Thirty minutes ago I emerged from the mall where my PO box is. I had just dumped my massive annual springtime greeting card mailing at the post office and was feeling a bit jubilant. Thirty minutes before that, an all-day soaking spring rain (a rarity out here)...
musings from the studio and beyond ~
dawn chandler’s reflections on art and life. . . .
Dawn Chandler
eagle nest gold
It's become a cherished late August ritual for me: Driving the Enchanted Circle through Northern New Mexico.I started the tradition two years ago…. it was the last drive my sweet pup and I did together before she died.As a tribute to her I made the journey again last...
6 x 3 x 60 = peace
I stepped outside, crouched on the pavement and sat down on my dusty front door stoop. In my nine years living here, I don’t think I’d ever sat on the stoop. Maybe because the view from that angle is mostly pavement, concrete, stuccoed wall and taillights. This...
unphotographable* ~ a bosque blessing
We arrived an hour before sunrise. 14°. Too cold to simply park and wait. Usually we don’t have so much time to spare. Usually we go park by the Observation Deck where always other cars are parked. There we stand by water’s edge, our hands thrust deep in our pockets,...
my greatest joy today
You would have thought my greatest joy today was spending 3+ hours in my studio painting. Especially doing so while listening to a conversation with a wholly inspiring mastermind of creativity. Or signing my name, finally, to a painting I’ve been working on for weeks....
history and mystery in the new mexico landscape
My friend was incredulous. You’ve never been to La Cieneguilla? No, I replied. I’d never even heard of it. I can’t believe you’ve never been there! Two months later I had a similar exchange with another friend.You’ve never been to La Cieneguilla?! Oh my God, DAWN! I...
a benediction
nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished ~ Lao Tzu ~ I’d been feeling nervous about an upcoming backpacking trip. Though overall I’m in good shape (thank you Peloton), I hadn’t put in a whole lot of high-altitude hiking miles this season. My “hiking legs”...
we all made it ~ painting auction fundraiser for philmont’s rayado women scholarship fund
I am so pleased to offer my painting We All Made It for auction to raise money for Philmont's incredible Rayado Women program. BOOM! We are LIVE! Find the auction here.If you have the interest and the means, please bid to help raise funds for this great cause. If you...
we need to talk: a word, a tattoo and a conversation
Image by Vitalii Bashkatov A year ago I got a tattoo. It's my second, my first one having been inked in 1983, when I was 18. Now I'm nearly 60. I'd been thinking about a new tattoo since listening to the audio of Celeste Headlee's book We Need to Talk: How to Have...
I don’t know what to say about the fires…
but what any sentient person might say: The fires are horrifying. A consuming history- and life-erasing hurricane inferno of destruction and heartbreak. When I look at the map the fires are almost too big to grasp: The big fire — Hermits Peak — started in early spring...