Pilar Again

I was back in Taos again last week.  Coni needed to take some paintings to the Wilder Nightingale Gallery and we met up with the High Desert Painters who were in Taos for the week to paint the lovely spring in Taos and the surounding areas.

The girls called us on the way en route and left us a message that they wanted to paint in Pilar.  We had just passed the Pilar turnoff that winds through Taos Junction and so we decided to try it. I had never gone that way so it was nice seeing where that road from Taos Junction actually went.

About the painting- I had painted from this exact spot a week earlier- (the cute little red and white church) and really wasn't into painting the church again so I painted this little house looking toward the eastern part of Pilar. This was the perfect time to paint this house as the trees were the perfect spring green - just budding out and it was a view that didn't need any changing or rearranging- I could paint it exactly the way it looked. New Mexico is so inspiring this time of year.

We went to Peg Immel's house and bugged her- she was working hard on a retablo until we showed up- she is such a wonderful hostess and never acts like we are imposing on her - hopefully she will get it done.

Arroyo Seco-Early Morning

Arroyo Seco Church in the Spring

24x20

I finished this little church yesterday.  Sometimes there are paintings that just paint themselves; this was one of them.  I had taken a picture of this church two years ago into the light and just liked the feel of the photo.   I painted this on a surface of canvas painting dark purple- the dark purple definitely gives a different look to my work- more colorful, and well, just different. I really want to get outside to paint- Coni and I are thinking about tomorrow- I would just like to find some snow and that is pretty tough right now.

Taos

After we finished painting in the the morning- the group decision was to take a break for coffee or lunch and meet back at the church. This is my afternoon painting- a very quickly painted 8x10 of the back of the Morada.

Bound for Taos

Today Coni and I will be heading to Taos for the PAAC paint out- first we will paint with the High Desert Painters ( Tuesday and Wednesday) and the with the PAAC for the rest of the week. The PAAC (Plein Air Artists Colorado) group will be there until Sunday and we will be painting Arroyo Hondo, Pilar, Arroyo Seco and a few surrounding towns. I am looking forward to it- Taos is so magical in the Spring- like a breath of fresh air- and I need that right now. The above painting is the ranch- it;s starting to green up and I love the reddish willows that are everywhere- they do grow profusely.

Mothers Day

I'm trying to get ready to go to the PAAC paint out in Taos and I need to pack, etc. Actually I really need to make a good list so I don't forget anything especially that umbrella of mine- it's a love/hate relationship... Yet, I look outside and although the trees aren't budded out yet, the grass is green, the birds are singing and I have to paint- this is a small painting- 6x8 and good practice for what lies ahead-

As for today, we will be celebrating mothers day following our age old tradition- KFC at the ranch. I will be posting during the paint out so stay tuned and Happy Mothers Day.

Land of the Ducks

Well Coni and I finally got out to paint- we went to the ranch and painted into the sun- it is definitely spring here now the ducks were out in rare form making sure that everyone around could hear them for miles. This is a view toward the east with Mt. Blanca in the background.

Wishing for Spring

I have been looking for any tiny bit of green in the landscape that I can but to no avail so I painted this small 6 x 8 last night. I just kind of made everything up- and it's about as green as I could paint it. I will still be searching for some signs of spring around here but until then , it will have to exist in my imagination.

Back from Taste of Creede

Well, I'm back from the Taste of Creede and I can honestly say that I had fun. I met up with Coni and we just kind of took in the atmosphere at first and hid out from the rain in the OMI for awhile. It was rather rainy the whole weekend but not too cold and the quick draw was quite an event. We had an hour to do a painting and then put it up for auction to benefit Creede Arts. I was stressed as for plein air one is usually allowed 2 hours for the painting time. I was even more confused when every artist pulled out these huge canvases. I was only painting an 8x10 for goodness sakes! Well they pulled it off quite well and I survived. Above is a picture of Stephen Quiller and Charlie Ewing talking about Charlie's painting (you can see it in the background.) The painting I did was the small red truck below- it resides on the north end of Creede- starting up the canyon.

The base of the Sangres

I decided to go over to Electric Peak to try to do a study as Electric Peak with Electric Ranch at the base is just one of the more pictuesque sights around. I had painted Electric Ranch about 8 years ago and still have my study but I would like to paint a larger, studio painting of this scene. I drove all the way to Electric Ranch but, the snow was so white and there were absolutely no shadows so it looked like there was a huge iceberg sitting above the ranch. the last time I painted it was during March and the sun was far enough to the south to get some cool shadows- so I decided to not paint electric ranch and started wondering around. This is what I came up with- which makes me wonder why I drove all the way to the northern Sangres to paint a small sliver of a white mountain- and then paint it in the wind-- what was I thinking?

Church at 7 mile Plaza

I decided to get out bright and early to paint this morning as the clouds to the west were rolling around and looked quite interesting. I looked at this little church always trying to find a way that I could paint it to make it work but I always try to paint it from the other direction which doesn't work very well- I decided to climb this little hill behind it- and as there was a real estate for sale sign on this property and I happened to know the realtor I drove the Cruiser up a four wheeler path and parked. It was a great view to the church from this point and the weather held out til about 11:30. I drove home and by 12:00 it was raining-finished just in time!

Painting along the Rio Grande River

9x12
It was finally starting to warm up along the Rio Grande and so Coni and I went over to the ranch in the morning (trying to beat the afternoon winds) to paint. Alot of the trees had not budded out yet except for this particular stand- we painted looking towards the San Juans and I do have a small bit of mountain in this painting- the ranch is starting to flood and I don't know how long it will be before the mosquitos take over so I will try to do a few here while I can.