"Instead of Throwing Rocks at Boys"

1. what I mean is, I'm trying to be a nicer person.

The Lake at Abiquiu

This is a plein air painting I did in Abiquiu last May, but just recently added a few touches that time, wind, heat, bugs, etc. prevented me from doing "in situ". The beautiful thing about this lake is that if you only look at the lake and the surrounding rocks without the vistas, it looks very Mediterranean. Another one of God's little jokes.

On the Road to Monastery

This is one of the paintings I did while in Abiquiu. We went down a dirt and gravel road where we saw at every turn some of the most spectacular landscapes in New Mexico. At the end of the road, (which takes about 30 minutes) is the Benedictine Monastery nestled down by the Chama River. This particular scene is a couple of miles before the Monastery. It's perhaps impossible to communicate the emotions that the sweeping lanscapes provoke. I decided to focus on a small part of the whole. The colors of the rocks are luminous and the patterns evoke the art of the Indians who lived in this area.

Echo Amphitheatre, Abiquiu

This is a rock formation near Abiquiu that never ceases to interest me. The colors and shapes are beautiful and sensual. We started painting on Saturday and this is my first painting of the week. Last year some may remember that my rant was the flies in the mountains. I guess this year my theme will be the wind; it has been a bother so far

Comale River

This is the last painting I'll post from my plein air week in Taos. This is my personal favorite work that I did that week. Water fascinates me and the movement also speaks to me. I was standing right on the edge of what is really a mountain stream. The colors changed as the sun moved across the sky so I had to work fast. One of the things that I like about plein air painting is that sometimes you are painting the memory of the colors which can turn out to be more interesting that the actual colors. I also want to mention that I just read the blog of someone whose husband gave to her one of my paintings for their wedding anniversary. The story is beautiful: www.dreamsofsimplelife.blogspot.com

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!

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.  

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.

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.