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 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

Thursday 4th December 2008 - Ray's Class

A bit of an off day for me, maybe I'm coming down with something, feeling tired and sneezing a lot. Ray said getting me through this painting was like pulling teeth. I did enjoy the colours, though.

Near Mendocino, California - oil on canvas panel - 12 x 16" - $750

Friday 31st October 2008 - Hallowe'en

I spent the day in the gallery and enjoyed doing this little painting from one of my photos of the California coastline from my recent trip. In the afternoon I got dressed up for Hallowe'en and had many many local children come trick or treating to the gallery, it was a lot of fun.

Big Sur Sunset - 8 x 10" - oil on canvas panel - $395

Friday 2nd November - Embudo

I met up with Jane and Shari for lunch in the Guadalahara Grill in Taos and then we all piled into one car with our paints and easels and headed South out of town. Shari had noticed there were still some brightly coloured trees along the river so we set off to find a good spot to paint. We stopped and hiked around a number of times until we found this spot, at Embudo Station. We were able to stand under the brigde and get some shade while looking downriver with everything beautifully backlit as the sun lowered in the sky. It was a lovely day out with my friends as well as a productive one!
Embudo - oil on canvas - 16 x 12" - $575