April in Santa Fe
And halfway through #the100dayproject
In bloom this week:
On Instagram, I used to track the progression of seasonal blooms each year. This last winter has been exceptionally warm and dry, which is a sign for the native wildflower seeds to stay dormant, and perennials to not put too much energy into a big floral display. So far, only a few locoweeds or milk vetch (genus Astralgus) have started to bloom, while I have spotted exactly two Perky Sues (Tetraneuris argentea). Purple prairie verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida) has not begun flowering and blue scorpion weed (Phacelia integrifolia most common in NM) have not yet sent up their flower spikes. Mountain mahogany (genus Cercocarpus) is forming buds, but Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is still just putting out its first leaves.
The last two weeks have seen the annual flowering of heirloom and modern orchard trees all over Santa Fe, but especially on the historic east side. The early Spanish settlers and missionaries brought fruit trees with them up the Camino Real. Later, Bishop Lamy imported and hybridized many varieties of fruits and vegetables, while the Anglo settlers of the 19th century enthusiastically planted apple orchards around the American West.
Must-see exhibit:
LewAllen Gallery in Santa Fe’s Railyard District is hosting an exhibition this spring honoring the great Neo-Expressionist artist, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, who passed away this January at the age of 85. An enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, she called herself a “cultural arts worker”, due to the wide range of her professional activities, ranging from studio and public art to teaching, writing, lecturing, and more. Her mixed-media paintings and prints incorporated collage and textiles. She combined maps and commercial graphics, traditional Native American symbols and figures, and abstraction to create bold compositions with cultural commentary. The exhibit is up until May 10, 2025.
Get outside:
Flyfishing season is beginning, and northern New Mexico has some beautiful fishing rivers. The Rio Grande cutthroat trout and the Gila trout are the two native trout species in NM, but are in need of active conservation measures, due to habitat destruction and the introduction of nonnative trout. The NM Department of Game and Fish is holding a volunteer fish-restocking event on April 25 at two locations on the upper Rio Grande. Volunteers will each backpack 2-4 one-gallon water bags filled with baby fish from the parking lot to the river. This requires that you be able to move smoothly yet briskly down a steep, rough, mountain trail with a fairly heavy pack on your back, so volunteers need to be fit with fairly advanced hiking skills. Contact and signup info are available at the link.
Sunday was Day 50 of #the100dayproject:
The 100-Day Project reached the halfway point on Sunday. As you might be able to tell by the lengthy, local news intro, I am rapidly running out of steam and enthusiasm for this project. Perhaps I didn’t make the parameters challenging enough? Or maybe I couldn’t find enough connection between each day’s micro-project to establish a sense of the greater overall project? Michael Bierut, creator of the original analog version of the 100-Day Project, used to say, “The 100-Day Project doesn’t really begin until the day you decide to quit.” When the tough get going, etc. . .
At any rate, I am getting itchy fingers to dig into a technically interesting sewing project, and work on a reconceived version of an earlier drawing, and the 100-Day Project as I am doing it is not repaying me with creative mojo. I’d hate to just drop it, though. Perhaps it’s time to find another approach. In the meantime, here are two sketches from last week:
thanks for sharing your journey