Denver Post Sunday February 28, 2010

Less than an hour ago Vicki Barton our watercolorist friend in Denver called with the news. "We got our paper this morning and you're in it" I thought she meant she'd received her subscription to Taos News from last week when we were in the paper for the fabulous English Tea Party Holly & I had at our Galleries for Valentine's Day. Taos News printed pictures and a caption about it, Page A2 Feb. 18-24, 2010. Instead she was talking about her hometown paper The Denver Post which did a story "Taos's creative soul still burns bright" by Kyle Wagner the section at the end of places to visit here Taos Insider's Guide referred to 4 places to shop Two Graces being one of them which you'll see below:

Denver Post Travel section Taos Insider's Guide

"Two Graces Antiques & Gallery (San Francisco Plaza, Ranchos de Taos, 575-758-4639). A delightful jumble of old postcards, license plates, jewelry, books, shrines, Southwestern pottery, Indian art and tons of other cool finds."

To read the complete story it's online at http://www.denverpost.com/travel/ci_14473249

Yes, indeed we are COOL! How great is that! This past week the woman from Frommer's Travel Guides came by updating her info on Two Graces and the next issue will also include Holly's shop The Plaza Gallery, which is located directly next door.

In an effort to chase away the Winter doldrums, snowing again today, I've created a coffee bar in the second room of Two Graces, normally this is the rotating Gallery space for special exhibitions during the year. In the Winter it turns into my studio space. Now there's a little coffee bar for customers and friends who stop by and need to warm up, I try not to eat all the cookies/digestives on hand. This is an open invite to all, when you've got the time stop by for coffee and a chat, we'd love to see you. If you need a reason in two weeks on a Monday it's my Birthday come on by...

Just the other day we were noticing how the Daffodils and other Spring flowers are beginning to send up the first green leaves of the season. This morning I was watching a news interview with someone who remained positive throughout the interview. What a skill, how truly difficult it is to stay positive. It's actually hard work, you've got to think about what you're saying! When writing this Blog I keep in mind that writing anything negative will reflect poorly on me more so than anything else I do or say. When I first began the blog I did say some unkind things, if you were to go back to earlier posts they have been re-edited. The Denver article gives Taos a big black eye for traffic tie ups, again I have to say, HUH? They also mention the crap made in China, sold in shops in the uptown Taos Plaza which they are unfortunately right about. At this time of year it's easy to let the winter blues drag you down, people come in and are miserable, they ask how's business and expect the same answer everyone gives out "it's d*e*a*d". Instead I say it's winter and this is when I'm at my most productive, making art, repairing broken stuff, and just re-organizing. Sitting in the shop day after day with no one coming in can of course make you miserable, but then to compensate someone wonderful comes in and makes your day. This past week I had all of 5 paying customers, this makes it pretty hard to keep your chin up! The week before Father Bill the great iconographer painter (and our local priest) came by and gave blessings to myself and the shop. How cool and great is that!

Here's an excerpt from the great Johnny Mercer song:

"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positiv"- Words and Music by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene

Lastly I'll say here that there's something great in the works for Taos which I am thrilled to be a part of. The Taos News will be publishing a Taos Art Gallery Guide, something I've been proposing for the past year and a half. My input is to help with the look, format and design, along with selling ads to the Galleries and artists of Taos. It will be all inclusive, not just a guide book for this group or that group, it is being designed to be user friendly to help people find the art and the galleries they look for when visiting Taos. Publication will be the first week of June with 50,000 copies printed. This will not be the most expensive guide book to advertise in, but affordable to everyone. There's a lot of work to be done in the coming weeks, a challenging worthwhile endeavor.

R