the art of the garden

FLOWERS AND A GARDEN THEME!

I delivered my paintings to the gallery today.

What a pretty place! And right in the heart of downtown.

It makes me want to own a loft so I can see all of "happenings."

Here is the postcard for the show with all of the information.

I hope you can make it down to the show.

I hear it's going to be a party!

Garden Tour tickets still available

TICKETS FOR THE 

CORRALES GARDEN TOUR

ARE STILL AVAILABLE!

$10 EACH

TO PUCHASE YOUR TICKETS ONLINE, CLICK HERE.

 

upcoming events

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

I have two cool and exciting shows coming up!

SUMNER AND DENE GARDEN SHOW

OPENS FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2015

ARTIST RECEPTION - FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 5-8PM

SUMNER AND DENE GALLERY

517 CENTRAL NW

ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87102

505-842-1400

Come and join us, this is going to be fun!

I have 22 paintings in the show!

"WINDOWSILL"

8x8" oil on panel 

This painting will be in the Sumner and Dene show

and

CORRALES GARDEN TOUR

"SACRED GROUND"

8x10" oil on panel

Bad News - The Corrales Garden Tour is sold out.

You will miss seeing myself and 13 other artists

painting these beautiful gardens.

BUT

There will be an exhibition at the Old Corrales Church

of all of the finished paintings!

Tuesday, June 9, 10am - 2pm

Wednesday, June 10, 10am - 5pm

Plus, we will all have paintings of the old Corrales Church 

available for purchase during the show, including the one above.

I hope you will come to the exhibition to hang out,

look at all of the great art, and maybe find something you love!

Any questions, call me at 505-792-1030.

flower poetry

 I am itching to take a day trip and haven't been able to.

So any chance I get, I take these little short photo excursions around my neighborhood.

Today I went up Guadalupe Trail. 

It's a street full of beautiful adobes, large and small, old and new.

And some people have really pretty flowers.

I also saw a mama horse and her little baby.

Mama was getting nuzzled.

 Oh, Georgia - if you could only see these!

I think poppies are in my top three of beautiful flowers.

 These are all in one beautiful yard.

I didn't want to get out of my car, 

so I pulled up the wrong way on the quiet street

and shot out of my car window.

Isn't this a gorgeous iris?

If I would've come about five days earlier, I would've gotten all of the blooms.

 Poppies and roses

  This is pink roses, yellow yarrow, a gorgeous purple and white iris,

and orange iris. Really, orange?
Never seen one of those in person before.

 This is Mr. Giraffe. At least that's what I call him.

I've photographed him in various stages of fashion ensembles.

He must be getting ready for Memorial Day.

Might dapper, Mr. Giraffe!

 This might be my favorite photo pf the whole group.

Those poppies are so up close and personal.

The sun is shining right through them and there are

lots of little spots of color in the background.

This will be fun to paint, especially with a knife!

 Another view

 Lots of beautiful color in this one!

Reds, pinks, yellows. magenta, purples, and oranges.

Wow, this is wonderful.

I would like to drop a chair right in there

and hang out for a while.

 Hollyhocks with some catmint or lavender in the background

A saint inside a tree.

Can anyone tell me who this is?

I hope you enjoyed my trip through the flower fields!

Next week?
Painting churches and a day trip to Abiquiu.
And getting my gear ready for the Corrales Garden Tour paint-out!

rambling

 I went on another studio cleaning spree yesterday -

 I ended up with one full trash bag of garbage to take out!

Now I just need to have an artist's sale and get rid of all of my art books

and extra canvas that I'm not going to use.

 I really need to paint that big canvas.

It's been in the studio for a while.

It blocks my view of the French door and my art books.

I guess I'm putting it off because I don't

want to think about all of the oil paint I'll be using,

especially if I use a knife!

 I went through ALL of my oil paints and squeezed them all to the top.

The ones to the left are tubes that are almost empty.

I'm going to bag those up and save them until I run out of a color.

 I am going to paint my studio this summer.

I am looking for a light green/grey.

This looks really pretty on the sample, 

but reads kind of dark in the studio.

I'm going to try a couple more before I decide.

 My newest little palette knife paintings.

They bring me a lot of joy!

I can't wait to get out in the landscape and see how I do with a knife.

 These are RayMar panels. 

I love their texture.

Triple primed linen.

The small ones on the left are Mona Lisa Speedball - I think.

 Okay, this is my 9 year old baby Roy Boy.
 Roy Boy got sick a couple of days ago.

He started just pacing around and panting a lot.

He didn't want to lay down either.

He spent two days at the vet getting bloodwork, xrays, and an ultrasound.

All his tests came back okay, except his spleen is enlarged,

and he was high on a couple of blood things.

He is shaved from the ultrasound and not real happy about it.

He has four meds - two antibiotics, an anti-inflamatory, and a pain pill.
His pill schedule looks like a spread sheet.

He is quite a bit better today.

It's kind of a wait-and-see thing.

He has to go back for a reassessment next week.

Such a good nine year old boy.
He has hardly ever been sick.

 This is Roy when he was a puppy.

So dang cute!

He was rescued from the City Shelter.

He likes to lay in the house with his nose pointing into my studio.

I guess so he can keep a sleepy eye on me.

 He used to love to lay around the cool water bowl in the summer.

I'm surprised he didn't lay IN the water.

 Okay, not even going to try to explain this!

I will see if I can find a good video of him to post.

 Since we've been at the vet for two days, and I've been working, 

I haven't even looked at the yard.

This rose bush is so pretty.

I love these runaways....

  I don't care what it is - you put it in front of an adobe wall - IT LOOKS GOOD.

 My poor birds, they probably hate me.

Their feeders are empty

 and their birdbath looks like a beautiful swamp.

I will remedy that this weekend.

 Another beautiful wild rose again the adobe wall

 This bush is so pretty, does anyone know what it's called?

Tons of little yellow flowers....

 These roses are right outside my studio door.

The heavy rain we had a couple of days ago really did a number

on the large heavy ones in full bloom.

They are just hanging over.

But these opening buds are beautiful.

 So pretty in the sun

 One of the (seems like) millions of lizards we have hanging around on our land.

He is actually pretty small, but I cropped out everything else and he looks HUGE.

I may have to paint him.

My Japanese Maple outside the studio.

I found this cool wind chime new at Savers with the tag still on. Score!

Coming up on Friday, June 5, is the GARDEN SHOW at

Sumner and Dene Gallery located at 517 Central NW, Albuquerque, NM, 87102.

505-842-1400, www.sumnerdene.com

I an an invited artist and will have 22 palette knife paintings in the show!

Join us from 5-8pm for the Artist Reception.

Next up is the Corrales Garden Tour Paint Out coming up

on Sunday, June 7, from 9am - 4pm.

Join me as I paint on location at six beautiful different gardens!

An exhibition and show will follow.

After that - new paintings and lots of plein air painting!

Thanks for watching....

new daily painting

"SPRING THUNDERSTORM"

8x6"

$99

A New Mexico thunderstorm.

Nothing else like it in the world.

Majestic and magnificent!

This was so fun to paint. 

Lots of rich color and thick texture.

Can you feel the raindrops?

To purchase, click the Paypal button below.

new small paintings

"GORGE AND SUNFLOWERS"

6x8"

oil on panel
$99

 This scene is one of my favorites.

As you come out of the mountain pass, coming into Taos,

you have the most beautiful view of the Rio Grande Gorge, 

the Taos mountains, and sunflowers in full bloom.

It never fails to take my breath away.
I often wish I lived at this spot just so I could see the sunrises
and sunsets surrounding that whole area.

This painting is painted with a palette knife
and is thick and juicy.
Click on the painting to enjoy the texture.

sunday getaway

 "ARROYO SECO GARDEN"

8x10"

oil on panel

Not a garden in the traditional sense, but in Arroyo Seco - nothing is traditional!

Love this old truck, with the Taos mountains in the background.

 "MOON GARDEN"

30x24"

oil on panel

Just finished the iris garden - it was a labor of love and took forever.

These two paintings are the last completed for the upcoming Sumner and Dene Garden Show.

For details, click here.

 Last Sunday, I just really, really needed to get out.

I had been sick with a cold, was feeling better,

and had a bit of cabin fever.

I wanted to go somewhere, but not somewhere FAR.

So I chose Old Town and along Rio Grande Blvd.

As I was driving in my neighborhood,

  I passed by the house above that has been stripped down to its bare bones.

The structure that you see here is the all adobe framework built years ago.

My artist friend's mom lived in this house.

She passed away and they sold it to an architect.

I can't wait to see what he does with it.

 As I continued on toward Old Town,

I drove through some old neighborhoods with the cutest houses.

Beautiful landscaping, cute porches, etc., 

I would love to live in one of these houses.

And the flowers!

 I went for hollyhocks, and they weren't really in full bloom yet.

But the Jupiter's Beard! And the poppies!

 Aren't these gorgeous?

I see a painting here.

 In this one, I am more attracted to the negative space

in the background, and the light floating in and out.

 My favorite old truck near the Rio Grande Nature Center.

 Bachelor Buttons - wow, what a beautiful meadow arrangement!

Blues, purples, and pinks....

 Purple iris next to a river rock stream bed.

 A home in Dietz Farm on Rio Grande has a cool old truck collection.

IN THEIR DRIVEWAY.

Awesome!

This one lost his nose.

 As I meandered through Los Poblanos Inn and Cultural Center,

I came across these delicate blossoms. 

Can anyone tell me what they are?

 Beautiful peony buds.

 A young vineyard with the Sandia mountains in the background.

 Cool old Dodge truck.

Just driving down the road.

Is this candy apple red?

As I came back home,

I stopped to photograph this little acequia.

It feeds a lot of little properties near my house.

In fact, it is right across the street from the 

little adobe that has been torn down and 

will probably feed the yard of the new owners too.

The circle of life. 

Sweet.

I came home refreshed and ready to begin again.

PERSONAL NOTE:

I have started a facebok group page:
Dee's 365 Day Weight Loss Challenge.
Anyone can join in for support, ancouragement, to hang out, 
to offer tips, send in photographs of yourself, your food, etc.
No judgement.
Join me on my quest to lose weight and get healthy!
Just go to facebook, type 
Dee's 365 Day Weight Loss Challenge
and ask to join.