October 2019 to January 2020

What a beautiful summer and fall we had in New Mexico. In early October we drove up to the Valles Caldera, one of our favorite places to enjoy the pristine beauty there and catch a glimpse of the fall color just beginning, photo on the left. The photo on the right is of our beautiful Sandia Mountains that hover over Albuquerque from the Open Space area my husband and I visit here in Rio Rancho where we walk along the Rio Grande (river) enjoying the bosque area (forest of Cottonwood trees along the river).

I met a dear friend for lunch to catch up as we'd been trying to get together for probably over a year though both of our lives seem to get so busy that it never quite "took" and I was able to deliver to her the painting she'd wanted to buy. To the left is a photo of Lisa with her newly bought painting, I just love this lady!

I was asked in October to be in a Craft Fair at the Rio Rancho Methodist Church November 2nd and I'm so glad I did. It was only a one day event on a Saturday and started out a little slow though the loving, Christmas feeling of the event and the warm welcome extended to me really got me in the spirit of Christmas even before Thanksgiving (smile). 

My husband and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary in November and my 68th birthday and I was so excited about Christmas that we had the decorations down and I started decorating the day before Thanksgiving! The photo on the left is with my new Christmas tablecloth I just had to have and the floral arrangement my husband sent me for our anniversary.

The Carson National Forest and small town of Red River cut down the large Christmas tree that was displayed at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC for Christmas and as it traveled around New Mexico on it's way there what a sense of pride and excitement about OUR tree being "lit up" and on display in our nation's capitol. We, in our home here in New Mexico, decided for Christmas we would not get our usual freshly cut tree but just have a simple Christmas with a little fiber optic tree we've had a few years adding some special ornaments from our family. It was a very casual and simple Christmas for us that we thoroughly enjoyed even going over the week before to my dearest friend's family home to make the traditional Christmas tamales.

Here we were with our dear friend and neighbor with the 8"x10" oil painting I gave him for Christmas. We are so blessed with the community of friends we have here and appreciate all they do for us.

As we closed out 2019 I finished my first painting from our travels during the summer, one of many to follow. This one was very special to my heart and is an original oil painting on 16"x20" canvas "Northern California Coast from Trinidad". After leaving our friends and family in Oregon we decided to drive along the coast to cool off and relax before driving into Sacramento and the heat. My husband found us a small furnished cabin in Trinidad, California which amazingly was in a redwood forest but only blocks away from the coast. It was absolutely gorgeous and felt so nurturing to be surrounded by huge trees as well as such beautiful misty coastline. This painting is now available, if interested please contact me at my email of joanne@neelygomez.com for details.

Thank you for your interest in my art and as I look forward to all the new adventures and opportunity of 2020 I wish you all peace, good health and a renewed sense of excitement about each day of your life and gathering positives! Happy New Year!