long time, no see

Hi all,

I can't believe it's been SO long since I've blogged.

Life just keeps putting up road blocks in front of me.

And sometimes I forget.

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about everything I've done since

I talked to you last.

I am going to share what I'm working on now.

Here are my latest paintings.

These pieces are for an exhibition at

Corrales Fine Arts Gallery

4685 Corrales Road

I am painting 10-12 paintings,

small to medium with one larger work.

Look for the following works, plus SEVEN more!

I'm painting what I want,

which is an incredible joy.

 " THE TRIO"

 "GLORIOUS SUNFLOWERS"

 "AUTUMN GORGE"

 "BLACK MESA AND GOLD"

"RHAPSODY"

I made all of the images large so you could see them better.

I'm using my Cobra oils.

I love their buttery feel.

I do not care for the way they smell.

They don't have that beautiful oil smell that I love so much.

I am slowly removing colors as I paint.

I bought too many greens while trying to match cadmium green

and sap green.

I bought too many blues too, but I adore them all.

And trying to find a perfect match for permanent rose - 

forget about it.

I am adapting though.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the clean-up!

Just a wipee removes everything.

Anyway, much more to come....

updates....

UP TO DATE

Hi all,

I know it's been FOREVER since I posted.

I'm going to try to update on a more regular basis for the next year.

Okay, first - I have lost 52 pounds.

I'd like to say it's been hard, but it hasn't really.

I just kind of stopped eating breakfast and big late dinners.

Other than that, I eat pretty much what I want.

I like Lean Cuisines and other meals that are portion-controlled.

And I have been swimming.

I'm going to step up the exercise now because I

know I'm going to make fudge and chocolate chip

pumpkin nut cookies for the holidays 

and I don't want them to be my downfall.

This is the new pic

This is the old pic

One thing I've noticed - 

you lose weight, your wrinkles show more.

Maybe you look older.

Bummer.

In other news,

today is the first day of October and that means,

BRING OUT THE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!

I got it all out and am listening to my favorite CD as we speak.

I am SO ready for fall this year.

Well, I have to go make spaghetti now, 

so I will write more tomorrow.

Lots of cool art stuff going on to tell you about!

scenes from the art party

ART PARTY

The Art Party was a great success!

I am beyond exhausted but 

wanted you to see a few bits of it.

We had great Mexican food. wonderful music

by Mezcla Latina, and the Studio Sale was great.

It is always so nice seeing old friends, new friends,

wonderful and supportive collectors, and family too.

We celebrated our Nana's 86 birthday and

that was so special.

So, now I am in panning stages for the rest of the 

year and am already working on events for 2019.

Oh, and one of my goals is to be more

consistent with my blogging.

 The table set up.

We rented the tables and chairs.

I bought the black tablecloths so now I will

never run out of tablescloths!

They work well as display tablecloths too.

 The food tables, drink tables, and yard set up.

 Carlos Flores and his bandmates setting up the band.

Jillian Maresco, my friend, and manager for the sales.

She was swamped at various times!

 After the first food run.

This sweet woman is my favorite hugger.

 Judith, one of my loyal collectors.

 Olinda, another of the sweetest mamas I know.

And she owns paintings!

 After it calmed down.

 My Nana, my hugger Glenda, and Michaela, her granddaughter.

 The most beautiful and best tasting cake I've ever had.

 Enjoying conversations

 Nana dancing with her oldest.

Scenes from the party (the aspen painting sold)

 Inside the studio before the party

 The door from the studio into the house 

 Paintings

 Smaller panels and cradled gessobord pieces

Sweet little lamb!

These are just a few scenes from a wonderful day.

I'm thinking of ways to make it better next year.

Now, I have to go sleep.....

looking for sunflowers...and water

LOOKING FOR SUNFLOWERS

I set out on an adventure last Wednesday.

A quest, if you will.

I was looking for sunflowers to paint.

And so were my friends:

Jillian, Barb, Susana, and Susan.

It has been at least 6-7 years since I've been to Bosque del Apache.

I called about a week ago and they said the sunflowers were just

starting to bloom, so I thought, let's take a day trip.

We'll drive down, see a lot of ducks, geese, water, maybe a crane or two. 

And sunflowers.

We left the house about 7:35am.

It took us longer than we thought to get there and

when we arrived, it was already HOT.

But we found sunflowers!

They were not all fully open yet, 

but enough so that I got a few good shots.

 Jillian enjoying the scenery

Susan looking for that perfect shot.

 We also saw a cool old truck!

 Peaceful and serene

More suns

 The only water we saw

 I see a painting here

 And here

 And here!

 The trees were full of all kinds of variations of green.

And this yellow-rusty plant - we didn't know if it was 
normally that color or dying.

 BEAUTIFUL!

 Taking a close-up

 My best shot of the day.

But look how dry it is!

 We finally painted at the Coyote Observation Deck.

At least it was shady.

 Hmm, I'm goofing off.

 This is a beautiful scene 

 We saw two deer!

Okay, this is confusing to me.

When I went several years ago, there was SO much water everywhere.

I went in the winter when the birds were already there

and maybe still migrating.

A few scenes from that time:

So much water!

So, can someone enlighten me?

Do they keep the fields dry during the summer

and flood them in the winter?

It just looked so different from what I was expecting.

The water above with all of the ducks was a huge dirt field on Wednesday.

Bosque Del Apache was still beautiful.

Just different.

I'm going to call the Visitor Center tomorrow.
It was closed when we went.

I WILL HAVE SOME ANSWERS.