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All work is ©Katherine Irish Henry and may not be copied or reproduced in any manner
without the express written permission of the artist.
Website ©2009 PlacitasArtists.com All rights reserved
©Katherine Irish Henry
Santo Domingo
23"h x 35"w
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Light and Wind
8"h x 12"w
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Rhapsody in May
25"h x 17"w
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Golden Air and Light
12.5" h x 25"w
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Monument Valley in a Placitas Sky
16" W x 20"T
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Free Fall on June 26, 2006
16"h x 20"w
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Bosque del Apache, Dec. 21, 2008 - 4:18pm
23"h x 35"w
Pastel on paper
©Katherine Irish Henry
Sunrise Salute
20"h x 35"w
Pastel on paper
Katherine Irish Henry
Skywatcher. A respected friend referred to herself as a fellow Skywatcher. This word fell into
place as self-defining. I am a Skywatcher. I have been a Skywatcher as long as I can
remember. Big skies over the desert, approaching weather, defined by the size and shapes of
clouds. My father used to talk about the meaning of clouds. Clouds have threatened, whirled
with power, beautifully choreographed by the growing pressure between hot and cold air.
Sunsets have signaled that it was time to bicycle home – my nose and skin full of the scent of
rich earth, corn and the warmth of the sun. Skies touch the edges of water, trees, desert,
mountains, and islands. They hold all colors at one time or another. I dream about vast
spaces, one home dwarfed, the land made rough by air, fire, and water and the pressures and
rotation of the earth.
Sometimes others suggest that I might paint subjects more political, more pertinent and
meaningful to our present times. But how do you change the very nature of your soul? I left
New York knowing that I did not want to paint its pain and anger. I made a conscious decision
to contribute beauty to the world. I am in league with the Naturalist and Luminist painters
who point to the beauty around us.
What do you find beautiful? What fills your soul with joy and peace? Perhaps the lavender
smell of wisteria, a cool breeze playfully stroking your cheek, a cloud as fine as angel hair,
colored with shades of mauve, salmon, a strike of blue, the innocence of your children and
grandchildren.
Skies are a window to a presence, much larger than we are. At night, stars and planets
remind us that there are many mysteries and of our scale in the larger scheme of existence.
Skies teach us of our ever changing experience in life, a moment never to be repeated, never
the same. No need to hold on to that moment. To try to do so is fruitless. How can you freeze
feathering bits of clouds and keep them from gliding across the sky in ever changing forms.
What intensely bittersweet moment would be missed if a sunset did not complete its course?
It is much better to experience, to be mindful and appreciate what is happening now and then
let go.
I wonder. If more people felt it was truly imperative for themselves and their families to know
the trill of a finch, the salmon of the Indian Paintbrush endangered in Utah, the clear cerulean
blue of an unpolluted sky, would we make a concentrated effort to care for all that is alive.
Would violence become less pervasive?
Katherine Irish Studio
P.O. Box 37, Placitas, NM 87043
505-867-6283