Lynn Garlick Retablos

Saints for everyday life

About Retablos

 

A retablo (painting on panel) is a Northern New Mexico Icon. Laymen, called Santeros (saint makers), began to paint retablos in the eighteen hundreds when the church in Rome stopped sending Bibles and icons to this remote and rugged region. The Santero painted on hand-hewed boards. He collected the pigment from the land grinding the pigment into powder and making it into paint. The retablo was an integral part of everyday life, the saint, sharing in the struggles and joys of that life.

 
About Lynn

 

I have lived and painted in Taos, New Mexico since 1976. I was originally trained as a landscape and portrait painter. Over the years I have worked in many different mediums, many styles and within the framework of many different schools of thought on art. Regardless of the style, medium, or school, the one thing that has remained constant is my emotional response to the beauty I see around me.

I started painting retablos in 1991. I was inspired by the simplicity and devotion with which these icons are painted. They sold well and started demanding more and more time from me. They became, for me, a form of prayer for help, healing and right thought. I ask for love and kindness to show in them because to me it is through kindness that we heal ourselves, our family, our friends and the world. My hope is that this kindness comes through the image of the saint.

 
Lynn Garlick Retablos, PO Box 1193, Taos, NM 87571
575-758-3033