Summer Member News

CBAS Treasurer Jo Diamantes sent us this summer vacation post. More posts about CBAS member activities are welcomed. Send us a few images and your story.

This is my report about "what I did" during my summer. I went to Taos, NM as a participant in "The Art of Keeping a Sketchbook Journal in Taos, New Mexico" workshop offered by the Art Academy of Cincinnati and taught by Amy Bogard. We stayed at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, a National Historic Landmark. We enjoyed fabulous breakfast and lunch meals there and I stayed in the Willa Cather room. That should whet your interest in this historic inn and conference center. We visited Taos Pueblo, Earthships, the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge and Rio Grande River, and the very famous (because it is the subject of so many paintings) St. Francis de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos. We had lovely dinners at such places as The Love Apple, Guadalajara Grill and Doc Martin's to name a few. 

We watched one of those wonderful New Mexico sunsets and many of us watched sunrises over the mountains behind Taos. This was my second time taking this workshop and I'm ready to go back again!




I stayed in NM an extra day and took in the tour of Georgia O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu. Making the reservation to be one of 12 on one of the tours several months ahead of time was well worth it. We saw her main house where she lived in Abiquiu, NM. It was pretty much as she had left it in the 1980s, including herbs in the jars in the kitchen and a Kenmore mangle. Did you know her property has water rights for two hours every Monday?

So I had a great summer—what did you do? Love to hear about it. And now I've got to get back to making some books for the November sale and thinking about my entry for the CBAS "Bookworks" exhibition next year.