granddaughter day

I spent the day with my granddaughters today.

They are four and two.

We had so much fun playing stuff like:

 Doctor Barbie, babies, puzzles,

lots of educational toys that I have,

and just enjoying being together.

We ate Chic Fil A and later I made them a picnic.

This is our ritual - I make a plate full of stuff - 

strawberries, raspberries, bananas, blueberries, raspberries,

kiwi (they won't eat the kiwi because it's kind of sour, 

but they love to watch me eat it to see if my face puckers up. It does!).

I also add crackers and one Oreo cookie for each of them.

I put a blanket over the ottoman and we watch Hey Dugee and eat.

Thursday is our standing day together.

Their mama runs errands and

hopefully gets a little break from their energy.

And boy, are they energetic!

When they head home, 

I usually head to the recliner or the couch with

a blanket and veg out to the Chopped or

Vanderpump Rules.

It's not because I'm physically tired.

I'm mentally tired!

I don't usually plan on doing any painting on Thursdays.

BUT, my husband decided to go to the gym late tonight

so I decided to warm up the studio and paint something.

I rummaged through some recent photos

 I took in Taos and this one jumped out at me:

"TAOS DOOR"

10x8"

oil

This is a photo off of one of the streets in Taos.

I had to shoot this photo while driving (I know, it's wrong).

But I fell in love with the hollyhocks against the turquoise door.

I loosely sketched the scene, then blocked in the big shapes.

Then I just pushed paint around for two hours until I was satisfied.

It's not perfect, perspectively, but it has a

whimsical feel and I like that.

And I'm done for the evening.

 So three paintings down for the year.

Now, to start work on three paintings that 

are calling to me.

One is a commission of two roosters, one is for my brother,

who helped me start this blog back in 2006.

The other is a huge painting for my sister-in-law, 

and I'll tell you about that later.

Note 1: I am enjoying the paintings I'm seeing from our group, 

"LETS PAINT NEW MEXICO!"

They are inspiring and the group offers a send of community

to the artists participating.

Note 2: Life is short, enjoy your family, and celebrate everything.

catching up

Hi everyone,

I don't know where the time has gone, but it is almost spring.

I've been busy but not blogging as much as usual.

And that's sad, because blogging is one of my favorite things to do.

So, I am catching up here today.

I just finished my taxes and what does an artist

do after she finishes her taxes?

She takes a drive to Corrales, of course.

It is still technically winter

but I found a couple of signs of spring.

Or things that made me think of spring.

I had no idea that in some places,

the forsythia is already blooming!

And this this beautiful wall with the cool mailbox and sun shadows

is right around the corner from me.

Check out the hubcap mailbox stand.

A view of my favorite cornfield is below.

This cornfield and I have a history.

And what made me very sad today is that

it has a FOR SALE sign on it.

NO, NO, NO, NO.

The sign says that 12 acres are for sale.

I can just picture a big developer coming in and 

creating an urban-looking subdivision.

I want my cornfield.

I photograph and paint this field in every season:

 Winter

 Spring

 Plowing time

 Red chile time

 Corn growing time

 Early morning time

 Duck time

 Crane time

 Anytime

 Morning glory time

Sunflower time

I have even painted this field a few times

One of my favorites

I guess you can't stop progress.
BUT - I can't imagine losing all of those sunflowers,
 morning glories, cranes, ducks, and harvests.

I hope they grow corn this year.

If they do, I'm going to take photographs every day

and paint it at least ten times.

Meanwhile, I came across a couple 

of cool bike photos:

I've also been busy painting:

And these are from Taos.

These paintings make me think of spring 

and plein air painting.

And Taos!

Going back as soon as the blossoms are out!

I've also been painting for my facebook group:

"LET'S PAINT NEW MEXICO!"

I didn't care for the composition in this one,

so I painted another:

The concept is I post a photo of somewhere or something

in New Mexico and a group of artists from all over the 

US and Canada paint their version of it.

It's such fun and it's so cool to see how the

artists interpret the photo.

You can check out the LPNM blog at the end of this post.

And boy, do I want spring to come soon.

We didn't really have much of a winter,

but spring is my thing!

Day trips, paint outs, and green things!!

I will write more tomorrow.

To see the LPNM blog, CLICK HERE.

15-5 "THE GARDEN PORTAL" and a new facebook group!

 "THE GARDEN PORTAL"

10x8"

oil on panel

$99

This is the first of my paintings for our new facebook group called,

"LET'S PAINT NEW MEXICO!"

I started this group as a blog a couple of years ago, and wow,

I think we all turned out some exeptional artwork.

I put the blog away for a while because I got so busy,

but I have brought it back as a free facebook group page, so

artists can join up and then they can post their own creations.

Much easier for me.

The object is this:

I post an image of New Mexico every Wednesday, and artists-

professionals to beginner or anywhere in between,

create their version of the image and then post it

to facebook for all to see.

No obligation and no judgement.

NOTE TO SELF:

Try another painting today because

working under lights at night in the studio

hurts your eyes and changes your color perception.
I like this version but the original

flowers in the photo are more red and brilliant than in this painting.

If you want to buy this painting, please CLICK HERE

or go to www.deesanchezdaily.com

What I've been up to....

"HIDDEN"

8X8"

oil on cradled hardboard

Hi guys, I know it's been a while since I've posted, but don't think I haven't been busy. 

Planning and organizing for two big back-to-back shows is exhausting! 

The image above is a new painting for the Balloon Fiesta show coming up October 6-14th.

It's of an old adobe building and a small hay barn in Arroyo Seco.

 The posters are here! The posters are here!

I spent one day last week hand-signing 400 of them.

It was hard but didn't take as long as I thought. 

We had a system!

 The image above and this article appeared in Albuquerque the Magazine's August edition, which is on the stands now. I can't believe that smile. I didn't want to and the photographer kept trying to make me laugh.

Not one of my better moments!

 Laying the posters out at Balloon Fiesta Headquarters for signing and numbering.

The posters will be available at www.balloonfiesta.com. 

They are $65 unsigned, $150 signed.

Their number is 505-821-1000.

 My husband and I decided to take a short trip to Taos for 

our 35th wedding anniversary (40 together).

We hardly ever travel alone, or we're always going to visit family.

This time it was just the two of us.

The image above is a raincloud gathering steam along the way.

You know this will be a Balloon Fiesta painting!

The river running through the mountains headed to Taos. 

needless to say, it was gorgeous!

The Rio Grande Gorge.

A bunch of you know what I mean when I say that as you 

come out of the horseshoe curve you have the best view of the gorge in the world.

This was where we stayed.

 El Monte Sagrado, which I think means sacred mountain.

It's very beautiful and interesting. 

 Fruit trees and native landscaping all around.

The rooms are all themed: Tibet, Japan, Painted Pony, Carribean, African, etc. 

This is a little casita at the resort with it's own private courtyard.

We ate at Tomasita's in Santa Fe on the way, then had dinner in Taos at Orlando's. 

We drove on through Arroyo Seco, which you see above.

Beautiful day.

The next morning, we had to go eat at Michael's Kitchen, the best place to eat in Taos.

Then it was time for home.

Oh, and we lost $10 gambling.

Bummer.

Passing Camel Rock on the way home. 

A natural formation that you used to be able to climb

 on and now they have fenced off for protection.

When we got home, it poured on us. 

Heavenly rain. unexpected.

Good to be home.

Guess what was waiting for me at home?

A huge order of cradled gessobord.

And that's not even all of it - they have the rest on backorder. 

Sheesh.

My daughter unboxed it and stacked it for me.

Sweet.

 These are some ornaments I started working on before I left.

I'm excited about these.

I'm going to try to get 40-50 done for the fiesta.

We'll see.

 Back at work, toning panels.

Such fun!

 My cousin and I went to Corrales to eat at Hannah and Nate's

and take a drive by "my" cornfield. I always like to track its progress.

It's pretty nigh and looked like it had already been picked.

 I believe this is green chile.

We'll go back in a couple of weeks and see what's happening.

Check out my newest blog,

"LET'S PAINT NEW MEXICO!"

Over 30 artists accepted the challenge of making art

from an image I post on the 1st and 15th of every  month.

the results from Challenge 1 have been beautiful.

To see the artwork, click HERE.

I'm doing a commission of Los Poblanos and had to go take some photos yesterday.

The clouds and the mountains were beautiful.

Los Poblanos was fair - the lotus flowers had faded, as had most of the roses. 

 This is a photo of the Los Poblanos Inn with their adobe wall, roses, and pampas grass.

I know, this is probably a boring photo for you, 

but this is one of my favorite places to photograph in Albuquerque. 

I call it "the house" and it's not really even a house, I think it's a storage shed. 

It sits in the Alameda Open Space and the fields are called "Alamo Farms."

You can walk the trail around it, but you can't walk into the open space.

I just like it because it has the backdrop of the mountains, 

and the field is always changing color.

So, if you see a painting that has the words "the house" in it, 

you'll know it's right here.

That's all for now - what a long post!

I am back to work, so look for daily postings.

Balloon paintings are available for purchase, until it the middle of September, 

so if you see something you love, email me at deesanchezart@hotmail.com

I missed you guys! Bye now...