As gorgeous as our drives are…and as cool as the places are we visit to play music, we often see a town at dusk, play a show, stay overnight, and leave in the morning. This leaves hardly any time to really get to know a place.

I’ve been to Taos several times over the past few years and have always loved it. We got to spend a couple of days there this time and actually acted like tourists! We wandered around the Plaza and I found a retablo for my wall at home – the Patron Saint of Writers, St. Frances de Sales. Lynn Garlick is the artist and I love her style. I’m not Catholic, but this kind of art reminds me of New Mexico and I love it.

Susan is awesome and found me this magnet, which should probably be attached to me at all times.

We stopped a the Taos Art Collective to browse and both of us were drawn to a bunch of paintings by Bill Binger. He uses really bright colors and paints New Mexican landscapes. I decided I wanted a print but we had just started walking around so I figured we could stop back in on our way to the car. As luck would have it, by the time we returned, Bill Binger himself was manning the counter at the collective so we got to talk to him about his awesome work. I got the print with Georgia O’Keeffe in it…she’s one my my heroes.

Luckily we get to be back in Taos for Michael Hearne’s Big Barndance in September! I shall try to shop less, though. I’ll just take photos next time.