Saturday, December 15, 2012

Christmas Time!

I've been busy the last few days, 
so I am posting several photos here at once.
It will probably be like this through Christmas - crazy as always!
I hope everyone is doing fine and 
the holidays are wonderful for everyone.

 This is my new Mabef field easel. 
I think it's cool because it's not too heavy, 
it takes larger canvases out on location, and it tilts.
I can't wait to try it.

My favorite Christmas tree lot and the same one I've used for the last ten years.
Boy, trees went up this year! What was $40 last year is now $65.
But they were all beautiful.



This is one I chose.
This lot is at a home where the Christmas tree business 
was started by a man who will turn 100 years old this year.
His kids took over the business, now their kids are helping out.
I believe all of the trees are from Mora, New Mexico.



Aww, it's pretty.
I always like a tree that's kind of sparsy - I think the ornaments hang better.



 All loaded up.
I'm only going about eight blocks!



 Whew, I got it inside.
I forgot to saw off the bottom a little and drill a few holes in the bottom.
Oh well.


 I also took a little side trip yesterday to the local greenhouse to see the poinsettias.
They are GORGEOUS!
This is a varigated variety and it's really beautiful.


 Tons and tons of locally grown ponsettias.
Mind boggling.....

 Big hanging baskets.

I would love one of these in my house.
But it would die shortly thereafter.
I have no green thumb inside the house.



 We are making plates of goodies for some of our friends and family this year
and on Thursday, we had a day-long baking day.
The cookies you see above are my biscochitos.
I also made fudge and chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.
My daughter made truffles and mints. 
Yum.


 My biscochitos had a special ingredient this year.
Can anyone guess what it is?


My daughter and son-in-law Ben putting lights on the tree.


 My husband Mac showing off his ornament.


 Morgan adjusting the lights.


 Mac and Ben posing.
Well, Ben is posing.


 My tree with the movie "THE NUTCRACKER" in the background.



 The family Christmas tree, ready at last.
I think it's pretty.



 Close up of a few of my favorite ornaments.
Can you tell I have a thing for birds?



 Another bird ornament - I found this at a little antique store.


Speaking of birds, we have a million of these birds at our crabapple trees, eating the berries.
I think they might be called cedar waxwings, but I don't know. 
I've never seen one at my feeders until now.

Monday, December 03, 2012

nice weekend

 This is what my studio looked like Friday. 
We cleaned a bit of our garage and lots of stuff came into my studio, 
most of it you can see here.
I should be cleaning and painting. BUT.
The weather is so pretty and there's the Los Ranchos Holiday Shop and Stroll this weekend, sooo...I'm going antiquing!

This is the tree at the end of my backyard.
I took this photo a couple of weeks ago and the colors were so gorgeous.


This is how the tree looks now.
All of the bright gold is gone and now there's just a dull, dusty gold.

 This is one of two crabapple trees in my backyard.
I have never ever seen them so full of berries.
We have been inundated with birds of all kinds.
Not surprising, since I have eight birdfeeders around the yard.
I thought this was a female robin, but am not sure.

  Isn't she cute?

Beautiful voices at Kelly Jo Ceramics for the Holiday Stroll.

 This little tiny house was at the back of one of the antique stores.
It has a Spanish style roof, a wood stove pipe, shutters on the windows and is probably 4ft.x 5ft.
Perfect studio size, lol.
I could put wheels on it and just move it around in my yard whenever I wanted some sunshine.

 This was one of my purchases - a complete book of Vincent Van Gogh's self portraits.
Complete with historical faces about where there were painted 
and what was going on in his life at the time.
20% off and score!

 This was one of my favorite finds of the day.
Actually my cousin spotted it as soon as we walked in the antique store.
A cross made out of some kind of local wood  with the bark still on it.
I love the shape.
The cross and flowers are made out of some very heavy metal.
This was $38 and 30% off because it was "wall art."
It will join the others in my cross collection.

 This is the most unusual nativity I've ever seen.
A wind chime!
It is so pretty, everything is made out of clay.
I will hang it next to my Christmas tree.
This was $20 and 20% off and I just happened to see it hanging in
a little room at the back of the Antique Co-op on 4th Street NW.

 A beautiful view of the Sandia mountains and some people seeing if the red chile is still good.
This will be a painting soon.
Love the blue of the mountains and the color of the fields.

A few cranes - maybe Sandhill - in a field near the Rio Grande Nature Center.

Okay, there you have it - my weekend.
Now it's back to cleaning, painting, working, exercising, and getting ready for Christmas.
If you're so inclined, check out my weight loss blog, "Dee's 365 Days."

Saturday, December 01, 2012

Man, I am in the Christmas Spirit today!

I have lots to do in my studio, but there is an Antique Store Holiday Shop and Stroll near my house today and I am going to have to take off for a while and go check that out.

I got my Gamblin paint order yesterday and the rest of my Mona Lisa Speedball panels will be here this week, so I am ready to start painting....I will admit that after Balloon Fiesta and Weems Artfest, I needed a break. Oh, all of my paintings are split up between Weems Uptown and Weems Old Town, so if you want to see them, wait a few days and head over - they will welcome you with open arms!

My daily painting starts up Monday, so watch for that.
I have decided not to do auctions. Every painting will have a price and a Paypal button underneath, so if you see a painting you want, just click on the Paypal button and you can purchase. It's easy!

I will have also my daily paintings listed on dailypaintworks.com and dailypainters.com and I am thinking about setting up an ebay store. Never done that so I thought it would be kind of cool.

Okay, I will write more later - have a great weekend!



Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Weems Artfest Paintings

WEEMS INTERNATIONAL ARTFEST
OVER 280 ARTISTS!

Friday, November 9 -  10am - 9pm
Saturday, November 10 -  10am - 6pm
Sunday, November 11 -  10am 0 5pm
EXPO NM Fairgrounds
Booth #231

 The paintings below are just a few of the over 100 paintings I will have at the show.
I've painted a lot of small works and also have several larger pieces.
This will be my last show until 2014, 
so please come by and say hi and check out the paintings!
You may call me personally at
505-792-1030
if you have any questions.
See you there!

















Monday, October 22, 2012

One more show and then...changes

 I just got back from a day trip to northern New Mexico and boy, 
did I need it after Balloon Fiesta.
The Fiesta was fantastic - I sold lots of work and met people from all over the world. 
I saw Dawn Patrol, Mass Ascensions, Shapes Rodeos, glows, and fireworks.  It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I loved it all. Except for getting up at 3:30am every morning. Seriously, people who love ballooning are some of the best people I've ever met.
The photo above is from our favorite little general store in Tesuque.
It's a little smoky because they had a pinon fire burning - the smell was heavenly.

 This was someone's property in Tesuque. 
They had huge grounds, I don't know how many acres and it was all covered in trees like this.

 This is red chile ristras in Chimayo.
I bought my favorite dried red chile there. 
They have oven-dried and sun-dried. Sun-dried is definitely better.
I also bought some powdered chipotle. 
They said the best way to prepare it is to mix it with orange juice and honey. Hmm.
I also bought the Chimayo dried heirloom chile, which is hot and a bright bright orange. 
I said I might mix it with another milder one and the guy told me, "No, don't do that, it's like mixing a fine wine with the cheap stuff."
I also bought some of the seeds to plant next year. They supposedly go way way back.
Gotta have that chile fix.

 Santuario de Chimayo was beautiful. They have it lined with luminarias.
It's on my bucket list to go to midnight Mass there one Christmas Eve.

 Here is San Idelfonso at Black Mesa. 
The last time I photographed and painted this church, 
the golden trees were a lovely purplish-grey.
Beautiful either way.

 We stopped to eat at the Abiquiu Inn. 
I noticed my friend Michelle Chrisman's paintings on the wall.
All of her paintings are plein air and painted with a knife.
She does an awesome workshop up in Ghost Ranch every year.

 Homemade salsa and guacamole...yummy.

 Huevos Rancheros.
I don't care for eggs on my Huevos, so I asked them to bring me a side of their homemade papas (potatoes) instead.
The Huevos are made with blue corn tortillas. So good!

 The morada near Georgia O'Keefe's house. 
I wish you could see the valley beyond. 
The view from her bedroom is gorgeous. 
Tours of her house and grounds are available for $30.

 On the way to Ghost Ranch.

 Those beautiful hills.

 These are orange at the top and mauve and grey at the base.

 Fall color at Ghost Ranch. 
Beautiful!

 Pedernal and fall colors.

 Along the road to the monastery.
Pictures don't do justice to how pretty is was.

 This pile of "something" was at apull of camping area next to the Chama river. 
Can someone tell me if this is bear scat?
We didn't stick around long.

 Another view of the Rio Chama.
What you don't see if that I'm driving up high on a one lane dirt road filled with ruts.  
A little scary...

 Candy-coated formations along the monastery road.

 The famous hoodoos seen from the back.

 Side trip to the little village of Canones, nearAbiquiu Lake. 
Colors were vivid here too.

 Three little cows, leery of us for invading their privacy.

 Another view of Pedernal from Canones.

 Beautiful fall colors - perfect for making a painting.

So, now that I've had a few days to recuperate, it's on to preparation  
for Weems Artfest, which is happening November 9, 10, 11th.
I'm not sending out postcards because it is too close to Balloon Fiesta, 
but I'm hoping that you will all come down to visit and see my new work.
Lots of 5x5, 6x6, 8x8, and 8x10 pieces, along with a few larger works too.

This will be my last show until 2014.