I have traveled to Santa Fe NM several times over the last few summers. It is one of my favorite places to BE. I teach painting workshops, and get to enjoy the company of artists for a week or two, in addition to soaking up the amazing art and cultural vibe that is uniquely Santa Fe. I especially enjoy going to the El Dorado at night to sip wine and listen to the Spanish guitar music - Ruben Romero on Saturday nights is my special thrill. I always get his new CD and when I get home I listen to the music as I paint. When I look at a painting later I can still hear the songs in my head, moving my brush.

In the summer of 2005, I taught two weeks of workshops with fantastic artists of all styles. The experience of being in Santa Fe with a group of artists and sharing everyones' ideas and excitement is one of the best things about the trip. I will long remember the experience of teaching on Canyon Road at the old Artisan Studio. Thank you Kate, Rhoda, Sabine, Sue, Sharon, Kate, Crystal, Norma, Gail, Jan, Fred, Leslie and Jama - class of 2005!

This summer the light was even more amazing than I remembered, it was a golden thick honey that poured over the adobes and hollyhocks. The skies were clear and bright blue all day and then thunderheads rose up every afternoon. Sometimes a few fat raindrops reached the ground, but mostly it seemed to rain at a short distance off -up in the mountains. You could see jagged bolts of lightning and hear cracking thunder, it seemed like the sky would split open, and then a few minutes later - bright blue and sunny again. So of course there were spectacular rainbows flirting with the dramatic clouds as they passed through each afternoon.

Walking back to the Hilton after class I would stop and listen to the music in the plaza, every day a different band. And several nights I walked over to the Lensic (a renovated theatre now used for performing arts) and heard performers on the Jazz concert series. The last night I heard a great roadhouse rock band that had just blown in from Nashville that afternoon. Weekend night artist receptions at the Canyon Road galleries and around the plaza look like a block party, the bands in the background as people amble form one gallery to another, beverage in hand, dressed to the nines in turquoise jewelry, cowboy boots and colorful one-of-a-kind clothes.

Santa Fe - so rich in creative spirit, it feels like the streets are lined with gold.