Ahhhhh, the southwest. It is truly the land of enchantment. I started coming here almost twenty years ago to visit friends. I thought it was so barren and brown and empty of life. I had no idea. The southwest landscape is mystical and magical. The land has been infused for centuries by the beautiful Native American people as well as lost civilizations such as the Anasazi. There is rich Native American pueblo life to experience, archeological ruins to visit in every corner, endless hiking trails through mountains, across mesas and into canyons, rivers to run, abundant wildlife and clean, fresh mountain air to breathe while the sun shines almost every day. The beautiful adobe architecture combined with a culture rich in art and food creates a unique way of living unlike any other place I know. I never thought I would live here. But one day while visiting and walking up a road on a cool fall evening, I fell in love with the light that was showering down an old adobe wall full of cascading flowers while the sweet smell of pinon burning filled the air. It’s the light that draws so many of us painters here…and keeps us here. We follow the trail of Georgia O’Keefe in becoming southwest artists, obsessed with the creation of our southwest paintings.