I ♥ Living in Colorado!

I'll never forget the first time I saw the Colorado landscape.

I was born & raised in Dallas, TX & following graduation from High School there, I got a job as a camp counselor in the mountains just west of Boulder, CO. Since that particular summer camp got most of its campers from the state of Texas, I was given the responsibility of riding the train from Dallas to Houston to pick up campers, do a quick turn around and then head north to Colorado. Geeze, I was just 17 at the time and I had a whole bunch of kids to watch over on that train! What a riot of fun was had all day and into the night.....finally, about 2 AM, most of the kids were asleep.

I had a window seat on the train and I dozed fitfully, being aware of the responsibility of looking out for my charges. Sometime in the pre-dawn hours, I looked out the window and there, to the west, were the glorious mountains in the dim light of the moon. I was so moved....awe struck....filled with emotion and had a deep, deep sense of having arrived "home". How could that be.....seeing how I was raised in the flatlands of Texas? I still don't have an explanation to this day. I only know I had such a profound & instant connection with the landscape that I did eventually make it my place of residence.

And still quite often, as last night when I saw the full moon on a frosty January night, I am filled with the same kind of awe as when I first glimpsed the mountains......just simply overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.

The Artist's Impulse.....

"He can only obey the apparently alien impulse within him and follow where it leads, sensing that his work is greater than himself, and wields a power which is not his and which he cannot command." Carl Jung

I've been asked many times "where do you get your ideas?"

Call it impulse, call it revelation, call it dreaming, call it the artist's "BREATH"......it is as NATURAL to me as breathing....and I've often purposely used a double negative to describe this....."an artist can't NOT make art"....for, indeed, it does seem a work greater than oneself, it's on the inside and must come out. Perhaps a form of communication, expression and, for me, a path of supreme adventure. The making of art, the ideas,.... the conceptions transforming into reality bring a satisfaction deep and enduring.

The Art of Architecture.....

....this one stopped me dead in my tracks and took my breath away.

Consider:

• 1% of the budget (7.5 mllion) of this project was spent on ART
• Was the largest single facility Public Art program in the U.S. in 1995
• It's still one of the largest Public Art programs in the world
• Art is integrated in the architecture of this place

......and it's right here in Colorado!!

It was 1995 and I was picking up a friend who was flying into the then new Denver International Airport. Didn't know my way around the new flight digs, but when I walked into the Jeppesen Terminal for the first time, I was simply riveted by what I saw.....the interior space of the white multi peaked terminal whose vision was to "echo the mountains & commemorate the Arapaho & Cheyenne teepees pitched there long ago"......stunning!! In my opinion, BRILLIANT vision and interpretation of Colorado history and geography into a contemporary format.

Felt like I was on the inside of a large transluscent, glorious light filled sculpture and it literally took my breath away.

Had the priviledge to meet Curt Fentress, one of the architects for DIA, at a Colorado Art Educator's Conference several years later.....was a joy to relate to him the tremendous impact of this piece of architecture on me!

Other Art in DIA? Everywhere you look.....more on that later.

Traveling through DIA this Holiday Season? .......it's anything BUT just another airport!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.visitingdc.com/images/denver-airport-address.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.visitingdc.com/airports/denver-airport-address.asp&usg=__dY7cHvubUyFZGeP9XIQgzn2OH1M=&h=452&w=645&sz=69&hl=en&start=20&sig2=8veL0nzLDHpvuRt04SHfmw&um=1&tbnid=AXOYXmExgER5WM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=137&ei=UbVHSebiOY-aNf-VkSQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djeppeson%2Bterminal%2Bpicture%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-18,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN

One of life's treasures

So, I'm up at my usual while it's still dark out hour and when I looked out our window, there's this glorious golden full moon hovering above the horizon in the pre dawn hour. It's very cold out and, in Colorado on cold nights, there's an extra twinkle to every light in the sky....always such a visual treat!

The gorgeous moon and the sparkling stars & planets against a crystal dark sky......a moment of gratitude for being alive to see it.

Snowy Morning here in SW Colorado

.....and it is so pretty. I'm a notoriously early riser and I treasure the hours when it is still dark outside and all is quiet. Guess it's a genetic thing because my three brothers are likewise early morning people.
Am married to polar opposite! He has a hard time with mornings and loves staying up late at night....we have sometimes crossed paths in the wee hours of the morning....me just getting up and he just going to bed! Ships passing in the night......