digging the plein air lifestyle!

THE BEAUTY OF CORRALES

I've been doing a lot of plein air painting lately with a group of artists.

We are called ARTISTS PAINT CORRALES! and every week for nine weeks, 

we are painting in this beautiful village.

At the end of the these paint outs, we will have an exhibition 

showcasing all of our completed paintings at

the CORRALES HARVEST FESTIVAL.

And on that note, I am happy to

tell you that I am the poster artists for the festival.

Here is my winning poster:

The poster is onle for sale at the Festival, but I

will be offering it for a limited time through this blog.

The poster is $25 plus shipping.

If you would like one,

Please email me at dshadowtail@aol.com and I will put

your name on my list.

All payments are through Paypal.

 On our first paint out adventure, we went to North Beach.

North Beach is at the end of Corrales, 

down a little dirt road next to the acequia.

 This is North Beach.

Beautiful, isn't it?

 The pink of the setting sun in the distance

 Then the fire started to glow.

 Wow, I have lived here a million years,

and I have never seen the Sandias with the glow.

 And a rainbow at the end!

My completed painting of North Beach.

I wanted to paint the brilliance of the sun setting on the mountains,

but ran out of time.

 Our next paint out was at the old church.

This was the scene I painted.

 Light and shadows on the adobe

 My completed painting

 Our next painting was at Milagro Vineyards.

I don't drink wine but I LOVE this beautiful winery.

 My initial rough sketch

 My palette

working

My completed painting

 One of my chosen painting setup areas

 My second completed painting

 I stayed home one day and completed this commission,

a walled rose garden with the Sandia mountains in the background.

 Beautiful hills around North Beach

 Morning glories in the sun

 My second painting of North Beach.

The water was definitely on the brown side, due to rains the night before.

 We went for an evening paint out at the Milagro Vineyards.

Man, what a scene!

 Painting progress

My completed painting

A couple more paint outs coming up next week, 

but this is Labor Day weekend,

so I'm not going to Labor!

Enjoy and I will be back....

Oh, and to check out our Corrales blog,
CLICK HERE.

business and busyness

Gosh, I have been busy!

Taking a lot of photos these last few weeks.

Gorgeous flower garden

 The Old Church in Corrales.

I don't know why, I am really drawn to Corrales right now.

A group of us are painting there twice a week and it is challenging but fun.

 Hollyhocks in Santa Fe

I went to Santa Fe a couple of weeks to hear Carl Judson speak.

He is the owner of Judson Outfitters and

travels all over America, painting whenever and 

wherever he feels like. Very nice and knowledgeable man!

 Right off of Canyon Road

 Bernalillo on the way home

 There was also a wedding - my oldest

daughter got married. We had a blast!

 Mariachis included

 Back to Corrales

Harvest workers

 Trumpet vine shadows

 Desert willow and the mountains

 Commission I just finished

 Corrales cornfields

 Santa Fe colors

 near Algodones

 North Beach - painting in Corrales

 Sandia mountains starting to light up

 on fire

rainbow

 painting

 from North Beach

 Painting in Corrales

Finished painting

Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to write and post.

Stay tuned for more...

newest painting

"TAOS GOLD"

8x10"

#69

It's been a couple of weeks since I have posted a 

150 CHALLENGE painting.

I had my daughter's wedding to attend,

a big art party with 65 guests,

and work on two commissions.

I realized I had better get busy because I have 68 more paintings to go!

This is a view of Taos mountain last year.

It was a beautiful autumn with brilliant fall colors

and luscious mountain shadows.

I am in the planning stages for a upcoming plein air event in Corrales.

probably happening the middle of October.

Corrales is beautiful to paint any time of year,

but fall is the best!

Stay tuned for that information.

Purchase information for the painting above:

CLICK HERE

getting to work

Hi all,

I have been so busy this past month that I didn't even have 

time to blog, and I have really missed it.

Things have slowed down and I have slowly started back to work.

The Art Party was a huge success!

We had sixty-five people for dinner, music, and my Studio Sale.

The music by Mezcla Latina was amazing.

This was our menu:

Fruit, dip, homemade guacamole, chips from Gardunos, green chile chicken enchiladas (also from Gardunos), scrumptious chicken enchiladas from Jillian and Kerry, my first-time-ever Calabacitas enchiladas (yes, you can message me for my recipe), homemade red chile from Dolores, weenie tacos from my Nana (they disappear as soon as they come out of the oven), sopaipillas and honey from El Pinto, and cake (to celebrate Mailia's birthday).

I have to say that I didn't get to eat until 10:30pm 

that night because I was so busy with the Studio Sale.

I had some great deals, my studio was set up like a gallery,

 and I spent the whole evening meeting new friends, 

visiting with old, and selling quite a few paintings.

I didn't even have a chance to take any photos.

I am definitely already thinking about next year and  

how to make the event more special.

And I will have an assistant for sure.

So on to what's new:

I still have sixty 150 CHALLENGE paintings to complete.

That means I have painted ninety challenge paintings.

I have sold forty-three paintings, which is amazing.

Thanks you to all who have purchased and supported this project.

I may have another one day Open Studio

to celebrate the end of the 150 CHALLENGE SHOW.

I am also in the planning stages for an October

group plein Air Event in Corrales.

I will post more when I have a few more concrete ideas and artists.

I love Corrales, especially in the fall,

and a plein event is just so much fun!

Right now I am working on two commissions.

The first is a 9x12" surprise for someone so I'm not

going to post until it has been finished and delievered.

The other commission is a large 24x36" painting

of a wild poppy garden (my favorite kind).

Here is the reference photo from one of my paintings:

The canvas has toned in my orange red, my favorite.

The initial loose sketch, with paint

All I'm looking for are placement for the poppies

and lines delineating background changes of color and pattern.

 I love this brand new grey palette paper and the new "worms" of color.

My palette:  titanium white, cad yellow light, cad medium light, cad orange, cad red light, napthol red, alizarin crimson, permanent rose, quinacridone magenta, raw sienna, burnt sienna, violet grey, dioxazine purple, cad green, sap green, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, asphaltum, prussion blue

I use this palette for all studio painting and a pared down version

for my plein air work.

Blocking in the darks

Placing the biggest flowers

Painting to me is like working on a puzzle,

Fitting colors next to each other, filling in tiny spaces.

What a wonderful way to spend my days...

This is the initial block in.

There will be quite a bit of knife texture at the end,

 which reminds me, I better get busy!

I hope you all have a wonderful August.

I can't believe it's almost September

 and you know what that means?

Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!!!

My favorite times of year!

Party Time!

PARTY TIME!

My studio really does look like an art gallery today.

I cleared out some big easels and other bulky things

and I never realized my studio was actually this big.

I have ordered food, made food (am still making food),

my band is ready and will be coming early to set up

and relax before playing almost two hours for my guests.

We have 65 people on the guest list.

I have quite a few paintings available:

150 Challenge paintings

plein air paintings

palette knife paintings,

and more.

I will take pics of the party

 and I also have a surprise for my online

viewers next week - 

a TWO DAY ONLY SALE!

Details to follow.

I will be doing quite a bit of plein air painting

the rest of the year.

I really want to build up a good inventory of plein air work.

Taos, Abiquiu, Chimayo, Tuchas, here I come!

I plan on working on a series of small figures and nudes.

Also, want to start a local women's art collective

 for support and collaborative exhibition opportunites.

Life is full and have a blessed day!

Art Party is almost here!

ART PARTY WEEKEND

Hi all,

I am starting to get ready for my upcoming Art Party.

The menu is planned, the food is ordered or being made.

There will be fruit, dip, chips, guacamole, beans, red chile, weenie tacos, 

chicken green chile enchiladas, calavacita enchiladas, 

sopaipillas with honey and cake!

Mezcla Latina will be here with their groovy sound and

the studio sale paintings are almost ready for view.

If you are on the list to attend, please message me on facebook or email me at

dshadowtail@aol.com to get directions.

I look forward to seeing you all!

The 150 Challenge is not finished yet,

but we are celebrating anyway!