Given the opportunity to talk about yourself, would you take it? If you're anything like me, you search out that opportunity often enough throughout your life. Then one day the opportune time arises and the privilege proves to be more frightening and intimidating than you thought.

Nelida is my given name by birth. I don't much like that name, which may be why I sign with it instead of carrying it around with me. Nelly is my called name. I changed its spelling to Nellie in junior high because I wanted it spelled differently. I knew even then that I was different and I suppose I just needed to make that clear.

I am from a large family of eight; four brothers, three sisters, and a whole lot of fighting. Some say it's the Spanish blood, others say it's the Indian. Who knows, but growing up in southwest New Mexico our entire lives, and having the freedom to run away into the desert, made the fighting at least a bit more fun. Running barefoot in that dry desert was where I think I may have felt connected to this marvelous piece of earth we have. The rain made my desire explode for 'tasting' its fresh elements. Whether it derived from that memory as a child or not, the need to paint, and the things I paint or photograph, are conceived images in my mind and my heart that I don't ever want to control. EVER! These images I freely let control me.

I paint, photograph, grind rock. I even cry and dance because I am released and uncontrolled by my emotions and chaotic expressions. Abstract became a way of opening up and letting go of whatever it was I needed to release. Sandpainting fulfilled my need to feel free and taste the earth again, not to mention unleash a few frustrations on the rock. Photography gave me the instant gratification I needed at times to capture an image that could not be painted.