Saturday, March 30, 2013

Pilgrims

PILGRIMS

Winding
like a tapestry
a weaving 
throng of believers 
making their way
to their own 
slice of Heaven 
Tome 
three crosses
crowds
along the road 
Trailers alongside
guys drinking beer
Led Zepplin
chained up dogs
watching from the porch
sheltered from the sun
The "f' word
audible
from where I sit 
People, young and old
cane walkers and athletes
making the trek
to a spiritual shrine
Free water
lots of blessings
by cars passing by
This is our world.


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

sshhhhh.....


don't tell anyone but there's a new Dee Sanchez Challenge coming.....

SOON!

Watch for details 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

seeing red...in more ways than one

Greetings!

Today has been a weird day.
It started off really well - I woke up, slept good, then went to Planet Fitness to work out.
I had a good workout riding the bike for 45 minutes. Until...
Until I went to get into my car, and it wouldn't start.

Okay, I'm pretty laid back.
I usually just try to let things roll off of me.
I don't usually get very stressed.
BUT....we have put over $2000 into this car just since August.
I was seeing red. Lots of red. Frustrated red.
So my trusty husband came and jump-started me and off we went to the mechanic.

Turns out we need a new battery. Another $155.
But worth it for a car that runs and starts when I need it to.

So I got dropped off at my house, and I was so tense.
Just hyped up and couldn't seem to get motivated to do anything.
I decided to make myself some lunch, sat down on the couch 
and became a certified couch potato for an hour.
I watched Millionaire Matchmaker and LA Shrink.
Those two crazy shows put my problems into perspective and I felt better.

I finally made it into the studio and finished toning my panels.
And yes, they were red. But a calming reddish-orange, not mean and angry red.
And I slowly began to breathe again.....

Here are a few photos my toning process.

 On the left is a SOLD commission still life in the works.
It will be a blue vase of poppies. And the poppies will be sort of a dark fuschia red.
the red you see in that little red frame on the right.


When I tone, I do the panels all at once and they are put everywhere - on top of photos, 
on top of a roll of upstanding paper towels, on top of my paints. 
I even have one balancing on top of my trash can.
But look at how organized my table looks!
Enjoy it while it lasts...


 Oh I'm sorry, I have not one but TWO panels balanced on my trash can.
I even have one lying on top of my brushes. 
My bad.


A semi-arial view of toned canvas everywhere.
I think I toned about seventy-five of those babies.
Now what to do?

More on that later....

Sunday, March 17, 2013

tools rule

 As most of you know, my trusty Canon Powershot camera broke 
and I've been using my tiny tiny Sony Cybershot until I'm able to go camera shopping.
I think I finally figured out how to take close ups with this little one, 
but I feel like I'm using a child's toy!


 Wow, it was warm yesterday and all of my apricot buds opened up.
They are absolutely beautiful.
It's been so warm here- no winter at all - that I didn't even have time to prune anything.
I guess I can do it anyway, maybe the apricots will be bigger in the end.


 Another group of open blossoms.
I never knew that apricots had such pretty blooms - look at all of that red and yellow!


This is a peach blossom. 
Now this tree actually looks a little scraggly - but last year it gave us tons of peaches. 
I'll take more photos in a few days and see if it looks better.
This tree should have definitely been pruned in early January.



 This is a morning "rays of sunshine" view of my field and old garden spot.
That's Bella looking beautiful.


On to the studio.....

 I make lists. Lots of lists.
I make lists of lists.
I may have five lists going on at once, overlapping chores, projects, and the like.
I also have this write-on wipe-off planner up in my studio and I NEVER use it.
My kids (specifically my son-in-law) thinks it's very funny to write things on it.
So he made me an appointment on my planner to write on my planner. Cute.

 I went crazy shopping yesterday. 
No, not for paints or canvas or brushes.
I went tool shopping.

I was looking for a tool that fellow artist Julie Ford Oliver 
uses in her work and was nice enough to share with the world.
I went to Lowe's, Wal Mart, Home Depot, and couldn't find it.
So I emailed her and she answered right back and said she buys them at Harbor Tools.
There was one right around the corner, 
so I checked it out and I AM IN LOVE with Harbor Tools..
They have tools! So many tools! I went crazy just looking at the hammer aisle.
I bought the tool I was looking for and several that I wasn't.
At the end of the day, between all the stores, I came home with:
six pairs of gardening gloves
loping shears
rose pruning clippers
pruning clippers
four box cutting tools
two paint scraping tools
one window squeegee
SCORE.
Julie, I hope to do you proud and I thank you.


 This is the tool I was looking for.
Made in China - wouldn't you know?

 In other news, here is a sweet little wooden house I am painting for a fundraiser, 
I think the event is called "ALBUQUIRKY LITTLE HOUSES" or something like that. 
It's basically just two blocks of wood with a little piece of wood for he chimney.
Any suggestions as to what I should do?

This is my daily painting for today.
I have loosely sketched it - and I mean very loosely.
This comes from a  blurry photo of a lovely garden up in Abiquiu.

And last but not least, I am having eight 30x30 really deep canvases
stretched for the upcoming Weems show "FLOWERS AND VEGGIES."
The first one should be ready this week. I'm so excited!
These are really deep and will be painted around the sides.

AND, great news, I have been commissioned to do a 22x28 painting for the 
in Los Lunas, New Mexico.
It will be a horizontal piece and a composite of four photos:
the Los Lunas hill, the nearby farming fields, and ditches and cottonwoods.
More on this story coming up......




Wednesday, March 13, 2013

"ALGODONES"

"ALGODONES"
6x6"
oil on hardboard

The fact that this beautiful plateau is about 10 minutes away from me from just blows my mind.
I wish I could remember to put it on my calendar to head over there once a week 
right about sunset time and be ready with my camera. 
Especially if there are lots of white puffy clouds in the sky.



In other news, I'll be buying my large 30x30: canvases
tomorrow to paint for the upcoming Weems show 
"FLOWERS AND VEGGIES."
I think I'm going to try to get about eight paintings done for the show.
And I'm using a  bit of new technique I learned from an artist friend.
We'll see how that goes!

"HEADED HOME" Taos winter cows

"HEADED HOME"
6x6"
oil on hardboard
$145

These are Taos winter mountains and Taos cows.
Briskness in the air and a little snow still on the ground.
I wanted to be as loose as possible with this painting.
I still think it could have more of an abstract feel 
and I can see that I'm headed that way in my work. 
When I look at it, I don't see cows headed home,
I see big juicy chunks of paint and the negative space between the cows.
And the orange in the mountains.
I like this one!



Thursday, March 07, 2013

on to other things


ON TO NEW THINGS.....

My taxes are done.
It must be spring cleaning time because now I've moved on to my studio!

The studio is not bad. At first glance, it even looks okay.
But I know better. I know where the clutter is.

Those who know me know how much I LOVE books.
Especially art books. Well, art books are now becoming my clutter.
Today I am being firm and going through all of my art books
and only keeping the ones I really want or need.
I may have a little garage sale for all of my artist friends when 
I'm done spring cleaning.

I want my area to be as decluttered as possibly so when I go into the studio 
painting is my only focus. 
I'm also trying to make some room to have a couple of small painting
WORKSHOPS this summer.

I've been asked numerous times if I teach or do workshops 
and the answer has always been no. Until now!
If you are interested in learning techniques involved in daily painting, plein air painting,
blogging, marketing, and how to get out in the art world, keep this in mind.

My idea is to have 3-6 students for a day long workshop - 
half inside and half outside under the cottonwood trees.
A nice lunch and lots of great instruction and conversation.
Affordable and fun. 
More on that later....

OTHER NEWS

I have a couple of projects coming up....

One is for an exhibition called SEED.
I'm doing one painting and the theme is, you guessed it - seeds!
I'm not sure what I'm doing yet, but there's a lot of room for interpretation.

The other is a group exhibition at Weems Uptown called 
"FLOWERS AND VEGGIES."
I am painting 6-8 large pieces - I'm actually looking at some 30x30 canvases that 
are really deep - about three inches.
They would be awesome covered in wild chaotic flowers and painted around the sides, 
very three dimensional and sculptural. 
I'll probably pick up one or two canvases to start on Monday and
see where that goes. 
You guys know I love painting those wild flowers!

I am going to work on a daily painting to post tonight, so keep an eye out.
AND, I'm going on a retreat this weekend.
I'll be doing a labryinth walk, meditation, writing, etc. 

Don't forget to set your clocks this weekend!


  





Monday, March 04, 2013

The Apron Project

Yesterday was the opening of THE APRON PROJECT at 
the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
Since my daughter and I have an apron in the show, we decided to go and check it 


 Someone reading our apron









Friday, March 01, 2013

JALOPY

"JALOPY"
9X12"
oil on hardboard
SOLD

This is Challenge 11 in my artist group blog, "LET'S PAINT NEW MEXICO."
If you seethe original image, you will know that I should have done a better block in compoition,
rather than a loose paint sketch. The original car is much wider and more squat.
It was totally fun though, but I don't think I want to paint it again!

To purchase, please click HERE.