Circling Georgia O’Keeffe’s beloved Cerro Pedernal, with Abiquiu Lake behind and Georgia’s Ghost Ranch beyond the Lake in the distance. This sliver of rock jutting out of the mountains was one of her favorite things to paint.
I tried to imagine what it must have been like to travel there in 1929 (the Great Crash!) when O’Keeffe first started visiting Santa Fe, Taos and Northern New Mexico, where she would eventually move, drawn to this wild, remote, peaceful and gorgeous landscape.
I wondered whether she had been able to fly over it in a small plane like I was doing, and what that would have looked like from above almost 90 years ago.
I loved seeing the Pedernal as nature, the Universe, the Goddess, created it, but, truthfully, I’ve become so used to Georgia’s artistic interpretation of it, that I prefer her painterly versions, one of which, from the O’Keeffe Museum, I’ve attached here for comparison.
Toward the end of my short video, you can hear me point out to my co-pilot, who took the controls so I could shoot, that the shadow of our plane was cast upon the side of the Pedernal.
From there we flew to Angel Fire, through the mountain passes, getting bumped around by the wind, which blew the haze away that was hanging over Abiquiu Lake. This was shot late morningish MST, and when I downloaded the video I was a bit worried about the haze and the sunlight bouncing off of it into the camera lens. But when I was looking for a Georgia O’Keeffe painting to complement the photo…even her painting exhibited that beautiful haze, which does indeed make you work even harder to focus. Not a bad thing…but not so great in a small plane!
But I will take this landscape however it is, cold, hot, in the winter or spring, it matters not to me.
Note: Shot with a Canon 80D equipped with an EF 24-105mm lens. On this camera I don’t have a set-up so that I can plug my headset into my camera, so the faint voice you hear is my own (when I’m speaking to my co-Pilot), picked up by the camera mic.
#GeorgiaOKeeffe #CerroPedernal #AbiquiuLake
June 10, 2017 at 5:02 pm
It is sacred ground Peter Lindelauf, in ways we mere mortals can’t even begin to understand…though we can sense and therefore respect it. St. John’s College in Santa Fe, is also built upon sacred ground, with Monte Luna and Monte Sol in the background. There is something so spiritual about all of New Mexico, sometimes I wish that it could be emptied out of all of the people…and the landscape returned to the Gods and Goddesses. Is that possible?
June 10, 2017 at 6:29 pm
Peter Lindelauf I was there when Pac Man took over on the Plaza. They have, thankfully, gotten rid of that stuff, as least I didn’t see any of it when I was there in April. Santa Fe is now like Aspen, however, Hummers everywhere. Still, it is so beautiful as to almost defy human intrusion. La Fonda, though modernized, still has a feeling to it. And I went into La Fonda in Taos…and could feels the ghosts of D. H. Lawrence and Picasso! And then there is Sugar’s in Embudo…and that is a whole ‘nother post…which I have already made. Cheers to you, Peter.
June 10, 2017 at 9:40 pm
Oh my gosh. I seem to be noticing things one at a time… You’re a pilot too!!!
June 10, 2017 at 10:05 pm
Well, another thing I don’t write about much…but I am preparing to do that Gina Fiedel. You are a writer…you notice details…and I appreciate it.
June 10, 2017 at 10:09 pm
Haha, Giselle Minoli, I appreciate that you appreciate I notice details, but I’m laughing at myself for missing so many details and only catching them on second and third (and fourth) passes.
June 10, 2017 at 10:34 pm
How is it possible to really know one another on this medium Gina Fiedel…unless we spend all our days here. If I did that, I would never be able to fly, or dance, or…to create! This is not true for everyone, but it seems to be so for me. So…no fault, no blame…no expectations. I am grateful for our chance encounters whenever and however they may enter my life. You are a keeper.
June 10, 2017 at 10:56 pm
Aw, you’re a keeper too, Giselle Minoli. And for an added bonus, you are also among the first people I ever met on social. Right here on G+.
June 11, 2017 at 4:45 pm
Really…is that true Gina Fiedel? Wow. I have a strong sense of the original group, and you are in it of course. I think we all look back on those discovery days sentimentally and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Yet, it’s also important to remember that time is moving forward, like the wind, and along with it people’s individuals lives in which there is much change. I remember early on a lovely woman from Italy, around the time of the tremendous floods in Cinque Terre and elsewhere, telling a group of us on a post that it wasn’t authentic for her to claim to know, to care, to be in touch with so many people. I understand what she meant. I try hard to hold it all in my social heart, yet at the same time know that life is fluid and we need to let it be so. One of the great lessons of becoming a pilot is that you must plan plan plan plan plan. But then you must be ever vigilant and willing to change that plan if the weather, circumstances and unforeseen events demand that you do. So, too, social media…for me.
June 11, 2017 at 6:07 pm
Gina Fiedel LOLOL Giselle Minoli is many many lives emancipated living her un-abandoned French nature.
And more………. we all have depths unknown to each other.
And, we have depths unknown to ourselves!
June 11, 2017 at 6:16 pm
Giselle Minoli you captured Georgia’s landscape beautifully.
I was not a fan at first, for I listened to too many descriptions by others of her work. One day I listened to Georgia at the museum, her words, her thoughts, her independence, what she was capturing for the world to see through her eyes and found a kindred spirit. I fell in Love at that time with her work for there was an embrace felt from Georgia herself. Her personal history, her defiance of the norms and the willingness to step outside of others thoughts of how she should be to live her own life!
you wrote:
that it wasn’t authentic for her to claim to know, to care, to be in touch with so many people. I understand what she meant.
Does this take courage, no……….. It takes being ourselves as Rudyard Kipling stated in the Poem “IF” in final words: To Be A Man My Son!
HUGS and Bravery to both you & Gina Fiedel and will add Denis Labelle for posting and Zara Altair another kindred spirit. There are too many to list, only a few whom come to my exhausted brain LOLOL
June 11, 2017 at 8:13 pm
Yes, Giselle Minoli, it was those early days although, I came in maybe a year after the first adopters in late 2012, early 2013, I think. It’s hard to remember a life without G+, frankly. I am not sure I recall the Italian woman but I do recall there being something about Cinque Terre and the realization sinking in that we were engaged in conversations with people from literally all over the world. That was a stunning realization for me.
June 12, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Giselle Minoli “I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at – not copy it.” ~Georgia O’Keefe
I love how O’Keefe interprets the landscape with color…I look forward to seeing more of your interpretations Giselle, of the place you hold so dear.
June 12, 2017 at 3:11 pm
Giselle Minoli & Giselle Minoli I have a wonderful OLD book of Georgia at Ghost Ranch by John Loengard of her personal pictures. My fav is where she is sitting in a chair with her dog beside her.
Cheryl Machat Dorskind
It is very old and must take the book to a binder to help some of the tattered pages………
Love art books since being a toddler stage, Dogs, Horses and Art……They all make us smile!!!