About David

A few years ago, a social-media post displayed a shining Milky Way stretching above a steep, wooded river valley, complete with cottage. David Nelson Blair tapped in a response:

"Oh! I want to move in and watch the universe play out."

The comment captures the spirituality of a lifelong hermit: A thirst to perceive our barely witnessed surroundings—from the minuscule to the cosmic—a desire to sort through it thoughtfully and to respond with his own creative acts.

From his sixties into his seventies, David is embracing traditional visual arts, a path that builds on lifelong avocations, especially astronomy and photography. These days he is focusing on fine-arts oil painting—and loves it. He has also created scores of figure works in more than fifty live-model figure-drawing sessions. As a member of the New Mexico Art League, he has studied in numerous workshops, the most recent led by Maria Cole, M. Tobias Hall, and John Reger.

David began exhibiting traditional visual arts in 2021.

Since settling in New Mexico in 1997, he has collected works by artists in the state, among them Maria Cole, Lynn Kearny, John Meister, Gwenda McLamb, Luise Naranja, Marilyn Henderson Ray, Ruth West Starr, and Dena Suina.

Since 2000, he has been watching the universe play out from his casita in southeast Albuquerque's Manzano Mesa neighborhood. From that base, he travels to wilderness preserves such as Bosque del Apache National Wildlife and Big Bend National Park—a camera or sketchbook always on hand.

"Painting," David notes, "has made me a better photographer."