Some Moments from May

This month was bustling with final preparations for the Rte. 66 Centennial Show and Souvenir Market at the ART 123 Gallery in Gallup which opens the first weekend of June. I finished the paper maché mirrors by painting a scene on each and adding a glaze layer to seal them. For the sketchbooks, I added collage and watercolor embellishments to the covers using printouts of photos that I’ve taken over the years from trips along Rte. 66. I learned how to make these sketchbooks from artist, Carol McQuaid, and she has a great step-by-step video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QJk-8q3l4GA?si=22rEgnwgQzXBO7YH and lovely images of her journeys that she chronicles in her watercolors, books, and instagram posts: @carolmcquaidart and @illustratedvagabond. I made six sketchbooks for the Rte. 66 show and hope to make more this summer. At the end of May, we’d be in Texas for my niece’s high school graduation, so these past few weeks, I was scrambling to get everything completed, glazed, labeled, inventoried and delivered before a Texas-sized road trip to Sugar Land, stopping at Sparky’s in Hatch, NM for a green chili milkshake— the perfect combination of hot and cold— and, then a night in Marfa— taking in the artistic overlay on this rural, ranching town— along the way. Photos this month include items for the Rte. 66 show, a detail from a recent painting, featuring a buffalo, snapshots from the road, and the pups! The days of May were dusty and warm, with the gift of some rain towards the end of the month. When the fields are muddy, we take a driveway walk, and the pups seem to like the group leash walks. Wishing you a joyful June!