Two Years and Two Months

Charley's Hideaway

Just before the Governor shut out state down and declared the arts non-essential I had been given the honor of displaying my paintings in the Angel Fire Library. Of course in the two years of the pandemic I sold nothing. But I hung some of my work in the vrbo when I finished it a year ago.

Then came the Calf Canyon and Hermit's Peak Fire. And my evacuation to Eagle Nest. And all the questions about was I taking all my art with me? I have an Explorer but there was the dog and Thicke and their necessities. Then my various electronics and their accessories. And all the various backups. I had just gotten the Mac when the Windows 10 Acer failed. Fortunately I had the backup of that hard drive.

But today as I became aware I was going to participate in the Angel Fire Studio Tour, September 24 and 25, 2022 and I needed to submit photos for brochure and website, panic set in. Seemed there was a hole in my backups of work.

Music From Angel Fire Intermission Display

Yes, I had done paintings. Yes, I had taken photographs of them. But where were they? This morning I dug into the two cases all packed up from evacuation, and still packed, but out of the Explorer. But not far out of the escape capsule. Spoke seemed appropriately named. Memory pods lined up on the desk I proceeded to learn how to upload data to MyMac. And what all those little icons at the bottom of the screen but not yet needed meant. The blue and white smiley face to the far left proved helpful.

Soon half the day had passed but I seemed to have found all my art except for the End of Day Series. But luckily they were still in my possession. Not sold. I have managed to sell a goodly number of works in the last year. And fortunately I had photos of those.

But oddly I seem most attached to my End of Days series. The last two years and two months seems very much like the end of days. So after copying my photographic record to MyMac I proceeded to take photos of the End of Days. One of them will be going to the library soon as it will be replacing Venue of Ravens which is being sold. 

Venue of Ravens

Photography and jump drives and external hard drives are the only way to save your art from fires.

Paintings Returned to the Studio

Lonely Cloud
30 x 18 Watercolor on artists canvas
$1350

 For those of you which have followed this developing drama of the lost painting I am happy to report it has been found. And the mystery solved. Just before the shut down last year a visitor had called about buying this painting. Evidently at that time the facilities manager then (there was a whole series of temporary ones) had taken it down and put in a safe place for her to come back and buy it. Covid-19 interrupted a lot of things.

Window to the Past
20 x 19 Mixed Media on artists canvas
$720

And normal routines were no longer normal. I had photographic giclee prints on canvas locked away at two businesses which were shut down, paintings at the library which was also closed, and at the airport which wasn't. But I was one of those told to stay home and stay safe. I ventured out only to get groceries or to pick up mail. I lost track of what art was where.

Home on the Fat Grass
20 x 30 Mixed Media on Canvas
$1500

And with our governor deciding art was non-essential I had doubts about moving forward with the studio and arts at all. So did it matter if the inventory was up to date or correct.

Over the Edge
20 x 30 Watercolor on canvas
$975

On the Edge
30 x 18 Watercolor on Artists Canvas
$1350

For a few years I had been called back to my on the edge series of impending doom. Premonition of the pandemic? Or just my dark side coming out?

Purple Sage
19 x 36 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$1600

 Who knows but for some reason it was those paintings which were missed on my airport records. Those which I thought were boxed up in storage in the box room until I went there to search for Lonely Cloud and found all the boxes empty. Now they are all home and hung on the walls of the studio or my living room or designated to be hung in the new VRBO guest house.