Winter Roadside

As much as I want spring and summer weather, it's really still pretty cool and gloomy around here. Sometimes it's necessary to find the beauty that surrounds you, instead of pining away for what has been or will be. This painting is a means of stopping to 'smell the roses', as it were. There are times when the sweep of a hillside cloaked in winter chamisa can be breathtakingly beautiful.

I recall once, back in about 1989 or so, I was driving Albert Handell to a workshop in Albuquerque. The day was wet and gloomy. It was still winter, likely about this time of year--February or March. As we drove down a street filled with older adobe style houses a shaft of morning sun filtered through the gloom and we both looked at the incredible colors. It was a moment of mutual, mute understanding that's stayed with me all these years. The glory of winter's beauty was underlined by the moment of appreciation we shared.

The subtle beauty of dry foliage, clinging to the faint memory of dead greens, yellows and rusts, punctuated by deep, dark golds, browns and grays still thrills me. I love the colors of the rock in shadow, echoing those same hues in a darker tone, and the rolling hills in sunlight, reaching back tot he mountains in the distance.

So I guess today it's a matter of expressing appreciation for what is, and seeing the beauty of today.

~Deborah