Have a Great New Year!

I want to wish everyone a very prosperous New Year!  Yes, family, these are the plastic cherries that everyone tries to eat.  I hope everyone has a great large bowl of cherries for 2009. 

Strange but True

I'm sure that there is a psychological undertone here.  I love to paint water when in the high desert!  

Hand in the Water

I can't believe that it has been a whole month since I posted a painting.  Christmas really gets me down (sorry Jesus).  Anyway, I found this image that I had painted years ago in a much larger format and decided to try it out on a small scale.  Also, what I really mean, I just wanted to get my hand back into painting.

Water is Healing

This is the second painting in my "generosity of water" series.  A good soak can heal many things.

The Clearness of Water

This is the final watercolor that I submitted to the Ft. Worth show, the fifth you have already seen, the verdant repose, except that I renamed it "Uncertain Dream".  As you may have figured out already, I'm obsessed with water and love to  paint it so I added this abstract idea of water after I had done the nude.  She seemed to be sitting on the beach contemplating the water.  I'm certain that if I could just go to the beach for a few days, many things would clear up for me.

Metaphor of the Body

Metaphor of the Body

If this is a metaphor of the body, you might ask, then what do I mean?  If I try to imagine my soul this is sort of the image I come up with.  It fits the body, but is translucent and different colors. 

Fields of the Sea

This is another watercolor where I only painted the shadows.  I really like this technique because it forces me to paint looser and not be overly concerned with details.  The blue color that I used made me think of the sea especially when it is a different shade in parts and you don't know why. 

Seeds of Restlessness

I wanted to post five watercolors that I entered into a show in Ft. Worth, but this blog would only let me post one picture at a time.  So for the next several days, I'll show you the rest.  They are all quick sketches done in the life drawing studio.  I'm particularly fond of the titles because they  are all poetic revelations of what I really mean.

Proud and Alert

This model is a flamenco dancer and you can tell by her proud and alert bearing.  This was a very  quick sketch in which I was trying simply to capture the model's attitude.  

This is how I feel

Sometimes I do a quick watercolor sketch and save the face for last, but then it seems to look so right without the face.  I was pondering this today (are you thinking the same thing I am, Pinkie?) and I think that one responds to a faceless figure when one is drained or very tired.

Verdant repose

The exercise here is painting only the parts of the body that are in shadow.  It is amazing how the eye still reads the entire form, even though only a part has been painted.  I also used granulation medium in my paint that makes the pigment separate and "bloom".  I like the unexpected effects.  

Nude in front of fruit

Another watercolor from the same studio session.  I love the way watercolor is uncontrollable and you end up with happy surprises all the time, like the pear in this painting, the way the orange bleeds into the green.

Nude amidst the fruit

This is a small watercolor done in the life drawing studio that I attend every week.  The exercise that day was to incorporate some object into the nude study.  I chose the fruit and I decided to make the fruit really large in scale compared to the model.  The results were satisfying and I made several watercolors which I'll be showing in the next few days.  

Back to my happy place

Today I will be able to reconstruct my studio as they are finally finished painting in that room. Oh happy day!  To celebrate, I've chosen to show you this botanical that I did after one by Maria Sibylla Merian, a courageous woman who travelled the world and made botanical drawings in the 1600's.  Maria worked with watercolor and ink so the drawings are true to life.  This drawing is a plant whose name escapes me and the book is still in a pile somewhere.  However, I saw it growing in Costa Rica at the Wilson Botanical Research Gardens in southern Costa Rica several years ago.  It is a very exotic plant indeed, and the journey to reach this place was an adventure I made with two nephews and my daughter Madeleine.

Please help me, Lord

This is how I feel and what I really mean.  After being gone for a week, I returned to find that practically nothing had been accomplished in the renovation of the house.  The studio is still wrapped in plastic with everything in the middle of the room.  

A Pocket Full of Posies

Today was my day of fun.  That means I got to do some art work.  Spent the day at Edwardines and this is a watercolor of flowers Ted bought at Trader Joe's.  It was a beautiful sunny day!

Tejuanas y yo

This is a real stretch, but this is a colored pencil drawing that I did almost ten years ago.  It was a monumental work that took me six months to complete and I seized hostages and turned them into slaves (children) to do some of the menial labor, like the grass.  We had spent the summer in Oaxaca where I learned about the women from Tejuantepec who managed to outlaw men from owning property or running businesses in their town.  I was enchanted with these women (as was Frida Kahlo) and best of all possible worlds, got invited to a large party.  I and my daughter, Adrienne, dressed up and had our hair done like the Tejuanas and went to the party.  I took loads of photos.  This drawing is a composite of some of the women that I photographed including myself (far right) and Adrienne (right braid, wrong color)in the middle. Ted made a beautiful frame using a wood from Mexico and one from South America.  This image is not so good because I forgot to photograph it before framing it! And it is too difficult to dismantle it. " The Tejuanas" hangs in my dining room.

In a tropical paradise

I'm still in a "want to be in another place" right now, so what better place than in a tropical paradise.  This is a painting that I gave to one of my sisters, but due to no fault of hers, she hasn't claimed ownership yet.  So in the meantime, I'll just continue to gaza at it for my escapist musings.

Oh the joy of pinons!

This is a joyful pinon outside my window in Santa Fe.  I guess I was the joyful one and it was basking in my attention.

Coast Rican Butterfly

Since I can't escape my renovation, I decided to take my self to Costa Rica (mentally).  This is a waterfall that I rode a horse to get to and I'm afraid of horses.  There are many butterflies in Costa Rica so I decided to put a very big one in this watercolor.

This is how I feel

It's been a while since I posted something because my house has been turned totally upside down (literally--almost).  Renovation which started with foundation work in which I felt like I was in an earthquake!  Anyway, this is painted on a piece of acrylic with oil.  This is how I feel,  looking and hoping for someone to save me.  

Water Over the Bridge

This is a plein air painting I did near Taos.  I loved the many shades and tints of green in the water.  

Many many spots

I hope you can see the many many spots on these orchids.  It completely fulfilled my urge to make spots, in fact, I got a little tired in the end.  Maybe it means that I'm sort of picking at something.  Something on my mind that I keep turning over and over.  It makes me wonder why the Australian aborigines paint completely in spots. 

More Mysterious Spots

What can I say,  more of the mysterious spots.  No, I still haven't figured out what they mean, but I'm sure it's very philosophical and poetic.  

Beginning of Orchid Week

I've been painting orchids lately.  I noticed that when I doodle, I usually make dots.  So I decided to paint orchids which have these wonderful marks on them.  What does that mean?  More specifically, what do I really mean?  It will come to me eventually.

Drowsy river not knowing where to flow

This is a last minute painting that I made just looking down at the shoreline of the river.  My easel was just a few feet away from the water.  I loved the way little waves lapped up at the shore and some of the rocks were under water and some broke the surface.  I wish I knew if I was on the left bank or the right bank.

Rio Grande Retake

This is another revision of the original painting posted a little over a week ago.  Sometimes, actually, most of the time, I realize that I have to let the painting sit a while and look at it again to see the mistakes.  Especially plein air painting when I'm also dealing with the weather, insects, wolves, etc.  what looks right at the moment becomes more clear later.

Under the Bridge take 2

This is a revision of the previous "under the bridge" .  It's not as lively but more harmonious, and I'm all about the harmony--everywhere, all the time.

You turn away from me

When I finished the painting of the St. Francis of Assisi church in Taos, I turned to the left and saw this beautiful sunflower facing away from me.  The sun was shining through the petals causing them to practically glow.  

Through the brush

We went up the mountain to a meadow to paint and I chose this view, which is actually looking through some overhanging branches to the meadow beyond.  

Off the road to the monastery

This is near Abiquiu off an old dirt road that leads to a Benedictine monastery by the Chama River.  When I was working on this scene, a coyote came out of the bushes in the foreground and just stood there and looked at me.  At first I was frightened, but then I realized coyotes usually don't attack people.  This was done the same day as the previous painting.

Near Abiquiu

This is a view at a place everyone calls the Amphitheater because there is a rock formation that looks like a huge natural amphitheater.  I, however,  chose to paint the cliff just to the right of the amphitheater.  The board I used was rather slick and it forced me to lay on the paint thicker than I am accustomed and that turned out to be a good thing.  I was also interested in trying to create the form with color and I think I was successful.  This was a great day!

Under the bridge

This is the same spot I was in yesterday but looking up the river instead of down the river.  I was working near the bridge which crosses the Rio Grande near Pilar.  This is the bridge to the famous road to Ojo Caliente.  So I guess I went overboard on the color here and the red waves are a little strange.  I'll tone those down and also the tree at the top was more in silhouette so that needs to be darkened.  But overall I was pleased.  I did another painting of rocks under the water with which I was even more pleased, but you'll have to wait as I want to make a few minor corrections before I post it.  Tomorrow we'll be in Abiqui all day (Georgie O'Keefe country where I painted Jude's painting).  

Rio Grande Sun Stroke

This was another sun stroke day, even though we started painting at 8 in the morning.  It was fine until about 11:30 but I wanted to finish this painting before leaving.  That might have been a mistake because all the mistakes I now see in this painting were made after that bewitching hour.  I'll correct and touch up this painting later and repost it--maybe.  This spot, by the way, is along the Rio Grande River at a place called the gorge because it is deep in a canyon.  You can't see that because I was focusing on the river. 

St. Francis of Assisi Church in Taos

This is the famous church here in Taos that was built in the 1700's that artists always paint.  I feel like I almost got a sunstroke painting this.  I started at about 8 in the morning and for about two hours it was OK, but towards the end of the morning it got pretty toasty.  Now I know this is going to sound crazy, but when I studied art history back in my college days, I remember the professor going on and on about flying buttresses.  I could never figure out what the heck he was talking about and I guess I was too cool to ask.  When I see this church, I really have to chuckle once again about flying buttresses.  

Oh clouds!

I've been under the weather with a cold for the last two weeks, thus the derth of now entries.  This is a watercolor of the view outside my west studio window in Santa Fe.  I'll be out in Taos all next week with a group of plein air painters.  I plan to post my work daily from Taos.  

Indian Country

I started painting a large  canvas today which is the first of my "Generosity of Water" series, so I didn't paint the small painting that I had planned.  Instead I offer you this landscape that I painted some time ago near Abiqui.  You can almost see the Indians at the top of the mesa sending smoke signals.  I gave this painting to the cutest little boy in the world, my grandson, Jude.  

Mango Madness

This is a little exercise using the complementary colors of orange and blue.  I think that even though the subject is simple the colors make it exciting and interesting.  

Another "Wish I Was at the Beach"

OK, I know this one looks a little crazy,  but first consider that the paper is handmade and very thick and absorbent.  Then, consider that I was not at the beach, in fact, far from it:  in the high desert.  My imagination took me to this watery spot where the sun was radiating gold halos.  I'm not in it, but I was floating somewhere out of the visual range, in my head.  Fa-la-la.

Remembering Hydrangeas

Just playing with watercolors and making these cool little petals.  

A Pear and Two Apricots

I have a good reason for  not posting in a while.  I've been in Mexico City where I attended a big fat Mexican wedding.  It was beautiful! And big!  I bailed pretty early by Mexican standards, but still it was great to be there.  The hotel we stayed in was designed by Leggoretto which means it is very colorful and modern.  So this is a little still life I did in the Carol Marine workshop last month.  Can I just say, I ate a lot of fruit of the tropical variety in Mexico City, not to mention Tequila. Ah chi wa wa!

Pinons in La Tierra

This is another little watercolor that I did at Edwardine's house.  The pinons never cease to interest me, especially when they are in the distance, they look like dots on the hills.  

Lavender in Santa Fe

Yesterday I spent the day painting with watercolors at my friend Edwardine's house which is situated out in the country north of Santa Fe.  She has a beautiful view of the mountains and the sunny cool weather was idyllic.  This is  a lavender bush in Edwardine's garden.

Nambe Falls, New Mexico

This watercolor was executed en plein air where after a perilous trek up a rocky path (I have a fear of heights) I managed to perch on a narrow and steep escarpment.  The scene was breathtaking in more ways than one.  After our descent (I was with my sister) we congratulated ourselves on being so daring.  We then hiked up the other side of the stream where Valery fell in the water and lost her hat and almost lost her glasses.  We spent the entire day hiking around on this Indian reservation where the falls are located. 

Study for a larger painting

This is a study I did in preparation for a larger painting that I have in mind for my series entitled "The generosity of water" ( I came across that phrase in a Mary Oliver poem).  I did the initial drawing from a live model and then tried to imagine how the water would distort his figure.  It needs some work and more research.  I'm planning to visit Nambe Falls in the next few days (leaving for Santa Fe this evening) and hopefully get a few photos to work from for this painting.  

The Generosity of Water

As the weather heats up here in Dallas, I'm compelled to paint water, generous water.  This is a study that I'll develop into a larger painting with more detail.  I'm beginning a new series that I think I'll entitle "The Generosity of Water".   

Three More Tomatoes

Three more tomatoes not from the secret garden.  Actually, the same three, just another go at it.  

The Three Tomatoes

I wish these three tomatoes had been grown in my secret garden, but alas, they were bought at the supermarket.  This is another painting I did at the Carol Marine workshop in Santa Fe.  

The Three Peppers

This is the last painting I did in the Carol Marine workshop that I took in Santa Fe.  I particularly like the pink background with the red pepper.  One of things I struggle with concerning the small format of a daily painting is simplicity.  It's hard to narrow down to a few forms, but once I do, it's so much fun to paint!