Full Circle Associates

I'm sitting in my small but sweet room at the Hotel St. Francis in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was stymied last night - could not get online because although this lovely refurbished hotel has wifi, it is limited to 30 connections. Guess what? With 89 rooms there are more than 30 people who want to get online.

I arrived here yesterday - a day early for the International Forum of Visual Practitioners conference. I want to learn more about graphic facilitation. I came in early to visit some dear friends from the region and take a breath. ...

...

I walked into a poster store just off the Plaza, called, of all things, Posters of Santa Fe, owned by Anthony Fernandez.. The store was a cacophony of color - beautiful images that made me wish for blank walls.

Anyway, I saw this image and asked about the artist and, of course, how much it cost. Anthony told me he was a local artist doing contemporary regional work. He had some cards from the same guy. We looked at them, but they had much stronger religious overtones, which led us into an interesting side conversation about the different faces of organized relgion.

I was about to walk out of the store and continue my relaxed wandering when I turned back and said "I want to buy it."

I did not need to spend money, but the painting called me. The line "I paint my own reality" was just singing out to me. Or painting out to me. It summarized this whole grand experiment of the last 10 years of my life to understand the impact of our ability to connect with each other online. To create a reality of relationships that has meaning and substance, as we do face to face.

So today the piece is being shipped to Seattle, along with more information on the author from Anthoney. (I apologize, I did not write down the name - just took the picture so I could share it.) And, thanks to a digital photo, it is also coming to you, with a wave from me, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.