Friday, August 26, 2016

business and busyness

Gosh, I have been busy!

Taking a lot of photos these last few weeks.
Gorgeous flower garden

 The Old Church in Corrales.
I don't know why, I am really drawn to Corrales right now.
A group of us are painting there twice a week and it is challenging but fun.

 Hollyhocks in Santa Fe

I went to Santa Fe a couple of weeks to hear Carl Judson speak.
He is the owner of Judson Outfitters and
travels all over America, painting whenever and 
wherever he feels like. Very nice and knowledgeable man!

 Right off of Canyon Road

 Bernalillo on the way home

 There was also a wedding - my oldest
daughter got married. We had a blast!

 Mariachis included

 Back to Corrales
Harvest workers

 Trumpet vine shadows

 Desert willow and the mountains

 Commission I just finished


 Corrales cornfields

 Santa Fe colors

 near Algodones

 North Beach - painting in Corrales

 Sandia mountains starting to light up

 on fire

rainbow

 painting
 from North Beach

 Painting in Corrales

Finished painting

Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to write and post.
Stay tuned for more...

Friday, August 05, 2016

newest painting

"TAOS GOLD"
8x10"
#69

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted a 
150 CHALLENGE painting.

I had my daughter's wedding to attend,
a big art party with 65 guests,
and work on two commissions.

I realized I had better get busy because I have 68 more paintings to go!

This is a view of Taos mountain last year.
It was a beautiful autumn with brilliant fall colors
and luscious mountain shadows.

I am in the planning stages for a upcoming plein air event in Corrales.
probably happening the middle of October.
Corrales is beautiful to paint any time of year,
but fall is the best!
Stay tuned for that information.

Purchase information for the painting above:

Tuesday, August 02, 2016

getting to work


Hi all,

I have been so busy this past month that I didn't even have 
time to blog, and I have really missed it.
Things have slowed down and I have slowly started back to work.

The Art Party was a huge success!
We had sixty-five people for dinner, music, and my Studio Sale.

The music by Mezcla Latina was amazing.

This was our menu:
Fruit, dip, homemade guacamole, chips from Gardunos, green chile chicken enchiladas (also from Gardunos), scrumptious chicken enchiladas from Jillian and Kerry, my first-time-ever Calabacitas enchiladas (yes, you can message me for my recipe), homemade red chile from Dolores, weenie tacos from my Nana (they disappear as soon as they come out of the oven), sopaipillas and honey from El Pinto, and cake (to celebrate Mailia's birthday).

I have to say that I didn't get to eat until 10:30pm 
that night because I was so busy with the Studio Sale.
I had some great deals, my studio was set up like a gallery,
 and I spent the whole evening meeting new friends, 
visiting with old, and selling quite a few paintings.

I didn't even have a chance to take any photos.
I am definitely already thinking about next year and  
how to make the event more special.
And I will have an assistant for sure.

So on to what's new:

I still have sixty 150 CHALLENGE paintings to complete.
That means I have painted ninety challenge paintings.
I have sold forty-three paintings, which is amazing.
Thanks you to all who have purchased and supported this project.

I may have another one day Open Studio
to celebrate the end of the 150 CHALLENGE SHOW.

I am also in the planning stages for an October
group plein Air Event in Corrales.
I will post more when I have a few more concrete ideas and artists.
I love Corrales, especially in the fall,
and a plein event is just so much fun!

Right now I am working on two commissions.
The first is a 9x12" surprise for someone so I'm not
going to post until it has been finished and delievered.

The other commission is a large 24x36" painting
of a wild poppy garden (my favorite kind).

Here is the reference photo from one of my paintings:

The canvas has toned in my orange red, my favorite.

The initial loose sketch, with paint
All I'm looking for are placement for the poppies
and lines delineating background changes of color and pattern.

 I love this brand new grey palette paper and the new "worms" of color.

My palette:  titanium white, cad yellow light, cad medium light, cad orange, cad red light, napthol red, alizarin crimson, permanent rose, quinacridone magenta, raw sienna, burnt sienna, violet grey, dioxazine purple, cad green, sap green, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, asphaltum, prussion blue

I use this palette for all studio painting and a pared down version
for my plein air work.

Blocking in the darks

Placing the biggest flowers
Painting to me is like working on a puzzle,
Fitting colors next to each other, filling in tiny spaces.
What a wonderful way to spend my days...

This is the initial block in.

There will be quite a bit of knife texture at the end,
 which reminds me, I better get busy!

I hope you all have a wonderful August.
I can't believe it's almost September
 and you know what that means?
Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!!!
My favorite times of year!