beauty close to home

Feeling better today, but no painting yet.

Being sick is the time to rest and the ideas about life and work are flowing.

For now,

beautiful photos of spring and summer!

Enjoy.

Oh, and to my artist friends, you are welcome to paint from any of these photos

as long as you credit me, the photographer!

If you do, send it to me and I will post your painting on my blog.

 peonies from my backyard

 columbine from my back yard

 poppies in the neighborhood

 poppies from down on Solar Rd.

 I think these are poppies from a road in Dietz farms

roses from outside my studio

 hollyhocks off of Fourth Street

 hollyhocks near Chimayo

 Bird of Paradise from a neighborhood off of Fourth Street

 A Dietz Farm home full of Bachelor Buttons and hollyhocks

 beautiful Jerusalem artichokes in bloom

 not sure what these are - Los Poblanos Inn and cultural Center Los Ranchos

You can see the lotus leaves and flowers in the background

 Bachelor Button field in Corrales

 Roses and a million other flowers - beautiful garden in Corrales

 Poppies and roses, Corrales

 Beautiful scene - red poppies and colorful background flowers, Dietz farm 

(I think)

 Larkspur, one of my favorite flowers - Corrales

 Not sure what these are, but they were a hit at last year's Corrales Garden Tour

 beautiful pear cactus blooms in my neighborhood

 Cholla cactus blooms in my neighborhood

Daisies? Sunflowers? Black-eyed Susans?

I hope you enjoyed this lovely scenic tour of some of my favorite 
flower and garden photos from last year.
I can't wait to get out there and do my day trip, plein air, 
photo-taking excursions soon!

What is a Blog Hop?

I have been invited by my artist friend Carol Hopper, to participate in a BLOG HOP.

This means that I introduce Carol for inviting me, and invite three other artists to participate.
That way, we all get to view other artist's blogs that we might never have seen before.

I also have to answer a few questions about my work.

So, here is my friend Carol Hopper:

 

She is a fantastic artist and a really nice person.
I painted with her for the first time in the local Corrales paint out. 
It's so cool when you actually meet people you have only "known" on facebook!
And here are a few of her beautiful images:

  


You may view more of Carol's work HERE or HERE or at the Dailypaintworks site.
Enjoy!



You are also supposed to answer four questions about yourself or your art. And here they are:

1. What are you working on?

Well, since I just finished an incredibly hard seven month painting challenge, I am trying to chill out and find some balance. I also have the Weems Artfest show at Expo NM coming up in six weeks or less and I am painting paintings for that.I am also trying to figure out what I want to do NEXT. Painting luscious big plein air oils out of the back of my car keeps popping up when I think about 2015.

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?
The Retro Challenge is a different style than my regular work. It's what I did when I first started painting - I call it "Connected Isolationism." I paint my paintings first in acrylic, turn them upside down, and apply a line to every shape, shadow, etc. All lines must be connected and unbroken and no sharp edges, if possible. I'd say that's different!
Oil is my passion forever though.

3. Why do I create what I do?
Why is the sky blue? I don't know. I always knew I wanted to do something creative with my hands and this wonderful career of mine just organically floated to me and I ran with it. I love to paint New Mexico. I love themes. I love slapping thick paint on board. 
All I can say, is ideas just come and I go with them. They either become something pretty magnificent or they flitter away. Until the next one comes along.

4. How does my creative process work?
In fits and spurts. I work on deadlines for shows. I see something, hear something, talk to someone about something, and an idea sparks in my head. Then I start thinking, can I do this? Do I want to do this? My main goal is to have a close relationship with my collectors, sell work that people enjoy, help my favorite charities, and paint what I want to. I want to be alone in the studio but most of all I want CONNECTION.

Now for the three artists who I think might want to do this, hmm:

I will think on that and get back to you!

CHALLENGE #1

This is the first image for the new artists' group, "LET'S PAINT NEW MEXICO!"

We have almost 30 artists!


Each artist will create an interpretation of this image in their own way 

and I will post the artwork on the new blog. 

To check out the blog, click HERE.

Also, I am starting to post my new work 

for the upcoming Balloon Fiesta that is happening in October.

The paintings are available for early purchase and will have the price posted -

 if I feel I have time to paint another before the show.

 Also, I am planning to paint 50 ornaments in about 8 different styles.

 These will also be available for early purchase for $45 each if time permits.

Hope everyone is doing well and I am slowly getting back in the groove.

Thanks for watching!