More Lavender Photos

My friends, Gary and Mary Dewey. Mary is wearing my t-shrt from last year. They have been great supporters of my art and my endeavors. Thanks guys

!

My friend Judith - she always comes to see me whenever I have events. Judith works at my Curves and she bought my first unlined painting many years ago. She is holding one of my Placitas paintings.

A lovely lady in a straw hat picking lavender


A short plein air demo using new Golden OPEN acrylics. They are great because they have a longer drying time than regular acrylics, which is great for plein air painting.

LAVENDER FESTIVAL PHOTOS

My newfound friend and fellow artist Michelle Chrisman painting a 20 minute portrait.

Two lovely ladies enjoying the lavender. It cost $8 to pick a bunch and it smelled heavenly.

Some of my new paintings on display.

The fields across Rio Grande Rd. Isn't that a beautiful scene? This may become a painting.

I took this first thing in the morning when I arrived at Los Poblanos. You can see the beautiful sunrise - I think it was about 7am. The fields are lavender and sunflowers, I think. I love this photo!

OKAY - now, I have to tell you what we heard from attendees and vendors about the festival this year. I am not a complainer and I was so happy to be invited. I met Michelle Chrisman, who I feel is going to become a fantastic friend and a plein air painting buddy.

Construction is going on at Los Poblanos and many attendees told us that they were upset and angry that they weren't allowed (they had security!) to go and even see the lotus pond, which is always the largest draw of the festival. They also couldn't see any of the beautiful gardens and architecture that Los Poblanos is so well known for. The festival was way on the other side of the road, away from the farm and inn and set up on very lumpy ground, which made it hard for vendors and attendees to walk around. The booths were also set up rather randomly and in no straight pattern so people were very confused about where to go, how to find food, etc. The music was great. The food was okay but expensive ($8 for a salad) and not much selection. The first day they made us clear out half an hour early because they were having a wedding at the inn. Everyone thought that was odd because they plan the festival a year in advance. People wondered why they didn't leave this weekend open.
Michelle and I didn't have many sales at all but we did meet a lot of new nice people and saw some old friends too. And we were next to the lavender fields, which smelled heavenly.

Several people told us that maybe Los Poblanos should've cancelled the festival this year until construction was complete.

And I am tired!

LAST LOOK!

"SANDIAS"

8"X10"

"VALLEY ROOSTER"

10"X8"

I HAVE MORE NEW PAINTINGS BELOW!

PLEASE COME OUT AND VISIT ME AT THE LOS POBLANOS LAVENDER IN THE VILLAGE FESTIVAL SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, JUNE 26TH AND 27TH FROM 8AM - 4PM.

I will be painting 20-30 minute landscapes for $65 each. First come first served. Bye!

LAST LOOK!

"UNO"

12"X6"

"LOS POBLANOS"

8"X10"

"POPPY FIELDS"

8"X10"

"NEAR ABIQUIU"

5"X7"

"SPRING ASPENS"

12"X6"

"ABIQUIU HILLS"

8"X10"

I'm nearing the end of my painting for the Lavender Festival. I will finish up the last few tomorrow and finish toning the hardboard and canvases I will be taking to do my 20-30 minute landscape paintings . I also have to gather and organize the photos I'm taking that people can choose from. Plus all the other 1000 things that you take when you do a weekend art show! I hope you'll come out and visit, the festival just gets bigger every year and I am looking forward to having a good time. More tomorrow....

Lavender Festival

"SUNFLOWERS AT THE GORGE"

8"X10"

"RED BOUQUET"

8"X8"

"SUNS AT LOS RANCHOS"

8"X8"

"DUET"

8"X8"

Here are my newest paintings for the Los Ranchos "LENDER IN THE VILLAGE" festival this weekend. I have been busy and will have more later. Please don't forget that I will be painting 8x10 20-30 minute landscape paintings at the festival. You may bring your own photo or pick one of mine. No urban svenes, buildings, or people please, they take too long. Hope to see you there and stay tuned!

"SUMMER IRIS"

8"X8"

"SANTA FE STORM"

6"X12"

"RED SUNSET"

8"X8"

Paintings for Lavender Festival

"THE PATH"

10"X10"

"LAVENDER FIELDS"

10"X8"

"DREAMING OF SANTA FE"

6"X12"

"HILL TREES"

8"X8"

"PLACITAS CLOUDS"

8"X8"

New paintings for Lavender Festival

"LOTUS REACHING"

8"X10"

I don't know if the lotus will be blooming at the festival, they should be, but it's a couple of weeks earlier this year. I may take a drive over there this week to see. These flowers are so beautiful in person, I don't think a painting could ever do them justice.

"LAVENDER FIELDS"

8"X10'"

A painting of the beautiful lavender fields with the Sandia Mountains as a backdrop.

"AGAINST THE WINDOW"

10"X8"

These are beautiful hollyhocks against the window of the Los Poblanos Inn Bed. The purple flowers might be flox, I'm not sure.

"LAVENDER IN THE VILLAGE FESTIVAL"

8"X10"

It's hard to capture the fun of the festival - there are booths with fresh organic produce, all kinds of lavender products, music, food, t-shirts, posters, paintings, goats, picking your own lavender, you name it. It's just a nice fun-filled day on a old country farm in beautiful New Mexico. Come and visit me!

Come visit us!

Here is the flyer for the upcoming Lavender Festival

this weekend.

A New Mexico sunset from my front yard taken yesterday. Need I say more? I think this is incredible!

"OLD HOUSE, ABIQUIU"

"OLD HOUSE, ABIQUIU"

8"X10"

I shot a photo of this old house in Abiquiu because I knew it would make a nice painting. It's such an old style - the gable at the top, the really old windows, the original tin roof. It sat right beside a nice rolling hill filled with juniper and the sky was full of beautiful clouds. Purchase information is below:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $99.00 plus $10.00 s/h
Or, send me an email

Finished Painting

"MOUNTAIN SUNFLOWERS"

48"X36"

It is finally finished - this photo was shot just before I took it to the gallery, and it's not straight on- but you get the idea. I'm happy with the way it turned out and I hope it becomes the poster for ARTFEST 2010. Next up: finishing a sweet puppy 8x10 commission and painting for Los Poblanos Levender Festival that's coming up on June 26th and 27th. That is going to be a blast! I will spend the weekend painting on location from photos that people either bring to me or they can choose from the hundreds of photos I have. The subject has to be agricultural in nature - no people, no urban scenes, etc. Landscapes, florals, lavender fields, etc. I hope to complete each painting in 20 minute sessions and they will be $65 each. I'm excited to see what I can do with a photo in that time frame. If you are going to be at the Lavender Fetsival and would like to reserve a 20 minute time slot, email me and I will put you on the list. Have a fantastic day!!

More Abiquiu

This is the opening for the acequia that runs around the perimeter of Georgia O'Keefe's house. It flows out of this opening and into a little open pathway that waters all of her flowers and gardens. The little acequia inside the walls are made with a flagstone border that has little openings every so often for the water to flow out.

These are the beautiful colors of Ghost Ranch. I can't wait to start painting them. I took 381 photos. Of course, I deleted a lot and some are blurry but that doesn't matter to me because what I look for most is the composition in the photo. If it looks like a painting in the photo, I know I have a good composition to work with.

Albuquerque didn't have a cloud in the sky but Ghost Ranch had beautiful big puffy clouds. What a way to set off that mountain scene. And the light hitting the hills in just the right way.



This was taken on the road somewhere out of the car window. It wasn't part of Abiquiu or Ghost Ranch - maybe around Santa Fe. I just love the colors. The blue sky backdrop for the orange/pink hills and some sage and yellow/olive in the foreground. I can see a really large painting here. Love the shadows on the mountains from the clouds too!

ABIQUIU

This is a photo my friend Tom took on our day trip to Abiquiu yesterday. It was so fun! We took a guided tour of Georgia O'Keefe's Abiquiu home and studio. It was very simplistic, minimal, but yet modern. I loved her outdoor flagstone tabletops decorated with very beautiful river rock she has collected. Also, the huge pantry that looks more like a kitchen. It had many mason jars with with hand-gathered herbs that Georgia labeled with the herb's name and the year it was collected (the oldest I saw was 1973). She had the most awesome views of the Abiquiu valley of any place I've ever seen. Her bedroom was small but had two almost floor to ceiling windows in the corner that made you feel like you were on top of the world. A very solitary person, she was. Fantastic woman living in a fantastic time. We also ate lunch at the Abiquiu Inn and went to Ghost Ranch. Another mystical, fantastic place. This was a photo taken of me with the Chama River as my back drop. I am not actually painting (forgot my canvas panels!) but I am showing off my new handmade cigar pochade paintbox. I can't wait to use it! I have to load my own photos and will post them tonight or tomorrow.

CORRALES GARDEN TOUR

Nine garden in beautiful Corrales - we made seven of them, this I believe, was House #4, beautiful! It was also only 1000 degrees outside today. Sweltering for New Mexico, but we made it. This will become a painting for Artfest.

UNTITLED

I am working on my first painting that might possibly become the poster for Weems Artfest 2010. I like it!

I wanted to include the best of everything that I am known for; sunflowers, other flowers, roaming hills and mountains, and sky. I am thinking I need to add a few small flowers on the top left near the darker base of the mountain to pull the eye up. Anyway, this is the rendition so far. I will put the lines in, then add the glazing and highlights, then varnish, and we'll see.

Comments are welcome!

My new sweet little pochade cigar box for plein air painting. Isn't it cute? It's so tiny that I can sit it on my lap and paint inside my car if I wanted to. Now I just need to GO somewhere and paint!