Elspeth Bobbs' Gardens

Thanks to David (owner of Blue Lake Ranch, and the Don Gaspar Compound) Alford's online introduction to garden photographer Charles Mann, my group of painters had the rare privilege of painting for a day in Mrs. Elspeth Bobbs' gardens, La Querencia, just a bit away from Canyon Road in Santa Fe.

The individual gardens, each with its own theme, are visually, intellectually and perhaps botanically challenging. The Funky Shui garden, for example, pokes fun at most of the world's major religions. Under development is a labyrinth demonstrating the theory of evolution. Another garden has at its center King Arthur's sword. Hiding in one of my photos above is a dragon. It's difficult to give a sense of the whole.

Here is a selection from the 400 photos I took during a sun drenched day last week.

Photos From My Santa Fe Workshop

Lynn Diamond paints in the shade of a small porch at the Don Gaspar Compound.







After shoulder surgery a few weeks before the workshop, right handed Kathy Knaus successfully painting with her left hand.







Marsha Feuer and Kathy Knaus paint adobe buildings.










Suzanne Kramer, Lynn Diamond, and Patti Spranger having lunch in the garden of the Don Gaspar Compound.

Suzanne Maxwell and Judi Weiss painting in Rick and Wendy's private desert garden.

Group photo from the left: Suzanne Kramer, Lynn Diamond, Judy Weiss, Terry Buswell,Kathy Knaus, Sheila Carter, Marsha Feuer, Patti Spranger, Mrs. Bobbs - the creator of this spectacular and intellectually inspired garden,

Me, and Suzanne Maxwell.

Sandra speaking with Mrs. Elspeth Bobbs.

Suzanne Kramer and Young Hee Back enjoy the desert landscape.



















Bert Lutgens in a contemplative mood at the Don Gaspar.

Terry Buswell interprets the landscape in her abstraction of Mrs. Bobbs' garden.










Sheila Carter with her sister Wendy Schiller in the Don Gaspar Garden.

"Red Vines"

Yes, I've been busy. And I hope to catch up with reporting my recent art activities in the coming week. This is another new painting, "Red Vines", continuing my exploration of hidden, or obscured images.

"Forbidden Bridge"

My newest painting - "Forbidden Bridge", a 40" X 30" acrylic on canvas, © 2009 Sandra Kaplan.

Artbabble

Not often do I begin my day with such an exciting discovery.

From an article in The New York Times this morning, I  learned that the Indianapolis Museum of Art has just launched a new website to link the world to videos about art - from the Museum of Modern Art, Art21, and numerous other museum and library sources. It's called  artbabble. Few other sites reward frequent visits so educationally and entertainingly.

It's  great looking , very clean and well designed, easy to navigate, and extremely dangerous to your time. Once there, I found so much to capture my interest, time disappeared. Luckily, a phone call forced reality back upon me, and I escaped to my studio.

Most of the videos are in high definition.

Check this out today!

5280 Magazine

Just thought you might like to see the mention  DYAO's  "Painted Violin Project"  received from 5280 Magazine.

Trash

Remember the cliche about "one man's trash" being another's "treasure"?

Once I began to save appealing chocolate wrappers and make collages of them,  I realized that I was looking at all household packaging with a different eye. Perhaps I would need that background for my next piece, or "what a strange re-purposing of that word" - Perhaps I could restore its meaning in a collage, or use irony to further obliterate the meaning of the word. Advertising words  started  jumping out at me at strangely inappropriate  times. "light", "green", "crush", "dove", etc.

I take daily walks with my dog, Elgee. Occasionally, I spy lenses from a broken flashlight, or a series of cardboard dots that say "HA", which I put in my pocket for future use. I pass on the many cigarette packs, wondering why smokers seem more prone to toss their trash on the ground that purchasers of premium chocolate, whose wrappers I never find. I can't  make art out of cigarette wrappings.

I spent some time with another artist who does collages, trading material. I began to feel a bit uncomfortable about using something I hadn't found or purchased for another use. Something that hadn't come from my home or hunger or need seemed strangely inauthentic. There is a different connection to my own trash, which now mostly goes to the studio before being offered to a dumpster. I'm becoming a diarist through the detritus of daily life.

Images have always been easier than words for me, but now the two seem to be forming a meaningful relationship.