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

Wednesday 31st December 2008 - New year's Eve

I was on duty in the gallery on New Year's Eve, did the monthly accounts in the morning - how I ended up with that job, I don't know! and painted this one in the afternoon. The day before I had taken a walk up to the Morada which is my favourite walk. It was a beautiful sunny day bit the ice on the road and then the deep snow around the Morada made it heavy going. I loved these big icicles hanging down from the gutters.

While painting this piece I was more aware than usual how Ray's classes have really helped, mostly about asking myself the right questions and pushing the painting a little farther than I used to.

Morada Icicles - 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 7th October 2008 - Golden trees

Jane and I went plein aire painting near a friend's house in Valle Escondido as she had told us that the trees next to the pond were in full autumn colour. We ran out of time so this one is so far unfinished.

Valle Escondido - 20 x 20" - oil on canvas - unfinished

Friday 19th September 2008 - Taos Ski Valley

Shari and I took a drive up t the ski valley to see if we could find some aspen trees with Fall colours. They are only just starting to turn, little patches of bright yellow here and there. We found a shady spot to paint in but got quite cold when the sun went behind a cloud and then too hot when it came out again - these high altitudes!



Taos Ski Valley - 12 x 16" - oil on canvas panel - $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

Thursday 17th July 2008 - Ray's Class

I painted this one last week and I was quite happy with it but I felt it could be stronger. so I took it to Ray's class and a bit more work and his guidance has made it a much better painting I think.



I'd started this one nearly a year ago on a trip to Wild River with Shari, we'd spent so much time driving around and exploring that by the time we got painting the sun was going down fast and we didn't have time to finish. I also ran out time at Ray's session so I may come back to this one.



Our Lady of Guadalupe Church with Hollyhocks - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $750
Wild River Gorge - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - unfinished

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

Tuesday 27th May 2008 - Palette Knife Experiment

I went to a couple of art talks on Monday and came away really inspired to push myself a little harder with the painting. In the middle of the night I woke up and found myself wanting to try to paint in the style of my good friend Michelle Chrisman, whose work is very different from mine. She starts with a bright undercoat and then uses a palette knife to apply the paint in thick squishy bright colours - what I call lickable paint.



It was really fun to paint in a completely different way and i felt that I learned something from going out on a limb like this.

Gorge - 12 x 12" - oil on canvas - make me an offer if you're interested!

Friday 25th January 2008 - The Gorge

A sunny warm day for January so i got together with Lina and Jane at the South overlook of the Gorge. Shari is still away in Kwaii getting married to Norbert and honeymooning.
If you are driving North to Taos from Albuquerque or Santa Fe, you come around a bend and this spectacular view is in front of you. There is a picnic spot and plenty of room to stop, so it is a busy area with people stopping to take photographs. We had several conversations with people who came over to see what we were doing.

I never get tired of painting this spot. it doesn't hurt that nearly every painting I have done from here has sold! The wind picked up as we were painting so not only did it feel colder, but painting out in the wind makes you feel crazy after a while. I was pleased with this one, particularly the different colours in the sky.

Gorge - oil on canvas - 10 x 20" - $600

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

Thursday 8th November 2007 - Arroyo Hondo

Another day out painting with Shari - we do make excellent painting buddies! This time we chose the Gorge view from next to the John Dunne Bridge beyond Arroyo Hondo, north of Taos.
We had a good walk around looking for the spot that most interested us. I nearly painted some fishermen who were a little south of me, they looked very interesting backlit, but I didn't fancy squinting into the sun and chose this scene instead. I really liked the reflections of the rocks in the water.
Arroyo Hondo - 16x12" - oil on canvas - sold

Friday 19th October 2007 - Shannon in Sagebrush

A beautiful Fall day and the Friday Alla Prima group met at the San Geronimo Inn to paint Shannon. We spotted this patch of sagebrush and chamisa with the Fall colours behind and got Shannon to walk around in this scene until she looked just right. I particularly like the colours of her clothes against the sagebrush.

Kemper reminded me that there are a number of miniature events coming up so I chose a smaller canvas than usual. it was fun for me to do a figure in a landscape for a change rather than a portrait OR a landscape.

Shannon in Sagebrush - oil on canvas - 8x10" - $295

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