Echo Amphitheatre

To understand the size of this formation, the tall pine tree on the left is a huge fully grown tree. This place is, for lack of a better word, awesome. Again, working quickly to capture the light and cast shadows. Another fun thing about this location, is that people come along all day and many go up into the amphitheatre and test the echo effect. I'm set up about four blocks away and still get the full show. Like America doesn't have talent.

Rock Formation Near Abiqui

This is a view of a rock formation outside of Abiqui not far from Ghost Ranch. The colors of the rocks are amazing so that is what I concentrated on. The sun moved quickly so the colors and shadows changed. I had to paint fast to capture a moment. I did two paintings that day.

Beaver Sighting at Fort Burgwin

Today I spent the entire day sitting here by the side of this babbling little brook and here is the result.  I was industriously painting and looked up to see an actual beaver crossing the brook on the log in the distance (in my painting).  This was exciting as I had never seen a real beaver before! I painted another smaller painting and now I'm very tired.  Tomorrow we go to Abiqui.

Taos Sunset

One thing you can pretty much count on in Taos is a beautiful sunset.  We go south of town about ten miles on the highway to Santa Fe where there is a scenic view pull over and set up our easels and paint, mix some anticipated colors and be well prepared for the magic moment.  This particular evening I jumped the gun a little and didn't get to paint the spectacular finale, so I just sat down and enjoyed the show!

Into the Woods

This is the painting that I did yesterday.  Sitting there gazing at the trees was so peaceful.   I was also trying to be in a meditative state as I painted.  The flies did intrude, but as I said yesterday, I won.

A Very Good Day

The picture that I took of my painting didn't turn out and I left it in the Art Barn so I decided to post a picture of the my setup on location. Today we went up the mountain to a very pretty meadow but I decided that I wanted to paint the trees near my car so I wouldn't have to lug all my stuff so far (save energy for the important stuff).  I spent about an hour and a half doing preliminary drawings and then mixing paint before I actually started painting.  Today the big battle was with flies.  Many flies.  But I persisted and at the end of the day, I'm pleased with my painting.  We are going to paint the sunset tonight, so I'm going to take a rest now.

Water over a Log

This is the large watercolor I'm working on in my studio in Santa Fe.  I'm not finished with it, but this morning when I walked into my studio, I really liked how it looks right now, so I thought I would post it.  I'm getting together all my things for a week of plein air painting in Taos with the group from SMU and Suzanne Clarke which starts tomorrow. 

The Hand of God

I was visiting sister, Helen, today and she owns this painting that I did some time ago.  I love it because it has all my favorite elements (things tropical and water) and the colors are nice.  Even though the hand looks crazy, the inspiration was a sculpted hand I saw in Xilitla, Mexico in the Shangri-la (Las Posas) that was created by the eccentric Englishman, Edward James.