River Ranch Reflections

River Ranch Reflections
9x12
Daily Paintworks

Day 2 Taos paintout- Pilar

Pilar Church
11x14

The next day, Thursday, we had decided to paint Pilar.  Last year we had tried and got caught up in a terrible storm and weren't able to finish so, the Pilar water tower was the first item on our agenda.  This beautiful little church can be painted any time of the day, but I have decided that it is best in the morning.  The weather is usually better and when you are painting on top of a mountain, that is important.  The four of us painted, Coni and I painted the Church, Peg Immel painting a cool little house to the east which was a beautiful view and Carla Forrest painted a little 4 inch painting of the view to the west of the church.

River by Pilar
12x16

We ate our lunch on top of the mountain and then decided to paint by the river.  This painting was done right next to the road, above the river, on an overlook.  Peg sure knows this area very well and was very generous to share such a beautiful spot. Later that night we painted on Le Doux Street - we worked on a noctourne.  Mine was a total failure but I learned plenty that night so it definitely wasn't a waste by any means.  Tomorrow- day 3 of the PAAC Taos pain out.

River Solitude

11x14

This is a painting of the Rio Grande River.  The river is starting to flow and the mountains are the San Juan mountains to the west.  Peg Immel, Coni Grant and I painted this scene on a beautiful spring day- although it doesn't look like spring yet. I will definitely revisit this spot when it starts greening up.

End of the Season

Peg Immel came over from Taos to paint at the ranch- what a beautiful day it was.  We enjoyed the warm sunshine and realized that this beautiful fall season is almost over- We painted the classic ranch view- a view of Mt Blanca from the Rio Grande River.  I never tire of painting this scene- actually it looks so different every time I paint it, how could I tire of it?

Cloud Reflections

5x7

This small 5x7 was painted on the Rio Grande River during a pretty cloudy day--I did this small painting keeping the cloud reflections as the focus for the painting- 

This painting was completed on illustration board-a nice surface to paint on..

A Painting from the Levee

Coni and I decided to paint along the levee in Alamosa on the Rio Grande River.  The weather was so perfect and no bugs- painting heaven.  The word levee got stuck in my head though, and I just kept wanting to sing the song by Don McLean "Bye bye miss American pie- drove my chevy to the levee but the levee was dry" It's just strange how a certain tune gets stuck in your head while you're painting.

Since I have been painting often and the weather has actually been cooperating, I decided to try to stay with it. I hate having to quit and then losing that edge and basically taking a few steps backwards- it happens often. I painted this along the Rio Grande River and would have painted the river, but it is entirely covered with snow and hasn't even begun to open up yet. I liked the patterns of the tracks- it was a nice lead in.

January- Rio Grande

It was a muted day with high clouds and not much sun but I felt that it was necessary to try to get out and paint - ANYTHING. Well, this is a view about two miles from my house. The river is frozen over with snow still covering much of it but there are patches of pure ice here and there. I have never painted in this location before and was dragging all of my equipment through the trees- I could see going back as there is a lot of material here- many different elevations.

Plein Air of Mount Blanca

9x12

It was a beautiful evening and I could see that most likely as the sun was setting it would hit Mt Blanca nicely. I finished cleaning up after dinner and ran over to the ranch to get set up in time. Lo and behold- the clouds stayed away long enough for me to knock out this little painting. I have faced this view many times but usually in the morning which can be too cool for my taste. This scene was warm- just what I was looking for.