Thursday 11th June 2009 - Ray's Group

The finished Taos Pueblo painting! I went to the Memorial Day celebrations at the Pueblo with my friend Tony who was visiting from London. There were various speeches and a 21 gun salute followed by a feast to which we were invited. It was quite a special day. I was also allowed to take photographs, which is not always the case, so I took dozens to do paintings from.



Taos Pueblo - 10 x 30" - oil on canvas - $975
Pueblo Scene - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $575

Thursday 26th February 2009 - Ray's

I took a quiet week painting, I think I overdid it a bit last week. I finished off this painting of Taos Mountain in warm late afternoon light and worked on this painting of a Plains Indian from a photograph, I haven't decided if it's finished or not yet.



Late Afternoon Taos Mountain - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $425
Plains Indian - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas - $575

Thursday 19th February 2009 - Ray's Class

I brought in my still life with the champagne bottle to see what Ray would say about it and he said although it was well painted, the composition was just terrible. I said "don't sugar coat it Ray, tell me what you really think!" He showed me some still lifes by Richard Scmidt where the composition is much fuller and that got me thinking about changes I could make.



Then I settled down to painting this one from a photo I took on Monday on a walk with Jane out to the Morada. The snow is melting now and we're getting warm spring like days, which around here means MUD. It was a claggy, hard going trudge to reach the cross at the end of the walk but the views were worth it.

The Morada itself has been taken back by the church as it was falling into disrepair, the adobe turning back into mud. While it is picturesque (for a while) to see it crumbling, I am delighted to see it restored and protected from the elements.

It was Ray that suggested the Native American in a blanket, leaning against the wall. In my first attempt, my fellow classmates were laughing that it looked like a hobo peeing against the wall! so I implied his face to show him facing away from the wall.

Melting Snow at the Morada - 10 x 20" - oil on canvas - $795

Thursday 12th February 2009 - Ray's

I did most of this painting when I was on duty at the gallery last Tuesday and brought it in to Ray to see if he could help me make it a better painting. He suggested making the buildings on the right a little brighter - they were very washed out in the photo I was working from. It made a big difference. It was easier to sharpen the definition in the big tree with the paint nearly dry than it was on Tuesday.



Another sunset of the mountain, the light was just delicious and completely irresistible to me. This one is not finished.

Kit Carson Road Shade - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $575
Late Afternoon Light on Taos Mountain - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $575

Thursday 5th February 2009 - Ray Vinella, superstar!

Another Wednesday class with Ray Vinella. I've told him that I write a blog about my painting but it took a mutual friend, Jan Mellor, to tell him that I write about my Thursday lessons on the blog for him to ask me about it! Here is a photo of Ray and I at this morning's group along with a portrait I painted of him a year and a half ago.



In this week's class i finished off this evening painting of the Plaza with the pretty twinkle lights in the trees in front of Ogelvie's and painted this scene of the main road through Taos with fresh snow and Taos Mountain behind. The red sign on the building on the right is Jan Mellor's gallery - the Taos Gallery.



Late Night Shopping on the Plaza - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $575
Beautiful Downtown Taos - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $575

Thursday 21st January 2009 - Adobe Glow

After a day in the gallery last week, I walked back to where I park my car and there was this fabulous slanting light making the Cabot Plaza tower glow a rich shade of orange, brightening the winter trees and making Taos Mountain glow softly in the distance. I took a photo and worked from it in Ray's Class this week.

Adobe Glow - 12 x 16" - oil on canvas panel - $750

Thursday 8th January 2009 - Ray Vinella's class

Not a bad start to the new year. I started this painting with Shari last week, we had lunch together for a catch up and then took a walk in the snow by this stream at a trailhead just outside of town. We were looking for a good spot to paint in, a good view with some sunshine on us to keep us warm but didn't find one - the good spots were all in the shade or on precarious looking ice. We took photographs and went back to my house, printed the photos up and worked in my warm studio instead.



At the end of the session I felt sure the painting could be better and took it to Ray's class yesterday to work on it some more. he made some good suggestions and I was much happier with it when I finished. Ray mostly encourages me to use brighter, stronger colour.



That lunch with Shari was at the sushi place north of town and I took a photograph of the teepee behind it on that bright sunny day with a recent fall of thick snow. I used that photograph to make this painting in Ray's session too. I think the feeling of light works well in this one.

Ice Bridge - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas - $750
Shelter from the Snow - 10 x 20" - oil on canvas - $795

Thursday 18th December 2008 - Ray Vinella's Class

I was shopping in Wal-Mart last week (oh the glamour!) and as I came out there was this fabulous sunset over Taos Mountain, just wonderful. I make a point of carrying my camera with me for just this kind of thing and painted this picture from the photo yesterday in Ray's class. The adobe building on the right hand side (for those who know Taos) is Applebee's restaurant (more glamour!)

Sunset Over Taos Mountain - 10 x 20" - oil on canvas - $795



I brought this little painting of Ed Sandoval's horses to the group - I had started it the previous Thursday and worked on it some more on duty at the gallery on Friday but it was still not right. Ray gave me a couple of suggestions and it all came together in the end. Funny how some paintings spontaneously work and others take several attempts and may never get there.

Horses in the Snow - 8 x 10" - oil on canvas panel - $395

Tuesday 25th November 2008 - Watermelon Rock

Shari and I took a drive down to a little south of Pilar to paint the Rio Grande river with the famous local landmark, Watermelon Rock, so named because it changes all kinds of shades of red during the day. It was a grey, cloudy day so when a shaft of light hit the rock and turned it a pinky orange, I painted quickly to get it down.

Watermelon Rock - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - sold

Tuesday 11th November 2008 - Taos Teepee

I had a painting date with Shari and we talked on the phone in the morning and we had both had the idea of painting the mountain and laughed that the mountain was calling us. We arranged to meet by the Overland Sheepskin Ranch where they have great views of the mountain and right next to the sushi place for lunch. I made a couple of calls and both Jane and Lina joined us, so we were a busy little group of artists and a fun lunch party too.

Since the last time I painted there, they have put up this teepee so I decided to make it central to my composition, with the snow on the mountains and the grazing buffalo in the mid ground. I have never painted a teepee before and I found it great fun.


The Teepee and the Mountain - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas - $750

Thursday 24th July 2008 - Ray's class

It was so hot today that I decided to paint a snow scene to try to keep me cool. I took the photo of this scene last winter near Pilar.



I took a photo of this Dancer at the Fiesta Parade last weekend - I loved the colours and the movement.

Last Patches of Snow - oil on canvas-board - 11x14" - $595

Fiesta Dancer - oil on canvas-board - 10x8" - $395

Wednesday 23rd July 2008 - Bench in the Flowers

No Wedensday group today so i got together with Shari one last time before her 5 week trip to sell her work at the Renaissance fair in Pennsylvania.

I painted this lovely view at the Blumenschein Home Museum here in Taos with the gardens in full bloom.

Bench in the Flowers - oil on canvas-board - 8 x 10" - sold

Tuesday 15th July 2008 - A Path Through the Sagebrush

I met up with Jane and Michelle at one of our favourite gorge overlooks. but I kept getting drawn to paint the mountains in the distance. We've had a lot of rain recently and the effect of atmospheric perspective, where the mountains get bluer into the distance, was much more pronounced than it usually is. So even though I was standing so near the gorge, I didn't paint it, but painted this dirt road disappearing over a hill instead.

A Path Through the Sagebrush - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas - sold

Tuesday 8th July 2008 - Hollyhocks at Caffe Tazza

Shari and I got together to paint in the central place in town to catch the hollyhocks in full bloom, but also to hand out leaflets about our upcoming joint show on Saturday. We chatted to a lot of people and Shari sold her painting wet off the easel!



Hollyhocks at the Caffe Tazza - 12 x 16" - oil on canvas - $750

Friday 13th June 2008 - Truck

Not an unlucky day at all as it turned out. I met up with a newer friend and painting buddy, Tara Wheeler and we painted the truck and the mountains from behind the Overland Sheepskin Ranch, north of Taos and had lunch at the Sushi place afterwards.



I played God and moved the wildflowers several feet to the left so they would fit into the canvas. It was also the first time I'd ever painted cows, they are the brown spots to the right of the painting.

Taos Mountain and the Truck - 15 x 30" - oil on canvas - $1,350

Monday 12th May 2008 - Irises at the Blumenschein

It seemed like Shari and I hadn't been out plein aire painting together in a long time! We met up in Queznel Lane as I had liked a tree in full pink blossom in front of a pretty adobe house that I had seen a couple of days earlier. It just shows that if you snooze you lose, because the wind had blown off most of the flowers. Shari suggested some trees in Kit Carson Park but when we got there we found they too had had most of the petals blown off.

We took a walk around the Ledoux Street area and found these first irises under a lilac tree in full bloom and this was definitely the spot. I have to be excited to paint a subject, for it to turn my eyes on, so to speak, or the painting is flat and lifeless and it's all a big waste of time and paint.

Irises at the Blumenschein - oil on canvas - 20 x 20" - sold

Thursday 14th November 2007 - Truck

I met up with Shari and Jane at the Overland Ranch, just north of Taos and after a sushi lunch we got to painting. These beaten up old trucks are very New Mexico looking and great fun to paint with their different colours of paint and patches of rust.

Truck - 8x10" - oil on canvas - SOLD

Monday 12th November 2007 - Ranchos Church

Shari and Jane and I met up at the St. Francis Church at Ranchos de Taos. This church was made famous by the paintings done of it by Georgia O'Keefe and many other atrists too. Once a year the whole community comes out to apply mud to the traditional adobe walls. Who knows if the walls were straight when they were built! Very Taos.

We decided to paint 2 smaller paintings instead of the usual one bigger one. This first spot had some nice shade for most of the painting time, so we didn't get too baked. The church gets lots of visitors and we had lots of conversations with locals and tourists alike who came over to see what we were doing.

I liked this view because of the mountains visible in the background and the statue of St. Francis in the foreground.

It was mid afternoon when we carried our eaself around to the back end of the church. This is the famous angle that has appeared in so many paintings. The sun wasn't so fierce and the light turned a pretty golden orange as the day wore on.

St. Francis - 10x8" - oil on canvas - $295
Ranchos - 8x10" - oil on canvas - $295

Tueaday 23rd October - Morada

I met up with my good friend Michelle Chrisman for lunch and then we went off looking for a spot to paint. The cold snap over the weekend had turned all the yellow leaves brown, so many of the spots we had in mind were no longer as interesting.

We ended up at the Morada, always a good spot to paint, and caught the hills behind in the late afternoon light.

Morada - oil on canvas - 11 x 14" - SOLD

Thursday 4th October - Morada

I go to this morada very often, it is a 40 minute walk there and back from my house. Beyond this run down old adobe building, which used to house monks of the self flagellating kind, is a strip of land given to the morada by the Indians with a big cross at the end. By the time you get to the cross you are well into Indian land and the views of the mountains are stunning. it's a great place to do a sunset walk as well.



My friend Rich Nichols was running a workshop with Don Ward and they invited me to come out and paint with them. I originally was going to work on a small square canvas but then I wanter to fit in Taos Mountain and then I wanted to squeeze in El Salto, the mountain to the left of Taos Mountain that looks like a breast and a pregnant belly. i trudged the distance back to my car where I had this long canvas ready for such an occasion.
I really enjoyed this morning's painting and felt happy with the colours I had mixed for the mountains and the sagebrush.

Morada - oil on canvas - 15x30" - $1,350