Placitas

Saturday mornings are not the same as when I was a child. I would rush to the television set and watch cartoons: Roadrunner, Bugs Bunny, The Jetsons. Other than flying cars, we live in the age of the Jetsons. 2001 A Space Odyssey was originally science fiction. I view technology as the invention of the external brain. The more we live outside ourselves, the less we are connected to our origin, the earth. It is bad for big business when we honor our Mother. I am always amused when people marvel at the instincts of animals such as a deer. The deer will leap before the twig snap. It isn't a miracle, it is simply the way. The way?

The way is the natural order of things. Let's say one hundred birds are gathered together in a small area on the ground. A gun discharges. One hundred birds will flee into the air in unison without incident. Now let's say there are one hundred humans in the same perimeter and a gun discharges. Humans will be crashing into each other, knocking each other down, stepping over and on one another. Humans have lost their way. We humans collectively agreed to the hypnotism of electronics and in doing so denied our Mother.

Saturday morning my brother and I took a short hike into the mountains of Placitas. Up there you don't get GPS, or bars on your phone. Instead we heard twigs snap, water falling and birds calling down. We also saw signs posted, warning of a large bear population in the area. I assured my brother if we came upon a bear he would not have to outrun him. I simply informed him he would just have to outrun me.

Artist Proof

This week I saw the first artist proof for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta print. A few changes were made and it is off to California for another proof. I am excited about seeing the final version. I feel like I can exhale now. It is all I hoped it would be.

Balloons

The last day my mom went outside was to watch the hot air balloons from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta drift by her home. ALS had it's grip on her and it wasn't letting go. She seemed to ignore her plight and revel in the beauty of the moment. The world stopped spinning briefly. Life was never sweeter. I hold on to the image of the morning she sat in her wheelchair and ate her favorite breakfast with her feeble hands. The day is still alive in me, it always will be.

I learned not long ago I was selected to paint the image for the 2008 Poster for the Balloon Fiesta. Five years will have passed since the morning my mom breathed the crisp outdoor air. I am painting the image in her home, just 10 feet or so from where she last sat on her porch. It is the essence of her spirit I will launch this year in the paint, in the poster, in the sky.

Jerry Louise Burns
1925 - 2004

Security

"Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

Helen Keller
1880 - 1968
Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer

David and Goliath

"Let there be nothing within thee that is not very beautiful and very gentle, and there will be nothing without thee that is not beautiful and softened by the spell of thy presence"

James Allen
1864-1912
Author of "As a Man Thinketh"

Earth

I like earth. It is a jewel among galactic marbles. We count earths rotations and orbits as a measure of our time. The movement through space, a cycle, we define as a year. Now, December 31, 2007, as we orbit, we approach the imaginary starting point so we may mark another year. We say Happy New Year here on earth when the circle is complete. This ritual gives us a sense of a new start, a baptism from the previous year. We resolve and create intentions for the new orbit. We want a better life for ourselves and loved ones. The new orbit gives us hope. We like hope here on earth. All the planets like hope.

Why?

Why is it when people speak of their religion their mind closes? And why is it when people speak of their spirituality, their heart opens? Why?

Heart

Last August, I found myself in the emergency room of the heart hospital in Albuquerque, NM. It is an interesting observation, wondering if you are going to die in a few minutes. I have visited death many times before, but never when I was not under the influence of something. Death does not look as friendly when you're not trying to kill yourself one way or another. When I was younger, it just never occurred to me I would live to be this old. I remember the day I decided to live. I am not sure I actually decided to live or simply realized I wasn't going to die. Which ever it was, I knew I needed a better decision making device, so I threw away the 8 ball. Suddenly, the days seemed much longer. I was awake twice as long as before. The downstairs part of my house didn't have furniture, so it seemed logical to create a miniature golf course. A year passed. I became a master putter. Bored and broke, I began to make paintings again. Almost two decades later, I had forgot all about death. A stranger to hospitals or being sick for that matter, I imagined myself as a marionette with all the wires and tubes attached head to toe in the throws of the unknown. In the last days of summer, I swim laps at the gym each day. I like to watch my shadow on the bottom of the pool as I cut through the water. I observe evidence of myself.

Elegant Shapes

Rez Runner Trailer - Coming Soon