My new environment on the Western Slope of Colorado is so different from my Minnesota roots. It is not lush green and last winter was seldom white. There is snow on the distant mountains and the Grand Mesa, but little in my immediate, high desert surroundings. My intent was not to paint these unusual formations, the adobe hills, when I first arrived, but then I realized to really know something I need to draw or paint a landscape, object or person. To familiarize myself with my surroundings I needed to wander in, photograph, and paint my new home environ. My paintings previously focused on intense reds, blues and yellows, now the paintings would be in a subdued adobe/brown palette. I was intrigued to create a series now called, Adobe Awakening. This adobe/brown color signifies; stability, reliability, the earth, association with all things natural and organic. This color affects us as a stabilizer, gives us a sense of orderliness, feeling of wholesomeness, and of course provides us a connection with the earth. Adobe hills like these give me awe-some, rooted connections with the earth.
The adobe/clay hills and flats are only one of the distinguishing characteristics of this area. Ancient hills in the most amazing and unusual shapes. Their colors and shapes shift depending on the sunlight and shadows, forever changing and new. The snow transforms them again. Not one adobe hill like another. They are prehistoric, dinosaur-like, some look like animals, weathered elephant-like skin in appearance.
As unusual as it sounds it was my first trip to the local landfill, Adobe Buttes, and a comment
from a friend, which inspired me to start this series. I sent a photo to my friend Elizabeth, and she remarked, "Ah, must be inspiration for paintings". I did not know then but indeed it was to be in my near future.
