Art in Santa Fe+ Pizza Pasta Salad (a nice, cool salad to enjoy on a hot day)

Besides talking, I think the thing we did the most during our trip to Santa Fe was visiting art galleries. I think we might have gone into and enjoyed at least 15 or 20 of them. I was very inspired, even by the art that I could not imagine making myself. We were both amazed at the variety of styles that were available.

Here is a sampling of some of what we saw:

Canyon Road is a long, cozy run of blocks that house gallery after gallery. It is such a beautiful place. Even at night there was a ton of art, mostly sculptures that you could appreciate:

Some of the sculptures were in other places, like outside of galleries near The Plaza. Some of them made me wish that I was a sculptor, but then I would need more tools and more space, more time - none of which I have in abundance right now.

I was even more smitten with painting. I think that the Waxlander Gallery was my favorite:

Jami Tobye's work is so much fun. I am inspired to imitate some of her style, though when I did so, I ended up changing it quite a bit>

And then there was so much color and great birds in the work produced by Terrell Powell.

Sharon Markwardt's work is wonderful, and colorful. Her paintings are so much more powerful in person. I wish you could have seen them, too.

And then there is the way that Marshal Noice does color - amazing and inspiring!

If there was ever a gallery for me, I think that Waxlander is it!

I was also inspired by some of the art found over at the Tansey Gallery. My apologies for not knowing the names of the artists:

On the way out of town, we stopped by two more galleries, and I am so glad that we did.

James Roybal has such beautiful work, especially the clouds. He does work with oils, pastels and sculpture. I even loved the paints he uses as he paints outside of his gallery.

Next to his gallery, we stopped by to see the amazing work that McCreery Jordan produces. We had a great visit and talked shop for a while. I imagine that if I lived in Santa Fe, we might be friends. The most amazing parts of her work have to be seen in person to appreciate. Still, I wanted to share some of her work with you, too.

Of course there was art everywhere. I'd love to share all of it with you, but I think this is enough.


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Here's what we had for lunch since I did not want to heat up the kitchen with a regular, cooked meal. It was tasty and it reminded Ethan of hiking trips when we had the same salad for lunch.

Pizza Pasta Salad
via: Spend With Pennies

8 oz pasta
½ green pepper, diced
½ red pepper, diced
1½ cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup pizza mozzarella, diced
½ cup red onion
½ cup black olives
1¼ cup mini pepperoni
¼ cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons fresh basil
Dressing
1 cup store bought Italian dressing
OR
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon chili flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Cook pasta el dente according to package directions. Rinse under cold water.
Combine pasta, red & green pepper, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, onion, olives and pepperoni.
Whisk together dressing ingredients. Toss with pasta mixture.
Top with fresh basil & parmesan cheese.
Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.