come with me....

I finally got away to Taos!

I rented a house, invited a couple of friends,

and spent three beautiful days there.

Retreated, painted, ate great food, saw some artist friends

and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery of Taos, New Mexico.

Oh, and took over 600 pictures.

The main thing I noticed on this trip was everything is SO green.

I usually go in October when the colors are earthy and gold.

This was all pretty new to me and let me tell you about the lilacs.

Lilacs galore.

Lilacs in every little village and everywhere you looked.

Taos was even having a lilac festival! 

For some reason, this year the lilac bushes were outrageous.

All different colors, and big, fragrant flowers.

The locals said this year was a spectacular year for the blooms.

We took a sprig off of one tree,

and it perfumed the car for days.

 lilacs and apple trees

 the view of Taos mountain from our living room

 a tree in blossom

 This scene was down the street from our house - in someone's yard!

I want this little stream in MY yard.

 I am going to paint this scene this week.

Beautiful blossom trees, a red roof, and mountains in the background.

 The village of Arroyo Seco 

 Main street of Arroyo Seco 

Pottery store and the mercantile 

 My favorite old Arroyo Seco truck

Going to paint this one again soon 

 El Salto Peak

Do you see the lilacs?

 Caught a magpie resting on a branch

 Lilacs and adobe in Arroyo Seco

Bandanas for sale in Arroyo Seco

 I headed out for town the second morning 

These were poppies on Ledoux Street.

 The Blumenshein Museum

I was going to paint here (I am a member),

but the flowers weren't in full bloom yet.

 A beautiful door flanked by light pink lilacs

 A fairly new store in Bent Street

What a combination - chocolate and cashmere!

 Two color of lilacs and a beautiful iris at the local cemetary.

 Now, who wanted want to be a horse and live here?

All of the grass you could eat!

 Another magpie 

 Sunlight on El Salto

 Three visitors

 Lilacs and aspens

This would make a good painting if I could capture the light.

 Arroyo Seco main street

 The old church in Arroyo Seco.

Not seen from the road which makes it even better!

 The local ice cream hangout,

the world-famous Taos Cow

 Funky little art gallery in Arroyo Seco

 Cool garage with poppies on Ledoux Street

 Inger Jirby's Casitas and Gllery

 Front of the old church in Ranchos de Taos

 Beautiful iris in the Ranchos de Taos plaza

 Even an empty beer bottle becomes art

 Road to Arroyo Hondo

So green and luscious!

 The horse doesn't even have to search for water.

It comes right to him.

 Cool little crosses

 Another old truck

 The valley of Valdez

I have painted it with golden trees.

We'll see how I do with so many greens.

 Another old truck in Questa

Rebuilding the old church at Questa

the waters were flowing...

 sunlight on the mountains

Taking a rest....

My two completed plein air paintings:

I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back in the fall.

You will see some of these photos become paintings.

Until next time, Taos!

Next stop - Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch, and the monastery!

A Day in Corrales

 A Day in Corrales

I am among thirty other painters participating 

in the first ever Corrales Plein Air event.

We have descended on the village of Corrales for five days of artist bliss - 

finding the perfect spots to paint,

lugging all of our painting gear around,

a kick-off party on Monday evening,

five days of painting,

a Quick Draw competition this wekend,

and an exhibition opening at Gathering Artists Gallery on Saturday.

A few scenes of life in Corrales:

 red chile ristras, of course

 an old red truck - gotta have one of those

 a view from my car of one of the long winding Corrales dirt roads 

 This is the first spot I picked to paint - the old Corrales church.

 My beginning block-in. 

I ended up taking this painting home and scraping it all off.

It just felt really washed out and blah.

 Some of my fellow painters

 The Sandia mountains and the chile fields

 I'd like to say this is a meadow but it's not.

It's a beautiful planting of cosmos in front of someone's house.

 My favorite house in Corrales.

I painted it!

 One of the ditches overflowing with native sunflowers

 A cool old wagon

 Now this is what I call free range chickens!

This guy came out and his chickens all ran to him.

He started throwing grain all over the yard and those chickens went crazy.

I'm thinking he had about a hundred chickens. 

And a really cool chicken coop.

 A beautiful panoramic view of the Sandia mountains.

 I peeked into someone's gate, very very pretty.

 More painters, these artists are painting in the courtyard of Casa San Isidro,

a really old adobe house filled with all things vintage New Mexican.

 Another painter near the old church.

Sunflowers that I painted today.

All paintings are supposed to be 80% plein air,

which means I may do a little finessing in the studio in the next few days.

 Corrales always has the coolest scarecrows.

I couldn't NOT paint him!

One of the houses I painted.

These are not my usual colors.

Oh, they are the same paints I always use.

They just mix differently when you're out in nature.

Takes some getting used to.

Tomorrow I will talk more about my tools and my plein air experience.