Happy August!

Painting is not like eating potato chips. I personally cannot eat just one potato chip and stop. If I have them, I will eat them and if I eat too many, I will suffer. So, it follows that if I have too much of something and it causes suffering, then it cannot be the source of true happiness. Too bad about potato chips.  But what about painting? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced MEE-hy CHEEK-sent-mee-HAH-yee), author of the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, describes the state of “flow as being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.” And one more quote, “the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times…the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limit in voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” The act of painting creates a state of flow, a deep form of attention, for me. I imagine that it does the same for you. My best guess is that a meaningful and happy life is filled with long periods of flow. I wish that kind of happiness for all of you.

PAPNM is an organization full of committed artists finding their own flow and sharing their expertise. Our Paint-outs and Paint-Alongs have been enormously popular this year. Deb Fowler has organized these events so that they flow seamlessly into our schedules in beautiful locales.  (Sorry, I couldn’t resist one last flow reference).

The week of plein air painting for Los Alamos Paint-out culminated in a great Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony on August 2 at Fuller Lodge Art Center in Los Alamos, NM. The digital gallery of paintings is up on the PAPNM website. I encourage you to make the gorgeous drive to Los Alamos and see this beautiful show while it is hanging this month. Peggy Immel gave a workshop with glowing reviews and judged the show. Congratulations to the award winners and congratulations to all who participated in this event! I want to extend my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the artists who jumped in and helped whenever they saw a need during the event. Unfortunately, Rachel Pearson was unable to perform all her duties as event chair and Katherine Gauntt, Deb Fowler and I stepped in to help as well as Wendy Ahlm, Pat Leister, Phyllis Gunderson, Jane Frederick, Deanne Kroll, Gwen Ethelbah, Kathi Parker, Marcia Williams, Jennifer Leon, Kirk Winn, Donna Barnhill, Deborah Day, Kathi Parker, Cary Dirlam, Teresa Cavasos, Stephanie West, and Marilyn Wightman. These volunteers contributed their time and energy to make this show a success and I can’t thank them enough. Extra thank you to Katherine Gauntt, who was on the ground, doing all she could do to assist the artists.

Our next big event is the National Show at Legends of the West. Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony: August 31, 2024 from 6-8 pm. I invite you to celebrate this event with us! Kathleen Hudson is our esteemed judge. Kathleen will offer a 3 day, ~9 am – 4 pm WORKSHOP Sept 1–3 open to the PAPNM Membership initially ­– and then to all artists – on painting water, at the Big Tesuque Campground area, just 13 miles northeast of Santa Fe. A separate registration and fee of $440 for a maximum of 15 registrants has been set up. There are still places available- you can register on the website. Please check out the website for volunteer registration for this show. Volunteering helps build our community and many hands do indeed make lighter work.  I look forward to seeing you all at the National Show!

All my best,

Barbara Coleman

President, PAPNM