Thanks for your comment on Sabino Canyon. Our home here is in Tubac, about 50 miles south, and we've never made it to the Canyon. But your note makes us want to visit!
I love Tubac. So much history in the area. Sabino is a great place to visit but call ahead to the park for information--or get it on-line. It is not open 24/7 as in the distant past. Also, personal car are not allowed. But there are trams. You can get off anywhere and walk...and catch one coming back.
I’ll take this as a reason to ask myself new questions. My upbringing was overflowing with nostalgia for a former time. No wonder I’m always looking for the history underlying the present.
Patrise, looking back must be common to everyone, to some extent, but maybe more so to artists and silly dreamers. As I drift into old age, I look back often to simpler times. I romanticize them, of course, and they are better that way. I write about history--historical fiction--which requires me to read about people and past eras. So yes, I am also looking for the history that underlies the present.
this is a fruitful subject. I could tell some stories about my parents - they lived a dream of the 1920s and did it well. I've only lately begun to understand how this impacted my world view.
Yes, good to think about this influence of the past on our present. We live in Arizona half the year now, and I recognized your mention of Sabino Canyon, near Tucson. Unless there's another Canyon named Sabino?
Nancy, I grew up in Tucson from age 6 up through college and beyond. Sabino was a central part of my life...hiking, swimming, partying, drawing, painting. The wonderful stone bridges were built by the CCC during the depression and give the canyon its identity and character. It is a wonderful place to walk, especially in the early morning when all the canyon and mountain creatures come down to drink. I have a whole series of Sabino paintings from different periods, some based on a drawing I did many years ago for my first oil painting at the UofA. I visit when I get back out that way. Yes, the past has much influence on our present.
Originally, somewhere in the middle...but the character of the creek changes from year to year, depending on the rains. Any place there can be an inspiration. The memories of the hundreds of times there, starting with my 2nd grade birthday party, give the paintings life and dimension. This particular painting was based on a conversation that was included in a play I wrote some years back.
Thank you, Mary. I profiled both Patrise Henkel and Thierry Guillemin in years past for the column I wrote for the Hill Rag for 20+ years. Great conversations with both. The are terrific artists. Thierry has a show this month in DC. Charles Burchfield is my go-to painter for just about any subject. I have one of his "doodles" on my wall and I have conversations with it often. "Sabino Canyon Dreams" is a recently commissioned painting but also an apparition from the past.
Thanks for your comment on Sabino Canyon. Our home here is in Tubac, about 50 miles south, and we've never made it to the Canyon. But your note makes us want to visit!
I love Tubac. So much history in the area. Sabino is a great place to visit but call ahead to the park for information--or get it on-line. It is not open 24/7 as in the distant past. Also, personal car are not allowed. But there are trams. You can get off anywhere and walk...and catch one coming back.
I’ll take this as a reason to ask myself new questions. My upbringing was overflowing with nostalgia for a former time. No wonder I’m always looking for the history underlying the present.
Patrise, looking back must be common to everyone, to some extent, but maybe more so to artists and silly dreamers. As I drift into old age, I look back often to simpler times. I romanticize them, of course, and they are better that way. I write about history--historical fiction--which requires me to read about people and past eras. So yes, I am also looking for the history that underlies the present.
this is a fruitful subject. I could tell some stories about my parents - they lived a dream of the 1920s and did it well. I've only lately begun to understand how this impacted my world view.
Yes, good to think about this influence of the past on our present. We live in Arizona half the year now, and I recognized your mention of Sabino Canyon, near Tucson. Unless there's another Canyon named Sabino?
Nancy, I grew up in Tucson from age 6 up through college and beyond. Sabino was a central part of my life...hiking, swimming, partying, drawing, painting. The wonderful stone bridges were built by the CCC during the depression and give the canyon its identity and character. It is a wonderful place to walk, especially in the early morning when all the canyon and mountain creatures come down to drink. I have a whole series of Sabino paintings from different periods, some based on a drawing I did many years ago for my first oil painting at the UofA. I visit when I get back out that way. Yes, the past has much influence on our present.
I had to go look up Sabino Canyon online to see if I could figure out where in the park you drew inspiration for your painting
Originally, somewhere in the middle...but the character of the creek changes from year to year, depending on the rains. Any place there can be an inspiration. The memories of the hundreds of times there, starting with my 2nd grade birthday party, give the paintings life and dimension. This particular painting was based on a conversation that was included in a play I wrote some years back.
Loved this post, especially all 4 paintings used to express the point.
Thank you, Mary. I profiled both Patrise Henkel and Thierry Guillemin in years past for the column I wrote for the Hill Rag for 20+ years. Great conversations with both. The are terrific artists. Thierry has a show this month in DC. Charles Burchfield is my go-to painter for just about any subject. I have one of his "doodles" on my wall and I have conversations with it often. "Sabino Canyon Dreams" is a recently commissioned painting but also an apparition from the past.
Your paintings of like Braddock are “operations from the past” for me
Yes, a great place to grow up. I'll have to include some of those paintings in future posts.
Lake*
Apparitions* - thanks, Siri.