This 9 x 12 oil painting is of the old shuttered church in Lamy, a small hamlet in northern New Mexico. With only a few buildings here, the "town" seems an odd place for the Amtrak to stop — miles away from Santa Fe, the nearest city. Churches are popular painting subjects here in New Mexico, but not ones I have been drawn to. I probably would have passed this one by if it hadn't been for the interesting vantage point from the other side of sloping grade and railroad tracks, where the base of the church appears above eye level. The view had a Hopperesque feel to it, lonely and deserted, and I felt compelled to paint it for the effect. I didn't want this to be a painting of a church, per se, so I ran the steeple off the top of the page, allowing the bottom part of the painting to share importance. The painting started out as a plein air piece and was completed in the studio.
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