Saturday 26th July 2008 - Habitat For Humanity Fundraiser

Busy day for me! I ran the portrait group in the morning - I'm not including the picture i did because I don't like it much) and then spent the afternoon at the Habitat for Humanity Fund-raising event at the San Geronimo Lodge. I hung a few framed pictures in the big room and had my clearance box next to where I was painting and sold a few so made a bit of space in my house and earned some cash for a good cause (and some for myself too)

I brought this painting of Maroon Bells along to work on. I started this one in Ray's class a couple of weeks ago and it still needs a lot of work on it. I'm coming to the conclusion that I prefer painting smaller pieces!

Maroon Bells - Oil on Canvas - 30 x 40 - unfinished

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

Saturday 19th July - Heidi

We set up in the Fechin Garden to paint and picked what seemed like a good spot. During the course of the session, the light changed dramatically many times - it was such a challenge!

Heidi - oil on canvas panel - 16 x 12" - $750

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

Wednesday 16th July 2008 - Orlando

The last week of this pose. I picked quite the challenging angle to paint him from!



Orlando - 16 x 20" - oil on canvas - $1,175

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

Saturday 12th July 2008 - Opening!

Here is a photo of Shari and I at our opening last night.

Saturday 12th July 2008 - Jenny

This time we painted in the lovely gardens at the Fechin Home/Museum. It was a damp morning, threatening rain but we set up anyway and it stayed fine, becoming sunny by the end. It made a nice change to paint in the cool under the trees.

Jenny - 20 x 16"- oil on canvas - $975

Friday 11th July 2008 - Hollyhocks at the Our Lady of Guadalupe

Jane, Shari and I met up to paint this lovely church with its hollyhocks in full bloom. We found a shady spot under a tree.

Hollyhocks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church - 12 x 16" - oil on canvas - $575

Thursday 10th July 2008 - Ray's Class

I had another go at painting a large canvas, thinking that if i knew what i had in store then it wouldn't be so hard. Not sure that it was any easier!



Maroon Bells - 30 x 40" - oil on canvas - unfinished

Wednesday 9th July 2008 - Meditation on Golden Light

A curious thing happened in the course of painting this one. After i painted the background in, Orlando came over and told me that during that last session he had been meditating on golden light - which he said has the highest vibration - but when he opened his eyes, he saw pink - how strange that I should choose pink and gold for the background colours!

Orlando - 22 x 30 - oil on canvas - $1,750

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

Saturday 5th July 2008 - Zlata

For the month of July, I am taking a turn running the portrait group which involves booking the models, setting up the pose and setting, collecting the fees from the artists and paying the model and timing the sittings to give the model their breaks. This Saturday we painted Zlata in the courtyard of Cafe Loca.



I particularly enjoyed painting the reflected light on her face.

Zlata - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas - $575

Friday 4th July 2008 - Hollyhocks at the Stables

Jane Grover and I met up at 9 am to get in a painting session before going to the 4th July parade in Arroyo Seco. She had spotted these hollyhocks in bloom next to the Stables in the centre of Taos.



Hollyhocks at the Stables - 12 x 12" - oil on gessoboard - sold

Thursday 3rd July 2008 - Ray's Class

I decided to try to paint on some larger canvasses. About 20 minutes into this one I realised just how much work it is to paint something this size.

Colorado Lake Reflections - 30 x 40" - oil on canvas - unfinished

Wednesday 2nd July 2008 - Orlando

After a couple of days recuperation after my big weekend, I painted Orlando at Melissa's group. You can see the finished entry in next Wednesday's posting

Solar Fest day 3

The deal was that in return for a 3 day all access pass to the festival, we artists were each given a drum to paint whic we would then donate to a fund-raising event to take place later in the year. I had the idea of the sunflower playing a guitar on Friday and then on Saturday I spotted maybe the first sunflower of the year (in Taos anyway), took a photograph and had it printed up ready to paint from on Sunday.



I painted the sunflower on the drum up on my podium next to the big stage - it was the kind of theatre the organisers were looking for and I got encouragement from the crowd as the bands were playing. Really good fun!

Rocking Sunflower - oil on drum - 28" across - for sale at the SolarFest fund-raiser in January