Friday 29th August 2008 - Hollyhocks at the Blumenschein

I met up with Michelle and a painter friend of hers from Santa Fe and we painted the flowers at the Blumenschein Home and Museum.

I did one like this a few weeks ago and it sold very quickly - the hollyhocks and adobe theme is quite popular.

Hollyhocks at the Blumenschein - 9 x 12" - oil on canvas panel - $475

Thursday 28th August 2008 - Ray's Class

I liked this portrait of Ruben that I did a couple of weeks ago but I felt it could be better, so I took it to Ray's class to see what his feedback would be. He told me the background colour was too close to the colour of the face, so I changed it to the dark blue grey and I think it works very well. I had noticed that the forearm wasn't quite long enough to be in proportion so I changed that too. A couple more little details and i think the painting is much better for it.


Portrait of Ruben Machado - 20 x 16" - oil on canvas - $1,175

Wednesday 27th August 2008 - Christina

I started this one at Melissa's group on Wednesday this week. We have another session of the same pose next week. In the meantime I hope to have some ideas about the overall painting. I think she looks a bit like a flapper from the 1920's, taking a break from a wild party, so maybe I'll push that angle or do something completely different with it. Do feel free to post any suggestions!


Christina/ Flapper - oil on canvas - 30 x 24" - unfinished.

Sunday 24th August 2008 - Conversations with Sheep

I went to paint these sheep about a year ago, only to find that they move all the time. I took photos and mostly painted the mountains that day, but hung onto the photos. I was looking for something to paint on Sunday morning before manning the gallery all day and found this one of the little girl painting away while the sheep moved around her - she seemed completely unconcerned.

I got most of this done in between customers on Sunday and finished it off at Ray's class on Thursday.

Conversations With Sheep - oil on canvas - 12 x 12" - $575

Wednesday 20th August 2008

I have joined Sage Fine Art Gallery which is a co-op. This means that the artists run the gallery and we all take it in turns to man the shop. I was on duty this day and brought in my easel and paints and some rather lovely roses that I had been given.

The picture of the roses came out quite well but I was sure I could improve it so I took it to Ray's painting class the next day to see if he could advise me on how to make it better, only I left it on the roof of my car instead of packing it properly and it fell off en route and was lost. Oh well.

Saturday 16th August 2008 - Rosa

Rosa is the 12 year old daughter of a good friend of mine. I painted her a year ago which you can see further back in this blog. It was a rainy morning so we painted back in the Chrysalis school again instead of in the Fechin Garden - at least the light doesn't move so much inside, but I have enjoyed painting outside.



Rosa - oil on canvas-board - 16 x 12" - sold

Friday 15th August 2008 - Ruben

A new painting group, held in an empty gallery on the main street in Taos. Our painting session was open to the public and we had quite a few people coming in to watch the painters at work. It was fun.

Ruben Machado - 20 x 16" - oil on canvas - $975