"View from the Pecos Mission Ruins"

A trail that is a little over a mile long begins at the Pecos National historical Park visitor center and winds through the ruins of Pecos Pueblo and the mission church.  This sizeable Pueblo community on the edge of the Plains was occupied for over 400 years.  It was important in the history of the Spanish arrival in New Mexico, and the Spanish built and occupied a mission at the site for about 200 of those years.  The site was abandoned in the 19th century by its last Pueblo residents

On a rainy June morning I made this painting after having to run for cover in a nearby shelter.  The  mission ruins were beautiful to behold, but the sight of the walking rain in the distance coming down over the Glorieta Pass Battlefield (from the Civil War) captured my attention.  In New Mexico it is not unusual to be driving down the highway (which, by the way, is a very panoramic experience in some places) and while it may be beginning to snow you can look off to your left and see bright sunlight reflecting off the hills in the distance and the walking rain coming down right beside it.

At this time I was standing in the sunlight which was coming through a hole in the sky and the angry cloud cover made everything in the distance look gray and foreboding.

"View From the Pecos Mission Ruins"     24" x 36"               (Oil on Canvas)      $2,600.00