The time is 1946. From Georgia O'Keeffe's old hacienda sitting on a bluff in Abiquiu, New Mexico, she could see my aunt and uncle, Helen and Winfield Morten's property across the Chama River. Georgia had begun the restoration of her property. The Mortens, in the final stages of purchasing land along the Chama River, had recently completed their restoration of another old hacienda they called Rancho de Abiquiu. As one of few Anglos in the Chama River valley, Georgia ventured over to Rancho de Abiquiu to introduce herself and a private friendship resulted with the Mortens and their family. In this close family circle, Georgia revealed herself and proved that beneath her bare face there was more to her than just an artist of legendary proportions. Nancy Hopkins Reily spent many of her childhood days walking the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch land. She explored the canyons, the White Place, Echo Amphitheater, the mountains, and the Chama River by walking the trails worn by earlier moccasined feet. In a seamless, clear, and straightforward narrative of excerpts from their lives, Reily presents Georgia in a time-window of her age. The book features Reily's youthful experiences, letters from Georgia, glimpses of the family's memorabilia and photographic snapshots-all gracefully woven into the forces of the contemporaneous scene that shaped their friendship. In addition, there are insights into the land's beauty, times, culture, history and the people who surrounded Georgia, as well as many minute details that should be remembered and which are often overlooked by others when they speak of Georgia O'Keeffe. Nancy Hopkins Reily was born in Dallas, Texas, and attended Gulf Park College in Gulfport, Mississippi, for one year. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.B.A. in Retail Merchandising. Since childhood she has divided her time between Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. At a young age, the colorful New Mexico landscape captured her heart and gave her a sense of place. She continues to enjoy its beauty. Reily makes her home in Lufkin, Texas.

On any given day, "Wisdom Collectors," which can include scholars, poets and general enthusiasts, are lined up awaiting the next nuggets of wisdom. Each word of wisdom builds on previous words of wisdom whether spoken or written by such individuals as Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Andy Rooney, Angela Lansbury, Ann Richards, Aristotle or Audrey Hepburn. These are just a few of the A's. The B's through Z's are just as impressive. Nancy Hopkins Reily has now dealt with these words of wisdom, sometimes in rhyme, metered, and narrative verse, and presented them in a musical beat that not everyone will recognize-all done with an uncanny imagination that cuts through to the core of every issue and includes the youth and adults. Wisdom Collectors also delve into the living of life such as traveling, cooking, photographing, retiring and preparing for emergencies. "These selective nuggets," Nancy says, "are welcome to all members and non-members of the Wisdom Collectors whose current membership, by the way, is one person-me." Nancy's wisdom began when she was a young native Dallas, Texan and learned that it was okay to say, "I don't know." Graduated from Southern Methodist University, she claimed that she wasn't very sexy if her high heel shoes hurt her feet. As a beginning homemaker, there was nothing like the sound of scraping burnt toast. In raising two children, Nancy realized that each age came in the right sequence. And just as she finished her work as a mother, she became a grandmother. One grandson taught her that Louisiana doesn't drain very well. When she began her writing career, she declared that fifty percent of writing is just showing up to write and to surround yourself with talented people. Nancy says that the best advice she has been given is, "Drink very little liquid, if any, after six pm." And, upon reflection she wonders, "Do I want to be a pioneer woman and be among the first women to stop cooking?" Nancy Reily is also the author of "Classic Outdoor Color Portraits, A Guide for Photographers"; "Georgia O'Keeffe, A Private Friendship, Part I, Walking the Sun Prairie Land"; "Georgia O'Keeffe, A Private Friendship, Part II, Walking the Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch Land"; and "Joseph Imhof, Artist of the Pueblos" with Lucille Enix, all from Sunstone Press.

The time is 1887. From any window in Georgia O'Keeffe's Sun Prairie, Wisconsin birthplace home she only saw the Wisconsin prairie with its traces of roads veering around the flat marshlands and a vast sky that lifted her soul. At twelve years of age Georgia had a defining moment when she declared, "I want to be an artist." Years later from her east-facing window in Canyon, Texas she observed the Texas Panhandle sky with its focus points on the plains and a great canyon of earth history colors streaking across the flat land. Georgia's love of the vast, colorful prairie, plains and sky again gave definition to her life when she discovered Ghost Ranch north of Abiquiu, New Mexico. She fell prey to its charms which were not long removed from the echoes of the "Wild West." These views of prairie, plains and sky became Georgia's muses as she embarked on her step-by-step path with her role models--Alon Bement, Arthur Jerome Dow and Wassily Kandinsky. In this two-part biography of which this is Part I covering the period 1887-1945, Nancy Hopkins Reily "walks the Sun Prairie Land," as if in Georgia's day as a prologue to her family's friendship with Georgia in the 1940s and 1950s. Reily chronicles Georgia's defining days within the arenas of landscape, culture, people and the history surrounding each, a discourse level that Georgia would easily recognize. The book includes bibliographical references and indes. NANCY HOPKINS REILY was a classic outdoor color portraitist for more than twenty years and has taught portrait workshops at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas where she had a one-woman show of her portraits. Her advance studies included an invitational workshop with Ansel Adams. Reily graduated from Southern Methodist University and lives in Lufkin, Texas. She is also the author of "Classic Outdoor Color Portraits" and "Joseph Imhof, Artist of the Pueblos," both from Sunstone Press.

Its your turn to make a photograph, states the author on the cover of this detailed handbook destined to become a classic instruction manual on portrait photography. And she shows the reader how by going through the basics of this photographic artform step by step in easy-to-follow instructions that will appeal to all levels of experience.For beginners, a working knowledge of the camera is not even necessary; and for professionals there is more than enough to challenge them to exceed their own present excellence. It has taken the author years of working in the portrait profession to focus and collect her approach to color portraiture and she presents her ideas in a way that will inspire even those who are not photographers. The book is designed for any artist working in any medium. All they have to have is an interest in the human subject.The book covers such wide-ranging subjects as a perspective on the history of the medium, composition, lighting, posing techniques, the portraitists eye, hints at how to enrich ones self as a result of exploring the art of portraiture, and much more. CLASSIC OUTDOOR COLOR PORTRAITS is a vital text for photography schools and workshops, continuing education classes, artist schools and workshops, colleges, amateurs, and professionals in all regions and settings.NANCY HOPKINS REILY worked for almost twenty years as a classic outdoor color portraitist, making portraits of individuals and families who live primarily in Deep East Texas. She has taught portrait workshops at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas and has had a one-woman show of her portraits there. Her advance studies include an invitational workshop with Ansel Adams. Reily graduated from SouthernMethodist University and lives in Lufkin, Texas. She is also the author of I AM AT AN AGE and JOSEPH IMHOF, ARTIST OF THE PUEBLOS.