A week ago my pup and I hiked up to one of our favorite spots high in the forest above Santa Fe. Take one of the major thoroughfares, then turn off onto a well-used ‘unofficial’ trail; after a ways cross a meadow; make your way through the far evergreen grove and...
musings from the studio and beyond ~
dawn chandler’s reflections on art and life. . . .
Dawn Chandler
amulets of the trail
“SPLAT” pause “SPLAT” pause “SPLAT” pause “SPLAT” ...was the sound as I emptied my PO box this afternoon, depositing most of its contents into the waste bin of recycled trees. Of the 4-inch stack of mail in my little locked cubbie-hole, the only thing worth saving was...
painting morning light on albuquerque’s la luz trail
When My Good Man revealed this weekend that he is on the “waiting list” for this year’s La Luz Trail Run, and that he wanted to do a training run up there this weekend, my painter’s mind started scheming. My last plein air painting excursion was in early April. After...
how vermont trees lead back to new mexico sky
When I set out last year to walk across Vermont, one of my plans was to create a body of paintings based on my hike. They would be in the style of my “textual landscapes’ where I combine language (text) with semi-abstract landscape elements. The text might come from...
how a landscape painting evolves
It's always a little amazing to me how a landscape painting evolves. Even though I'm intimately aware of the stages, it still surprises me every time when, in the end, I have something I can actually recognize and identify. Between the first dabs of paint and my...
jumping off and leaping in
I guess it was my turn. My turn to have a crappy week…or two. Let’s face it: I lead a pretty charmed life. I’m self-employed doing what I love; I’m active and in good health (I haven't had a cold in five years); I’m reasonably financially secure; I live in desired...
finding grounding in the new year
I never would have thought I'd find grounding in the sky; in flight. This new year loomed for me with a feeling of. . . . . . lack of focus? Imbalance? My birthday is lost in the week between Christmas and New Year’s—a weird time when I always feel kind of in...
prejudice and creative epiphany at the age of 13
I found myself kind of quiet the day I learned that David Bowie had died. Not that I’m ever really very moved by the lives and deaths of celebrities. Still, each is a reminder of the coming end to our own lives and therefore a reminder to "take kindly the counsel of...
falling, gratitude & why i want to return to the trail
It’s been two months now since I came off Vermont's Long Trail. I can finally descend the stairs in my own home without holding my breath and having to ease my legs down step by step. The golf-ball sized swelling over my left clavicle has abated. I can almost kneel...
where a walk across vermont ends
Where does a walk across Vermont end? I can’t tell you. But what I can tell you is where it does not end. It does not end on the first day in the first hour or two or three or four with gnats spinning dully in your eyes and ears during the greatest September heatwave...