November Guest Artist-Margi Lucena

For me, being a landscape artist in New Mexico is like living pure joy. I only need to step outside my back door to find inspiration. And, although panoramic mountain and desert views and beautiful skies are in every direction, it's often the little things... a chamisa in bloom, the shadow it casts across the ground, or the irrigation waterways that pass through the farm and ranchlands, that send me to my easel.

I have painted in different mediums over the years, but something special happened when I picked up pastels for the first time. This was truly a "hands on" experience. Everything changed. I had finally found a way to express what my heart was trying to say. The most rewarding thing is when that expression touches someone else's heart.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best... "In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine".

I can't really ask for more than that.