On the trail of Georgia O'Keeffe: A Trip Memoir

I just spent 12 sunny hours in New Mexico on the trail of some of Georgia O'Keeffe's favorite views. At the wheel was Mary Kershaw, Director of the ‎New Mexico Museum of Art, which has an enviable collection of 14 works by this great artist. The Museum is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a sensitive refurbishment bringing the hand-made quality of its beautiful adobe building to life. Mary led this major project which was foretold in the strategic plan that she developed with the facilitation of Lord Cultural Resources.

Back on the road, our first‎ stop was the 18th century town Abiquiu where O'Keeffe spent her later years (she lived to age 99). Here is a view she enjoyed and painted.

Next stop Ghost Ranch - a huge ranch where she acquired a tiny corner when she first settled in New Mexico. The views are breath taking today even after we know them so well from paintings and photographs. Imagine her sense of discovery in the 1930s.

Our last stop was the astonishing "Plaza Blanc." Which looks more like architectural fragments of Mesopotamia than nature even in ‎New Mexico.

The true joy is knowing I can also visit her paintings and sketches in Santa Fe at the New Mexico Museum of Art and the nearby Georgia O'Keeffe Museum -- while the landscapes are still fresh in my mind.