San Francisco de Asis Church

I am finally getting around to posting some photos from my Cincinnati Art Academy sketchbook trip to Taos, NM.  One of my favorite places we went was San Francisco de Asis mission church in Rancho de Taos historic district.  The church was built between 1772 and 1816 and made famous by several Georgia O'Keefe paintings.  She made the back of this church as famous as the front.

We woke up at 5:30 so we could arrive at the church before sunrise.  I was excited to capture the sunrise on the beautiful odd-shaped adobe walls on the back of the church.  My favorite drawing in my sketchbook is of the back of this church.  I'll do a post later with some sketches from the trip.

I love this quote from George O'Keefe about this church:

"The Ranchos de Taos Church is one of the most beautiful buildings left in the United States by the early Spaniards. Most artists who spend any time in Taos have to paint it, I suppose, just as they have to paint a self-portrait. I had to paint it—the back several times, the front once. I finally painted a part of the back thinking with that piece of the back I said all I needed to say about the church. I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could. And I long ago came to the conclusion that even if I could put down accurately the thing that I saw and enjoyed, it would not give the observer the kind of feeling it gave me. I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at—not copy it."