The Painted Pony Resort is Expanding

Built originally on an 80 acre parcel outside Rodeo New Mexico in 2005 the Painted Pony Resort has expanded to 316 acres.  It now includes an additional 236 acres across Painted Pony Road that is contiguous to the Painted Pony Resort and extends another 1320' south of the current property on the east side of the road.  The expanded property extends east to the far bank of the San Simon Riverbed and includes large areas of native grasses in the riverbed.  The increased acreage will insure privacy for guests when in residence, provide direct access to BLM land and the Peloncillo mountains for hiking and exploring, and increase the area of high desert where guests may play.

New boundaries for the Painted Pony

New entrance to the Painted Pony Resort

A gradient of Poppies this spring from the expanded Painted Pony Resort

Artist Workshop at the Painted Pony Resort

It was a busy week with artist Gini Lawson and a group of painting students in residence at the Painted Pony Resort.  After breakfast students would scatter about the property to paint and then meet back several hours later for lunch.  While during the heat of the day, when the light was not conducive to painting, they all took time to relax at the pool or read, then back to painting in the late afternoon.  Gini was quite active visiting each student as they worked and as a group they discussed artwork being created.  The Students worked in oil and watercolor and an example of a thank you from one of the guests is shown below.  Gini's husband created all the meals during the workshop and even made ice cream several evenings for the students.

The group also took a hike along Cave Creek Canyon midweek to observe some of the other landscapes in the area and paint some in the canyon as well as creating a balancing stone sculpture of the Mule Ears. Of course the telescope came out for some night sky viewing as well.  The students accomplished a great deal and everyone had a great time at the Painted Pony Resort.

Addendum:  Other artwork created during the workshop may be viewed on Gini Lawson's Facebook page.

A watercolor of the landscape

Dinner preparations

The Black Hole Resort

A number of posts have appeared on Blogging from the Boot Heel and the Sky Gypsies about the bubble in southwestern New Mexico/southeastern Arizona that encompasses the San Simon Valley where it seems time is slowed relative to the rest of the planet to local residents.  This seemed a viable explanation why everything takes so long to get done.  Whether it be a building project or the mail which requires transversing the bubble boundary everything seems to take longer than usual.  The idea of slow time also means people age at a slower rate compared with the rest of the planet and the area is ideal for those who want to get away from it all with easy access to the Chiricahua and Peloncillo mountains.  This idea has been expanded to include the guest option of a "Black Hole" at the Painted Pony Resort, that is no cell phone or internet service.  Currently, cell phone service (Verizon only) is provided by a Wilson cell phone repeater which picks up the signal from Lordsburg through Antelope Pass and re-amplifies the signal inside the main house.  While wireless internet is provide through individual wireless routers in the main house and guest house connected through DSL provided by the local telephone company, Valley Telecom.  This of course may be expanded to include satellite TV service as well.  This equipment is normally turned off when guests are not in residence and activated before their arrival, but with the Black Hole option, this equipment is left off, ensuring guests privacy and eliminating all electronic distractions.  This encourages overly stressed guests to enjoy the landscape of the high New Mexican desert and 80 acres of the estate.  While some may find this experience troublesome at first, there is always something to do from the hot tub or swimming in the heated pool to basketball or searching for evidence of ancient inhabitants around the property.