Georgia found the thin, dry air enabled her to see farther...and at times could see several approaching thunderstorms in the distance at once. She affectionately referred to the land of northern New Mexico as "the faraway"...a place of stark beauty and infinite space.
Soon after their arrival, Georgia and Beck where invited to stay at Mable Dodge Luhan's ranch outside of Taos for the summer. She would go on many pack trips exploring the rugged mountains and deserts of the region. On one trip she visited the D.H. Lawrence ranch and spent several weeks there.
"...There was a long weathered carpenter's bench under the tall tree in front of the little old house that Lawrence had lived in there. I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree...past the trunk and up into the branches. It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the tree."
While in Taos she visited the historical mission church at Ranchos de Taos. Although she painted the church as many artists had done before, her painting of only a fragment of the mission wall silhouetted against the dark blue sky would portray it as no artist had before.
"...I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could...I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at...not copy it."
Being a loner, Georgia wanted to explore this wonderful place on her own. She bought a Model A Ford and asked others to teach her how to drive. After one particularly exasperating moment, one of her teachers declared that she was unable to learn the art of driving. Only her determination was to lead to mastering her machine.
In her yearly visits to New Mexico she would travel the back roads in the Model A...having removed the backseat, would unbolt the front seat, turning it around so that she could prop her canvas against the back wall of the car.
Georgia would return to "her land" each summer until Stieglitz's death in 1946, when she would move permanently to her home in New Mexico.
She became fascinated by the large wooden crosses that dotted the landscape, as well as those adoring the many churches of this region. Many lone crosses were erected by the Penitentes, a secret Catholic inspired religion that practiced flagellation and mock crucifixion.
"Anyone who doesn't feel the crosses simply doesn't get that country."
...continue