Saltshaker and Sunflowers

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75 (email me if interested)

These sunflowers have lasted a lot longer than I thought they would. I had planned on working on my second painting of sunflowers Friday, but life got in the way, and I wasn't able to work till last night. I had fretted all day the flowers were going to be past their prime before I got to them. I bought them on Tuesday night and it is Sunday morning, I may even get to paint them again today. Yea! I added my little green glass saltshaker to this one. I have painted it before. I love painting the green glass with the rusted patinaed top. Painting these giant sunflowers on a small canvas seemed to humble them.

3 Sunflowers

9x12 oil on cotton canvas panel
$200.00 (email me if interested)

I finished this painting at about 12:30 this morning. I wanted to make sure I got the flowers down. I was afraid if I waited till today they would have changed over night especially with my spotlight directly on them. Actually they still look pretty good, I will try and get some more paintings out of them today. Sometimes it helps to see a photo of the the painting, you see it with a different eye. I have read somewhere to hold your painting towards a mirror and look at the mirror image. After seeing the photo I took, I see some twinking I may go back and do, nothing major.

Lady & Sons

6x6 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75 (email me if interested)NFS

If you are a Food Network fan you know who Paula Deen is. This painting is of her restaurant, Lady & Sons, in Savannah, Georgia. My Mom and I ate lunch there when we were visiting my son at Charleston Air Force Base. I am a huge fan of her show and cookbooks. They start taking reservations for lunch onsight at 9:00am. Her restaurant takes up all three floors of the building. The food was absolutely delicious. I am proud of my reflections in the windows. I haven't attempted something so complex before. I really enjoyed painting this one.

Mail Delivery

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75 (email me if interested)

The colors in New Mexico are the best. I just can't get enough of painting with the sage greens, shades of violets and the golden hues of adobe. This particular scene with the leaning mailboxes was found on Canyon Road, probably the most expensive real estate found in Santa Fe. Go figure. I really like the rabbitbrush with its sage green leaves and bright golden yellow flowers that bloom in the fall. I went on a website of native plants from New Mexico and they said this plant was heat tolerant, can grow in poor soil and most importantly deer resistant. Here in the Texas hill country we are constantly fighting the deer eating every plant in our yard. I may order some seeds and give them a try.

Georgia O'Keeffe Country

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75 (email me if interested)

I tried to paint another still life and finally after wiping it off two times and hours avoiding my studio, I finally gave up and did what I like the best, painting from my photos of places I have visited. I felt like a failure as an artist for not struggling through this particular painting. I finally came to the conclusion that I didn't need to be painting what didn't make me happy.
This painting made me happy. I love the New Mexico landscape for its colors, textures, and dramatic shapes. When I began painting this morning, I was eager to paint and I had a smile on my face. Is that not what its all about?

Four Bottles & a Pair of Legs

6x6 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75(email me if interested)NFS

I decided to leave my comfort zone on this one. I usually work from photographs because to me it is easier to paint two dimensional from two dimensional. I find painting from real life makes me more observant and selective. I feel as though I am painting from emotion rather than just copying what I see. I like the way this painting came out. Today I am going to try it again. I am off to find something interesting in the house to paint. I will post the results tomorrow. See Ya!

Chimayo Cafe

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75(email me if interested)

In the small town of Chimayo, New Mexico, on the High Road to Taos(Hwy 76) you will find one of the most photographed and painted churches in New Mexico. It is the Santuario de Chimayo known for its "Holy Dirt". Inside you will find a small room with a pit in the floor. Every year thousands of people make a pilgrimage to the church to take away a bit of the sacred dirt. What struck me, were the small family businesses that have sprung up around the church trying to make a living off of the tourists coming to see the church. You can buy pens, refrigerator magnets, and candles with an image of the church printed on them. A visitor can also sit across from the church and sip on a cold drink. Does this marketing take away from the miraculous healing power found in the church?
My painting is of the front entrance to one of the cafes. The deep red of chile ristra looks great next to this southwest blue color.

Tucked Away

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$100 (email me if interested)

After struggling for weeks on my larger painting, it felt so good to do a smaller painting and actually finish it “alla prima”. What I like the most about painting small is making single brushstrokes to bring out details. My favorite part of this painting is the reflection of the pots in the window. Do you see it? One small drag of the brush and WAH LA a reflection! This is a small courtyard tucked away behind an art gallery on Canyon Road.

Along Canyon Road

24x36 oil on cotton stretched canvas
$550 plus shipping (email me if interested)

It’s been awhile, I am so glad to be back. I have really missed looking and commenting on everyone else’s beautiful work. Even though I haven’t been posting, I am still painting. I started this 24x36 oil painting before the holidays and after the holidays I was determined to finish it before I started something new. This was a huge challenge for me considering I work really slow and I have never done a painting this large with so many aspects to work out.
When I walked up on this wall and fence along Canyon Road in Santa Fe I was caught up in all the shadow play along the pink adobe wall. With the contrast of the pink wall and the aqua fence I immediately saw a painting in my head. Now that I am finished with it, I am happy to say I started a smaller painting today. It was so nice to see today’s painting develop so fast. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I know I did.

I have been tagged!

Savannah Home

Joanne, sorry about the delay in responding to your tag. am thrilled to get your tag, I have been visiting my son who is in the Air Force at Charleston, SC. He wasn't able to come home for Christmas so my Mom and I went to him. We stopped in Savannah and Beaufort, SC to see the beautiful old homes along the coastal waterways.

Here are the rules: 1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. 2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. 3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as wellas links to their blogs. 4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are 5 things about me:
1. Jim and I spent six weeks on a motorcycle traveling from Texas to the west coast and back.
2. I once raced in a powderpuff motorcross.
3. I ran all the electrical wires and pvc pipe in our house, of course with directions from Jim.
4. I owned and ran a liquor store for seven years, two years ago we sold it so I could paint full time.
5. In 1993, while teaching high school art, I was able to take some classes at the Savannah School of Art and Design.

You are tagged:
Jennifer Bellinger
Sandra Flood
Deanos-Den
Chris Bivins
Michael Naples
Have Fun!

Winter Taos Truck

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75 (email me if interested)

I am still painting, I just haven't had anything to post because I am working on a large 24 x 36 painting. Other bad excuses I have is of course the holiday rush and I am also preparing for a road trip the week before Christmas so I have to have all my Christmas preparations done before I leave. Here is a painting I did before I started the larger one. It was from a photo I took on one of my trips to Taos. I tried to make the background feel really cold.

Rio Chama, New Mexico

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75(email if interested)
I was told this scenic drive along the Chama River in northwestern New Mexico was worth the trip. Having very sketchy directions in hand, I set out to find this dirt road. Posted at the turn off was "Private Property for the next 3 miles". So I thought I had the wrong road, I continued on. After another 5 miles I decided that was the turn off so I doubled back. For the first 10 miles, I was a little nervous being alone and traveling an unfamilair road. Finally another car passed me coming from the opposite direction. I relaxed a little and begin to enjoy the scenery. At some points the winding road was very steep and narrow. A car actually had to pull over and stop for a passing car. I believe I only met two cars during the whole trip. I was surrounded by sandstone canyons with willows, cottonwoods and Ponderosa pines along the rivers edge. It was breathtaking. At the end of this 13 mile road is the Christ in the Desert Monastery. Their solitude and quiet is assured being surrounded by the Santa Fe National Forest.

Farmers Market

16x20 oil on stretched canvas
$350 (email me if interested)

Any new place I go I am drawn to the local farmers market. I like the fact that you can not only find fresh produce and baked goods that you know are going to be exceptional, but there is always a touch of homemade crafts. The people you see at a farmers market always strike me as healthy and happy. Who else would get up in the early morning hours just to buy some apples and maybe a bouquet of flowers to brighten their day? When I saw this particular table at a Santa Fe market I was attracted to the group of mason jars on the white table cloth filled with Dahlias.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I just wanted to brag some on my very talented family. My Mom is a wonderful quilter. She has been quilting for twenty six years. She has such an eye for color that I admire. I just received this quilt from her for my birthday. It looks fantastic on my iron bed which was made for me by my husband and son. Didn't I say I had a talented family?

Rio Grande Gorge

12x16 stretched canvas
$200(email me if interested)

I have been working on a larger piece this past week. My blog was looking a little sad with nothing posted lately so I decided to post a painting I had done at my Don Ward workshop in Taos, New Mexico. It was almost dusk and we were all set up at a road side park across the highway from the gorge. This must be a popular spot to paint the gorge because when I was gallery hopping in Santa Fe last month I noticed several paintings from this same angle. During our painting session, we had a visitor drive up and actually buy a students painting right off her easel. I was a little starry eyed then. I like this painting because I feel I captured the late afternoon colors. I love the sage green and purples together.