Chandelier

There's now a train that goes from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Next to the main train stop in Santa Fe is a great little coffee shop called The Station. That's where I found this gorgeous antique chandelier. I would love to go back and paint it because with drawing I had to think in reverse by protecting the white areas instead of painting them in with highlights at the end. I absolutely adore chandeliers.

I've had the great fortune of taking a few workshops with the amazing dancer, musician, and teacher Gabrielle Roth. Through her years of dance she discovered that all movement comes down to five rhythms; flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. By being fully present in one rhythm you can move more easily into the next without being thrown off center. For example, driving from Vermont (flowing) to New York City (chaos). An hour outside of NYC you move into staccato with small adjustments such as sitting up straighter in the driver's seat, both hands on the wheel, and adjusting the mirrors as you feel yourself being pulled into a vortex. Without shifting those rhythms you may well get run over.

Gabrielle told us a story about a time she had lunch with a friend. She entered the restaurant and sat down at the table where her friend was already seated. After a few minutes she asked her friend if she wouldn't mind if they sat at another table. Moments after they moved, a chandelier came crashing down on the table where they were originally sitting. Gabrielle pointed out that it wasn't that she had a psychic moment, like a vision, but that after years of movement she is so present in her body that she must have felt the subtle energy of something moving toward it. And her body knew to get out of the way.