"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Places of power








Black and white photo by Susan Clark


There are places of power in the world, the kind of power that man doesn't always understand, but can sometimes sense. Jerusalem. Mecca. Everest. The four sacred peaks of the Navajo. Machu Picchu. Some become religious. Others seem to focus power and influence from beyond what we consider reality. One such place to me is the ruin of the old Spanish mission and the pueblo at Pecos in New Mexico.

I've never been able to paint it the way I feel it, despite many attempts. All too realistic for the forces of earth and sky and history converging there. Perhaps this watercolor gets close. It rises up out of the earth and the remains of the bell window are a portal unto some other world.

3 comments:

  1. There is a place called Iceberg Lake, which takes a few hours to hike from Many Glacier Hotel. Once you get there, the water is cloudy greed, and yes, there seems to be an iceberg (or there was) feeding the lake. But what makes it a place of power is the fact when you look up, it seems you are surrounded by a cathedral of mountains, looking into a blue sky.
    Time to go....

    ReplyDelete
  2. err, make that green, not greed.

    ReplyDelete

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