In September I was able to go to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico - I’d never been before! It was a friendly and fascinating place to go. During the same trip I went to Santa Fe, which I’d been to before and seems to have not changed much - still incredibly charming. I suppose cities that are hundreds of years old are like that.

On the way to Ghost Ranch I definitely recognized the mountain that Georgia O’Keefe painted often. It felt a lot like my trip to Paris, where I would turn a corner and recognize paintings that I’d seen for years, but never in person.

September’s first friday in Nobo was a hit! It was very toasty but I did end up surviving! It was great to meet everyone at this First Friday.

I finished several dragon bookmarks in September. All of these were fun to make.

I also finished a few oil paintings of Mt. Elbert in September.

I had a goal to make three large-ish Mt. Elbert Paintings between July and October 1 and I ended up getting them done all at the end of the personal deadline I had set up for myself.

Some small-ish paintings I made - each is about 5 x 5 inches:

Most of these are Mt. Elbert but one is kind of a mystery.

Reading:

In September I finished reading Calde of the Long Sun. I loved this book, there’s little more to say at this point since I’ve been reading Long Sun all year and I’ve posted about it in a few of my other monthly recap blogs. It’s been a fun series to both read and finish. I like how the world of these books slowly materializes. It’s like a painting that slowly fades into view, becoming sharper with each stroke. It’s going to be a good re-read in that way. Maybe a lot of art is like this, it’s a bit confusing the first time we see it, then if we read 1000 pages about it, it has a different feel. It’s almost like two different works in this way. It’s like the difference between seeing Starry Night at age 12 and Starry Night at age 36.

I’m still reading The Aeneid and The Letters of John Steinbeck. I thought I would finish these sooner but it seems like I fly through books a lot faster on Kindle, and I have both of the above in paper form.

After reading The Aeneid’s depiction of the underworld in Book 5 or 6, Dante’s Inferno makes a lot more sense. There is an order to everything in The Aeneid’s underworld, different people go different places, and not all of it is about punishment, as there is a heaven-ish place as well. I found this pretty interesting.

Running:
I’ve been taking a break from running this summer but with the cooler weather, I think I’m ready to make a comeback! We will see how the fall goes.