new painting available

"HOLLYHOCKS ON GREY"

6"X6"

oil

SOLD

This is what I call buttery, chiseled, and luscious! These are hollyhocks against a grey adobe wall and I love how it turned out. So simple but says so much.

new 150 Challenge paintings

"AUTUMN COWS"

8"X10"

#139

This is a scene I painted from a photo - a trip to Taos in the fall. The only problem is, I have so many awesome photos just like this, that I can't remember which trip it was! Oh well, does it really matter anyway? These cows are so lucky, they get to live in one of my most favorite places in the world.

"TURQUOISE TRAIL SUNSET"

8"X10"

#140

Ah, how many of us New Mexicans have seen this sunset and a thousand other variations just like it? I love this state, with its beautiful horizon lines and sunsets just like this.

"AUTUMN FLOWERS ON RED"

10"X8"

#141

Hey, I'm almost in the 130's! You know, once I actually get started I could paint for 24 hours straight - it's just the "getting started" part that is hard for me. I love these three new paintings. The color is still a little off with my new camera. Like on the Taos cows painting above, the sky is actually blue. I'm going to try to work on that today. My scanner actually gives a pretty good true color scan, but with oils, I have to wait at least a wek or two until they are dry to the touch. I hope you enjoy these. To view all of the 150 Challenge paintings, click here.

new 150 Challenge paintings

"CANYON ROAD GERANIUMS"

10"X8"

#142

I'm having a difficult time getting a good color resolution on my images. Tomorrow I'm going to try shooting them outside in the shade and see if that helps. This is a beautiful window with pots of geraniums up on Canyon Road in Santa Fe.

(detail of paint texture - you can see that I'm enjoying this!)

"THE SILVER LEAF MAPLE"
8"X10"
#143
Just a sweet painting of what I think is a silver leaf maple tree and some hills around Jemez, New Mexico.


"SUNS IN THE GRASS"
10"X8"
#144
Love this one - so much nice texture and pattern through out the painting.
I will have an auction painting available sometime tomorrow. Goodnight!
You can see all of my 150 Challenge paintings here.

My studio is almost clean!

The 150 Challenge paintings

Canvas ready for toning and painting

my oil painting area

My roll around cart filled with reference photos

My french door to the side courtyard

I had to steal this from my cousin! Hilarious

Figurative Paintings

No, this is NOT a painting - yet. This is one of the wonderful vendors at the Los Ranchos Grower's Market. It has felt a little like spring this week and I'm still organizing my studio. I have gathered all of my figurative subjects together; the grower's market, the state fair, the lavender festival, etc. and I hope to begin painting them next week. I am excited and a little scared too.
I emptied another trash can full of things in the studio I've been saving for some time that I really don't need. I organized all of my subjects by category and put them all in pretty black photo boxes on a roll-around cart that I can move around at will.
My main project this week has been organizing paperwork for the 2010 tax season. I would almost rather have my teeth pulled out one by one...hopefully you will see a 150 painting tonight and also a smaller one up for auction. Have a wonderful day!

"COLOR FIELD 1"

"COLOR FIELD 1"

30"X40"

Okay, let me say that this painting...was HARD. My first large oil painting. It is for a live auction for Casa Esperanza's annual fundraiser coming up in March.

The canvas was in the studio just staring at me - I had no idea what I wanted to paint. So I decided to put everything into it. I painted a sky, I painted mountains and hills, and a little church, and Canyon Women, and sunflowers, and trees...you get the idea. When I blocked everything in, I hated it. So, I scraped it off. I smeared it. And I started over.

This is the wonderful result and I love it. It has a beautiful band of yellow running through the middle ground and a lot of shadows running through the foreground. The poppies make wonderful patterns throughout and there's always something to draw your eye. I painted it black around the sides (in acrylic) and added my usual turquoise signature as well. Let me know what you think! Detail below.

Detail of poppies

The smeared background addes a nice deepness to the painting and makes a nice support for the brushstrokes.

Dueling Cellos - Smooth Criminal

Check this out:

"SWEET PUP"

"SWEET PUP"

10"X8"

commission - SOLD

This has to be one of the cutest pups ever. She has the sweetest face. I didn't want the background to overwhelm her, so I kept it simple. I also didn't want the linework to overpower her, so I kept it to a bare minimum on her body. She is playing with a big plush toy, not sure what it is, but I wouldn't try to take it away from her! Animals are hard for me, much more linear and the feeling of having to bear a decent likeness. I think I suceeded.

what I'm working on...

in progress

10"x8"

Hello everyone - I haven't posted in a few days but I've been busy. I am working on a large painting for Casa Esperanza, the "home away from home" for cancer patients coming from out of town to the UNM cancer center here. They are a lovely organization and do so much good for so many. Their event is coming up in March but the deadline for work to be completed is Saturday. So you know what I will be doing!

The work above is a small painting commission that will be completed by next week.

I have new 150 oils coming plus a couple more little auction oils coming up for the weekend.

It is very cold here again, but the temp is supposed to be sunny and in the 50's in a few days. I can't wait...

"MASON JAR FLOWERS" - 7 day auction

"MASON JAR FLOWERS"

6"X6"

7 day auction - click here to bid

SOLD

This painting makes me feel like I was born to do what I love. Be a painter. I LOVE LOVE it. The loose, chiseled look of the brushstrokes, the thickness of the paint, the color combinations bumped right up against each other. To me, this painting sings.

I also have four new 150 Challenge paintings completed. Click on the link below to view the 150 Challenge blog: http://150challenge2011.blogspot.com

"STARRY NIGHT"

"STARRY NIGHT"

after Van Gogh

6"x6"

SOLD

Click here to place your bid

- Hello - I wanted to let you know that I finished two 150 Challenge paintings today and also that I am putting some small oil paintings up for auction as soon as they are completed. This is the first, "STARRY NIGHT", after Vincent Van Gogh. I have been going through art books and keep coming across this painting again and again. I painted a bookshelf like this for Casa Esperanza last year and ever since, I have wanted to paint a smaller version. I like these little works because I am painting on my new easel and it is far enough away from me that I can't add too much detail. I am also using the biggest, longest brush that I can use, which makes me squint and just get the basics down. Great practice and out of my comfort zone at this point. Maybe by the time the 150 Challenge is done, I will be an old pro. We'll see! I hope you'll go to the auction page and check out the painting. The bidding begins at $50 for each painting and each auction will run 7 days. The painting will ship as soon as it is dry to the touch.

"NIGHT ANGEL"

"NIGHT ANGEL"

10"X8"

finished commission

I'm working on two small commissions now, this is the first. She is a Canyon Woman walking down a pathway lit by farolitos and a beautiful night sky. A bit mystical, I think.

Today we have snow on the ground and it is 1 degree outside - it's strange, I just took the dogs out early (they sleep in my studio) and it didn't feel that cold, maybe because there wasn't any wind at the time. Anyway, it's early, and they're back in on their warm nlankets and I'm going back to bed! I hope the sun comes out later today - this is not my kind of weather.

almost ready...

HELLO.

I know it's been a few days since I posted. I've had a good excuse! I've been finishing up an 18"x24" commission (I'll post a photo tomorrow), and cleaning my studio. It's weird, but once I started working on the 150 Challenge, I had a little nagging feeling in the back of my brain that I wasn't quite ready. I didn't know why. But I knew I wanted to CLEAN. So, I cleaned out my bedroom closet first. I got rid of 7 boxes of vhs exercise videos and movies. I got rid of 8 boxes of books. Man, that's a lot of boxes! I cleaned out some drawers. I cleaned out my cookbook cabinet. And today, I just started in on the studio. I wasn't exactly sure what I needed to do - I just knew something wasn't RIGHT. I started first with my acrylic paints. I had 11 bins of acrylic - just too much. I cut it down to one bin, with just one or two of each of the 18 colors I use. Then I moved on to the art books - some of them I've had since my girls were small, even before I knew I was going to become a painter. I got rid of four boxes of art books!

I condensed my acrylic painting area and expanded my oil painting area. Now I have two tabletop easels for my oils and one for acrylic. I got all of my paperwork in one spot so I can start organizing for tax season. I NEVER can seem to get that right - always playing catch-up. I also put all of my bins with my reference photos on a roll-around cart so I can move them around and locate them easier. I still have about ten photo organizer boxes to organize. They hold all of my postcards, mailing lists, hooks, wire, etc., everything that's too small to really have its own spot. I hope that I am completely done by tomorrow.

Oh, and yesterday I did about five hours of yardwork. It was SO pretty and we're supposed to have a couple of days of bad weather - the high on wednesday is only 15 degrees!! I trimmed bushes, raked underneath trees, cleaned a flower bed, and got rid of some junk we didn't need in the yard. We also just had some guys come and remove nine tree stumps a couple of days ago, so I hope to have a beautiful yard this year. And a GARDEN!

BALANCE

Tomorrow I am also starting my eating plan again. A modified version of Weight Watchers. I don't like the new points system (too complicated), so I am doing my own thing. And I'm still exercising almost every day. I feel very much in balance right now. Bring on the 150 Challenge!!

Oh, and the photo above is from a feature article in SU CASA magazine (I can't remember the issue #). It's an architect's home here in NM and she has one of my large paintings in her beautiful dining room. I think it's beautiful....