opportunity for practice and play.

New Mexico and Colorado

The purpose of the road trip was to celebrate the life of my Mother’s Uncle Johnnie. He was a hard worker, he served his country, and he was a very dear man. A cowboy through and through. My Grandmother’s baby brother, and the last of his generation.

We drove six hours to Farmington New Mexico. Rushed to change and drove another hour and half north to Dolores Colorado for the viewing. Nine hours on the road. Crazy long day. And my Uncle who was chauffeuring, had been on the road since 2 am. Saturday, another three hours on the road for the service and burial. We were able to spend some time visiting with family. Had to be to bed early to hit the road Sunday morning.

Mom and her brother Rudy were up early and on the road to get a bushel of green chiles. We learned that Hatch is actually NOT the best. I have forgotten the name of this farm, but the chile was killer!!

You have to roast it to release the flavor, and we usually do that outside on the grill. Our grill here is not set up yet, so the roasting had to be done before we left. Got it all roasted, bagged and on ice!

My Uncle and Aunt treated us to the family favorite “Sunday” breakfast. Green chile with fried potatoes, fried eggs and tortillas. YUM! I loved the chile because it was not too hot to eat. I am a wimp when it comes to chile heat. Everyone else wants it to “light your fire!” It had a full, rich flavor. We eat it like a gravy over the eggs and potatoes. You tear your tortilla into pieces, and fill it with a bite of each. And it is a rare treat. Obviously not a healthy meal. Then there is green chile enchilada casserole. Chili Rellenos, and pork green chile that is eaten like a soup. Mmmm. Oh yeah, hungry now.

In New Mexico, you can get green chiles on your egg McMuffin, and most burger joints serve it as well. Even Sonic!

The drive home took all day. Made some stops along the way, took our time. Had a great dinner in Flagstaff. And visited a nearby Cracker Barrel hoping to find Bama Mini pecan pies. No luck there. But we did get some moon pies, and butterscotch candies.

Elden Mountain, Flagstaff AZ.

Google had us turned around, but I found the 17 on my own. Thank you very much. The passengers didn’t trust me. Have to mention that because, I somehow ended up going west on the 40, instead of staying on the 17 south. There was some road construction, not sure if that was why. Or maybe because the sun was in my eyes, and we were jabbering away. But it was a blessing in disguise. A better, and seemingly shorter way to get home from Flagstaff. So now we know how to go next time!

Photos

On Navajo Nation land, the 491 between Shiprock and Gallup. Lots of flat nothing, and every once in a while…

Southwestern Colorado. On the 491 near Ute Mountain (reservation). I believe these are part of Rocky Ridge, but I am not sure. These are all the same range.

Crossing into New Mexico from Colorado, the change in scenery is almost immediate.

Notice above, that there is still plenty of evergreens on the hills. Below, is the backside of the range. The tail end. So different!

There are many legends about Ute mountain. The sleeping Ute. There is a description here, and a photo that shows the sleeping Ute.

My Mother’s family is from this area. My Father’s is from Canjilon,NM. Just north of Santa Fe and Abiquiu. Not far away. They were both raised in Colorado.

I will leave you with this, enjoy!