If you work late nights and are lucky, the creative process works just fine. But you have to love your work. And love…

Tuning in to Red Ochre from the beginning of time. Thin layers of oil on plywood.
54 x 76 cm.

I have been busy with graphic design work for my old colleagues at Skaltek, filing, cleaning, repairing printers, coffee grinders, etc. But now and then I also get to do some art. But even there, not all of it is so much creative, such as adding several layers of varnish on a painting…

The Pocket Art piece for David Bell, owner of Mellow Velo – Santa Fe’s coolest bike shop, is now ready and on the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Hope he will be happy!

Nothing is new. Ok, I have never done a black and white background like this before, but otherwise it is the same. Same struggle to find a way…

After a few days of other duties to perform I am back in action. I have a lot to prepare for, a pretty busy spring coming up and I need new works to show. So I started on a new piece. Not so large, 60 x 50 cm.

On my way back to Sweden yesterday, I flew via Toronto. I have never done that before, so I was quite surprised when I walked into Pier F and immediately recognized a large Richard Serra sculpture! I could not believe my eyes, had to go up close and touch it. The sculpture is called Tilted Spheres and was made for the expansion of the airport.

As I walked around and through the sculpture and snapped a few pictures, I was amazed, amused and almost sad to notice how few people were aware of what they were passing through and how casually they looked at the sculpture. I even talked to some of the staff working in the restaurant on the other side of the sculpture and they had no clue what a world class piece of art they were working next to and who had done it. I was thrilled anyways, as Richard Serra is one of my heroes. It almost felt like I had made a flight connection through MoMA.

The goal was to make it to the summit of Cerro Pedernal, the legendary mountain just south of Piedra Lumbre, west of Abiquiu.

Cerro Pedernal seen from the Kitchen Mesa trail at Ghost Ranch. Georgia O’Keeffe painted this mountain many times and had her ashes spread at the summit. The elevation at the summit is 3006 meters (9862 feet). Yesterday a friend and I drove around on the other side of Abiquiu Lake, to Youngsville, and took a Forrest Road several miles up the back of Pedernal and then started our hike.

Cerro Pedernal looks very different from the south side, still very alluring, though. Recent snow had made hiking difficult. The jeep trail was very muddy and soft.

I had not done my homework properly and we soon realized we did not have enough time to make it to the summit. We made it up the side to about where the cloud starts and where we had some grand vistas, but we had to turn around. To make it up the summit, walk along the length of it and back down would have taken about three more hours.

At the base of the steep slope that leads up to the peak of the western end of Pedernal. We darted up halfway to be able to see some grand views.

Another Selfie, of course.

The views were still majestic! The Piedra Lumbre Land Grant below and snow covered mountains in southern Colorado (probably!) in the far distance.

Hiking back offered great views to the south. The softly rounded peak to the left of the center is probably Polvadera Peak, 3424 m (11 233 ft).

On the way home. Pedernal is behind us, picture taken across Piedra Lumbre, to the north and Ghost Ranch is to the right. This area is maybe one of the most stunningly beautiful places I have been to. I love being here and is sad to know I won’t see it for some time. Hope to be back late summer, to ride the mountain bike up the jeep trail and then climb the steeps of Pedernal, something to look forward to!

Ok, I think I am done with my sculpture Desert Fun, at least for now. It will be interesting to see how it ages with the merciless sun.

My muse tells me to use mixed media. How? I ask. But I don’t get any answers, I have to figure it out myself. This time I poured floor varnish on the piece and attached four pennies in the corners. What next?

I worked more on the painting of an Edward Curtis portrait. The piece is 42 x 27 cm.

Based on a portrait photo by Edward S. Curtis. I started with a quick draft. It looks very flat, which it always does in the beginning. Hopefully not later… My plan is to work quickly and crudely, but I never know what my work will tell me.