big changes....

CHANGES

Those of you who know me well know that I have 

been going through some changes.

I have had a painting block for a while now,

just going through the motions to get things done.

My best collector and personal friend Tom 

passed away unexpectedly last year.

My art buddy, day-trip traveling partner Goldie

moved to Atlanta to be with her daughter.

These two people were my biggest supporters and

I'm not gonna lie - I felt lost without them.

How was I going to get rid of this ineria

and get back into my love of making art?

After much soul searching and time spent sitting and

staring off into space,

I came to the conclusion that my art life needed

to be shaken up a bit. No, A LOT.

It was either make a drastic change or stop working.

So - and this is a big one - 

I have left the gallery that I have been with

for the last 13 years.

This gallery gave me my first start in painting

and helped me learn the ropes in doing my 

first group show, my first local big art show, my first solo show.

They have always been so supportive and

I wouldn't be where I am without them.

Thank you, Weems Galleries.

Whew, scary move for sure.

 So now I am floating....

After years of nonstop shows and deadlines, what do I do?

The first thing I did was take a few days off, 

sit down, and think about where I wanted my career to be in five years.

The second thing I did was go to Santa Fe and watch a demo 

of an artist whose work I liked.

Those of you who know me know that I don't "do" the workshop thing.

i always thought taking a workshop would steer me away from my own style.

But this was more like a talk and discussion about his techniques and materials.

The third thing I did was buy some palette knives.

I then watched a few youtube videos and went through 

my books on painting with a knife.

I checked in with (and joined) palette knife groups on facebook.

Then I just jumped in and created my first palette knife work.

Not gonna lie, it was way too thick.

Painting with a knife is HARD.

I gave the painting to my daughter (who loved it!)

But I kept at it and am now loving the knife.

Here is my second attempt:

"WINDOWSILL"

8x8"

oil on panel

I love this painting, so I'm thinking, 

maybe I am onto something here.

My third attempt:

"BLOOMS"

8x10"

oil on panel

It felt kind of strange, not using a brush.

The knife does not go where I want it to go!

I bought better knives and a few spatula-type brushes and that helped.

Then - I was talking to one of my artist friends one day and she

mentioned that she was participating in an invitational

GARDEN SHOW at Sumner and Dene gallery in June.

I thought cool, that might be fun, so I called the gallery and 

they invited me to participate.

I accepted and was excited for the first time in a long time.

Now, I am busy creating a series of paintings

that are garden related.

No pressure, I can do one or twenty one.

Another of my new goals was to make a plan to

go out on location all this spring and summer and paint BIG.

I don't know if I will use knives or brushes but the

main goal is to get out of my comfort zone of small paintings and 

go for size out in the beautiful landscape- 16x20 through 30x40, to start.

I have done HUGE paintings in the past, but all were created in the studio.

It's hard enough to paint en plein air - but to paint BIG in plein air?

Scary!

I am still trying to figure out the actual set-up to do that.

So anyway, I hope you will bear with me, join me on this new venture.

and check out the GARDEN SHOW this June at Sumner and Dene.

Here are the other paintings so far:

 "CORRALES SUMMER 12x9" oil

"DUET" 12x16" oil

"HIDDEN GARDEN 11x14 oil 

"POPPY GARDEN" 8x10" oil

"PRAIRIE GARDEN" 14x11" oil

"SPLENDID" V" 12x9" oil

"SUNBATHING" 10x8" oil

 "HIDDEN GARDEN" 8x10" oil

"WILD GARDEN" 12x9" oil

Thank you all for supporting me

every time I go through some kind of art breakthough.

Life is good!

About the Retro Challenge

"THE DREAMERS"

I am getting close to the #100 mark on my Retro Challenge.

That means I will have completed fifty paintings

 and only have 100 more to go before September 26th.

I will admit, this has been my hardest challenge so far.

My good friend and collector passed away in January,

less than two months before the challenge started.

and I didn't realize how much he affected me and my painting life.

I lost my motivation for a while.

I didn't want to come into the studio.

I didn't want to think about art or go to work.

I still have paintings in here that I've painted for him.

I miss his daily feedback on all of my paintings.

Tom was my most passionate supporter and I am completing this challenge for him.

So I am slowly getting back into it again.

I am loving the acrylics and I have missed the lines!

I hope you're enjoying them too.

I am starting on ornaments this weekend.

I hope to have fifty done by the show in September.

I'll post the progression of one so you can see how I paint them.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me when I didn't feel like doing it.

Thanks to those of you who sent me nice words about Tom.

When the going gets tough...

the touch get going.

TO VIEW ALL COMPLETED RETRO CHALLENGE PAINTINGS:
CLICK HERE

Catching Up!

Catching Up

I have been busy.

With painting. And with Life.

My oldest daughter just got her Master's Degree.

She graduated and is now a Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Free acupuncture for life, here I come...

I am SO proud of her.

Four very long years of hard work and

I'm so happy I don't have to quiz her on Chinese herbs anymore.

In other happenings:

 This scene has been happening a lot around Albuquerque.

It's unusual and we are loving it!

Cascade sheets of rain just falling down in certain areas.

 Beautiful rays of sunlight shining through the clouds

 The sunflowers are starting to bloom and they are so happy and gorgeous, as always.

I really want to take a drive down the Bosque del Apache, 
the wildlife sanctuary near Socorro.

I've always wanted to see the sunflowers blooms against the water there.

 Some of my 145 paintings on my wall shelf.

I have been getting ready for the graduation party 

and working on commissions -

I am sort of behind!

I have to finish 100 paintings in 38 days.

Can I do it??

 Some cool Day of the Dead women I saw at a local antique store.

Not sure what they're made out of.

Kind of looks like paper mache.

 Another one.

Very interesting....

 A pic of downtown Albuquerque.

It's very cool, I think.

Downtown Albuquerque, not the pic.

The pic is just fair.

I'm using my new little Panasonic Lumix camera and

I REALLY miss my old Canon.

 I took a trip to Old Town the other day and I saw this guy 

just leaning against a tree, playing music.

I think this is a banjo...

 Isn't this so pretty? 

Old Town is one of my most favorite places.

The old adobe buildings, the church, the galleries.

My favorite gallery, Weems, is right around the corner.

 One of the cool little patios off of the main street in Old Town.

There are several of these - so colorful!

 My favorite antique store - The Antique Co-op.

What a way to spend the day relaxing and treasure-hunting.

 My sunflower still life painting for tomorrow's event for 

Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation's "Laughter is the Best Medicine."

I hope it bring some good money for a great cause.

 This was taken out of the window on a recent trip to Corrales.

We always love to eat at Hannah and Nate's,

then drive up and down streets, looking at all of the cool houses.

 One of my grocery store pears.

It's a little past its prime, you can kind of see it

wrinkling in the upper left corner.

This will become a painting.

 One of my pieces for the Weems Uptown Black and White Show

that is running for another couple of weeks..

They have six of my black and white paintings, all 8x8" framed.

For information, call Weems at 505-293-6133.

 Making 120 cupcakes for the graduation party.

I think they're all sad and tired....

and sick of cutting marshmallows.

 I bought 60 avocadoes to make homemade guacamole for the party.

I don't want to see another avocado for at least a month.

 Me....mashing avocadoes.

It was worth all of the hard work to get all of these

beautiful ladies together!

In the middle is Auntie Francis - our oldest aunt at 90.

She is followed by my husband's mom, Dahlia, on the left.

She just won the Gold Medal in the National Senior Olympics. In basketball.

Her group is the 80-85 years olds!

On the right is Auntie Alice.

In the back is Auntie Nellie, and on the back right is

Auntie Melva, the baby of the family.

These women are the glue that holds our family together.

So, that's pretty much what I've been up to.

Tonight I start painting again - finishing my 145 Challenge paintings.

I also have four commissions in the works.

September 2-7, there is a fun paint-out with an exhibition happening in Corrales.

September 29 is the special dinner at my home to benefit NMDDOG.

I will be posting more about that later.

Anyway, thanks for hanging with me, reading my blog, and now, let's paint!

Weems $185 Show, a sunset painting, a visit to Old Town....

I would like to remind everyone to come this Saturday to 

Weems Uptown annual $285 Show!

It starts at 10am, but people get there EARLY!

Weems is located at Louisiana and Montgomery NE.

Every piece of artwork in this show is priced at $285 or less.

I have about 20 pieces in the show,

two with retail prices of $1800.

I hope to be in attendance myself.

It's always such a fun and crazy event. 

See you there!

 "ALAMEDA SUNSET II"

6x6"

$145

TO PURCHASE CLICK HERE

I painted this last fall, just came across it yesterday.

Loved it then and I still think it's pretty...

It is oil on gessobord.

I had to go to Old Town the other day and as always, 

there are so many beautiful things to see.

I went early before all the tourists came - it was so nice and quiet.

 I see a painting in this blue window with red petunias!

 This is the opening to a pottery store.

 A funky little shop on the corner. 

I was attracted by all of the bright colors.

The one drawback - they had plastic flowers in their flower pots. Not cool!

 The last of the hollyhock blooms

 An artist enjoying a quiet morning painting - beautiful work!

 I loved the color combination in this photo.

 A hidden view of the San Felipe de Neri church.

 A quiet hidden courtyard

 Yarrow and I believe artichokes

I then moved on to Los Poblanos.

This is the lotus pond.

What you see in the foreground are some kind of small wild roses. 

The middle ground is the lotus pond.

You can see the lotus flowers starting to bloom.

In the background are the Sandia mountains.

 Okay, I have a thing for chickens and roosters - leave me alone!

 These are hollyhocks taken at a very small house near my home.

An older man lives here and tends his yard and garden very nicely.

Small, but beautiful.

 This is the corner by his driveway.

 The reds

A small acequia near my house.

I pass it daily when I'm out running my errands.

"ILLUMINTATA II" working process

STAGE 1

I've been working madly on my large paintings for the Weems flower show.
I chose four large chunky canvases and started creating.
This is canvas number two.

I always start by toning the canvas in a very thin wash of orange/red.

Then I move to what I call, "making marks."

I sketch a very loose sketch of where I want to put in the main flowers and stems.

Then I start loading thin color on the brush and placing the main shapes.

STAGE TWO

I've worked a while and have the canvas covered.

Looking at it, I can see that I don't like the sky so dark and I am 

unhappy with the dark green in the upper right corner.

This is spring - it needs to be brighter!

STAGE THREE

This is the finished painting.

It's been painted black around the sides (in acrylic) and varnished.

The painting is actually laying flat on my easel and I photographed it at a weird angle.

As you can see, I've lightened a lot of the color,

gotten rid of the dark green in the corner and added my sky color further down into the painting.

It is now at the gallery for the opening tomorrow of the Weems show, 

"FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND VEGGIES."

I dropped my paintings off in a hurry yesterday, 
but I took a peek and the show is going to be fantastic!  

"ILLUMINATA II" is 30x30" on a 3" deep canvas and is $2100.

Contact Weems at 505-293-6133 for details.
They are located at Montgomery and Louisiana NE.

Happy weekend!