My Idol

We visited a few of the Canyon Road galleries yesterday.  I bet there's more fine art along that 3/4 mile stretch of road than on any other road anywhere.  I  had 8 galleries on my hit list but only did 4, all contemporary.  There's so much sculpture on display outside, you can't help but stop to admire it and take pix.  I'll put the random pix in a separate post.  This post is dedicated to my new idol.

 Barbara Meikle is my new idol. 

She has her own gallery, and it was # 1 on my hit list.

She makes no attempt whatsoever to duplicate standard-issue critter colors.  You'd think painting critters in rainbow colors would look weird but not so: I love 'em!

Awesome!

She does the occasional still life and sculpts small bronze pieces, but her forte is large critters, done in heavily textured oils in bright, bold colors on large canvases.

When next I pick up a paint brush, I will aspire to emulate Barbara's style but maybe not her favorite subjects, burros and horses.  I don't draw all that well.  I did a cow that people actually recognized as such, but cows come with visual aids (udders and teats) that make them easy to identify.  There's no single, sure-fire, identifying feature on burros and horses, and lacking that, the beholder of my painted burro/horse would likely be confused: 'Wow!  That is one long-legged gerbil!'

We topped off the morning with a tapas lunch at El Farol, Santa Fe's oldest restaurant (1835), conveniently located across the street from a parking lot, and right on Canyon Road.  We chatted at length with the woman at the next table.  She lives near San Diego, is driving to Colorado Springs to pick up her daughter, who was in a volleyball tournament in FL, then continuing on to where her folks live, in the CO high country.