Frio River in October

8x10 oil on cotton canvas panel
$250 (email me if interested)

I am still painting from photos I took when Jim and I went camping in October. It was such a beautiful place, every where I turned I envisioned another painting. Thank heaven for digital cameras. I can take as many photos as I want without worrying about the cost. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lost Maples

10x12 oil on cotton canvas panel
$180 (email me if interested)SOLD
I am still trying to paint everyday, but with the holidays here and all the extra projects I like to do has kept me pretty busy.
This another painting I have done from Jim and my trip to Garner State Park and Lost Maples State Park.

Artist Christmas card

I decided to put my little angel on some blank cards. If anyone is interested I am selling 5 to a pack with envelopes for $12.50 plus $1.95 shipping and handling. I can mail them the same day. They will be shipped in a padded envelope and themselves in a clear sealed protective bag. I have started making cards using a lot of my paintings so again if anyone is interested I can ship single or any combination. They all come in clear sealed protective bags. Christmas is almost here!

Ortega carved angel

5x7 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$75 (email me if interested)

I had this little carved angel hanging in my studio. I bought it in Santa Fe last time I was there. It is signed on the back Louise Ortega. The sales lady told me the whole family carves, so each one will be a little different. I thought she(the angel) would look sweet on a Christmas card. I used a palette knife to get the texture of the carved wood.

salsa bowl #2

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

I mentioned in my last post that I had painted these bowls twice. Well here is the second one. This is a odd shaped little bowl with three legs. So in the painting it gives off the illusion that it is painted wrong. Because of that I believe I like the first one better. I have several more of these bowls in different shapes so I think I will paint them again and again. They sure would make a nice series hanging in a kitchen. Does anyone know where I can get 6"x6" frames without spending an arm and a leg?

salsa bowls with cross

6x6 oil on cotton canvas panel
$100 (email me if interested)

I haven't worked on a still life in quite awhile, so I went searching through the house for something interesting to paint. I love the colors in these clay bowls. I wanted to see how it was to paint something that was painted on itself. Does that make any sense? I ended up painting two that weekend.

Frio River at Garner State Park

9x12 oil on cotton canvas panel
$250 (email me if interested)

I am happy to say I am now exhibiting some of my work in Susan Carlin Art Studio and Gallery. The owner is Susan Carlin, a fantastic portrait artist. You can watch her paint on Ustream.tv.com on Tuesday nights at 6:00pm est. She is so upbeat and a pleasure to be around. The other two artists in the gallery are Marilyn Moore and Bonnie Mann. Marilyn paints with watercolors. She does beautiful scenes of the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Bonnie paints in oils. Her still lifes are so eloquent. I feel so special being asked to be a part of their gallery family.

This painting is from another photo I took when Jim and I went camping at Garner State Park. I really tried hard to capture the blue of the water against the fall colors in the trees. That is what attracted me to the scene in the first place.

Alamo

8x10 oil on stretched linen
$250 (email me if interested)Sold
I have never painted on linen before. So the last time I was at Jerry's Artarama I decided to get a prestretched canvas to give it a try. I really liked how the paint flowed on the surface. I had just bought a 6 yard roll of cotton canvas to make my own panels so I guess I will be using cotton for awhile. I do like the tooth that cotton has too. Jim and I went downtown to see the SAVA "Admiration" show when I took this photo of the Alamo. I debated putting the tourists and the fence in the painting. I decided I didn't want to date the painting so much.

my first plein aire!

6x8 oil on cotton canvas panel
$75 (email me if interested)Sold
I have mentioned before how uneasy I felt about putting myself out there to be looked at while I painted. I finally did it with a lot of coxing from my husband. And I loved it! Now I want to do it all the time. I realized how much more you see in colors and values. A photograph will lose some of the values, it seems to flatten. We were at Garner State Park, Texas camping, to see the fall colors. We also went to Lost Maples State Park. There is a large isolated stand of uncommon bigtooth maples. I was only able to paint one plein aire painting but I took a lot of pictures.

They were tourists at the plaza...

16 x 20 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$500 (email me if interested)
I took this photo last year when I was in Santa Fe. I liked the play of shadows all over the ground and pavilion. While I was painting this one I could just imagine who these people were. The only thing that I was concerned about as I painted was the fact that the figures ended up in the center of the painting. I would like to hear others opinion on this. Does it bother you they are in the center and is there too much foreground? Drop me a comment.

San Antonio Visual Artists

Saturday night was the 1st Annual Juried Show "Admiration" presented by San Antonio Visual Artists Group. I was proud to have one of my works accepted. It was my Santa Fe Farmers Market. The opening was held in the courtyard of the Spanish Govenor's Palace. It is so sad I have lived in San Antonio for 13 years and didn't even know this building exisited. I will definitely go back during daytime to visit. I met the first place winner, Susan Carlin. What a wonderful person and artist. You need to definitely check out her blog and website. She has recently opened a gallery/studio at La Villita on the Riverwalk.

Big Bend Desertscape

18x24 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$600 (email me if interested)
It looks like our trip to New Mexico and Colorado is going to be delayed. We may still go in November. I am just afraid it will be too cold for Jim to ride his motorcycle and I am sure I have missed the fall colors. When I found out we were not going when expected, I started this larger painting of Big Bend. I have wanted to paint this scene for a long time. I like all the different plants. Big Bend has such a wide variety of terrain from the desert floor to the Chisos mountains. The one plant that really stands out in my painting is the Ocotillo, also known as Jacob's Staff. It is a long spiny shrub growing 10 to 15 feet tall. It lays dormant conserving water by eschewing its leaves until a shower offers relief, developing and dropping its leaves several times a year. It is also known as coach-whip and vine cactus. The earlier settlers and present day residents collect the long unbranching slender stems and create a living fence. Tying them together and then plant the roots, the fence can continue to grow, complete with green leaves and flowers in the season. Red flowers adorn its tips in spring and also on occasion in August - September with late summer rainfall. It is believed that the Indians ate the flowers and fruit pods and that the Apaches used a concoction of roots to relieve painful swellings. The flowers can be used to make a home tea.

Rio Grande Gorge 2

11x14 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$350 (email me if interested)

I have painted this same view of the Rio Grande gorge in New Mexico once already. The first one was painted 2 years ago when I had just begun to paint again. I have been painting the sage greens, purple and orange mountains, blue skies of NM alot lately. I wanted to see if I have learned anything or even would visually treat this scene differently. Our trip to Nm and Co got set back a week because the motorcycle wasn't ready. I hope it isn't too cold. I want to paint and Jim wants to ride. I bought a roll of primed cotton canvas and a sheet of masonite to make my own panels. I wanted an assortment of small sizes to take with me. I also made a wet canvas holder.

Chamisa Row

11x14 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$350 (email me if interested)
Is it a Chamisa or a Rabbit Bush? I have also heard it called snake weed. I am really not sure which one it is. You can find them all over New Mexico blooming yellow flowers in the fall. I particularly love the sage color of the foliage with the yellow flowers. I have tried using cerulean blue mixed with white and olive green (which is what I used on this painting). I still haven't found the perfect color mix. I love the mix American Western landscape painter E. Martin Hennings uses in his paintings for this bush. He calls it sage brush. I will keep trying.

Fall In Taos

11x14 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$350 (email me if interested)

Back in October 2007 I painted Taos October. When I painted this smaller version I had barely started painting full time. For Taos October, I wanted to try and paint a lot freer and looser than I had been painting. I like looking at it hanging on my studio wall to remind me to paint more with feeling than worrying so much with techniques. I have always liked this photograph, so I decided to give it a try again now that I have been painting for a year. I believe I like it more. It doesn't look quite as flat as the smaller one. I do still like the first one though.

Big Bend National Park #2

8x10 oil on canvas cotton panel
$250 (email me if interested)

It has been several years since I took these photos of our family trip to Big Bend. Because of that, I don't remember much of the exact locations in the park. I wasn't painting at the time the pictures were taken but as I look at the photos I feel like somewhere in my sub conscience I knew I would eventually paint them. In this painting I really like the sky color. It makes the orange color of the cliff pop. I used thalo blue. I seem to shy away from that color because it is so strong. It doesn't take much, I barely touched it to mix with the white.

I use photos alot to paint from. Not that I perfer that method, I just haven't had a lot of opportunities to paint plein aire. I am a little shy about getting out and painting where other people may see me painting. I have taken a couple of workshops where we painted plein aire. It was hard for me because I feel as if someone is going to tell me I am doing it all wrong. But really, is there a wrong way to paint?
My big test is coming up at the end of this month. Jim and I are taking a couple of weeks and driving to Colorado. I am taking my paints and he is taking his custom motorcycle our son built for him. He will take day rides in the mountains and I will paint the mountains.

If anyone reading this is a motorcycle nut like my guys, take a look at my son's website www.deviantchopper.com. He is very talented. He designs and builds the frame, gas tank, fenders, handlebars,coil cover, battery case, paints the bike and makes the seats. There aren't very many builders out there that can say they do it all themselves.

Sandia Mountains Neighbor

12x24 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$350 (email me if interested)

Last year we visited our friends that had relocated to Albuequerque, New Mexico. They built their home in Palcitas. I was captivated by the fact their neighbors were living in buses. It looked like something straight out of the 60's (my era). What a view they chose to park the buses next to! Sandi means "watermelon" in Spanish. When the late afternoon sun hits the side of the mountains it gives off a "watermelon color". My photo of the painting does not show my highlights on the side of the mountains very well. After I look at the painting for a few days I may go back and add some more higlights.

I got the call this morning, our son, the Airman, has landed in the states from being in Iraq. We are so happy. He is stationed in Charleston so that is where he will go first. He will not be able to come home to us until the middle of October. I can't wait. I will be cooking the whole time he is here and loving every minute of it. He likes my cooking.

Texas Homestead and Prickly Pear

8x10 oil on cotton canvas panel
$250 (email me if interested)

The photogragh does not show the highlights on the corner of the house and edges of the cactus very well. This is the third painting of this same house. There is something about it that has Texas Hill Country written all over it.

Santa Fe Farmers Market

12x16 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$500 (email me if interested)

Again, I included people in my painting. I really enjoyed painting people in my New York Sidewalk Florist. On my last visit to Santa Fe, I went to their fall farmers market. The colors of the hand-dyed yarn hanging under the bright blue canopy caught my eye. I also knew this man would be an interesting character to paint. When painting a scene such as this I feel as though I am there again. I guess it is because I spend several days studying and painting all the details. You begin to see things you didn't notice before.

New York Sidewalk Florist

11x14 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$400 (email me if interested)

I was given a challenge by my husband and son. They tell me I need to put people in my paintings. I think I have been afraid of painting people. I took the challenge. This painting is from a photo I took of my daughter when we took our first trip to the big Apple. We were both fascinated by the flowers and produce sold on the sidewalks. This is the first painting I have done with so much detail. I really enjoyed it. You really get caught up in reflections, structures, colors and PEOPLE. I am happy with it. I think I will try this again.

Big Bend

Big Bend National Park, Texas
8x10 oil on cotton canvas panel
$250 (email me if interested)

EmptyEasel Review!

I am thrilled! The folks at emptyeasel.com gave me a wonderful review on their site. They review artists' work once a week, among the many other things you can find on their site. Grab a cup of joe, some chocolate and get ready to be informed about all kinds of things. You will find tips and tutorials written by artists and even an updated list of current art events and online art sales. I just recently read an article on mixing oil colors. Every color actually has another color in it. So you have to be careful when mixing two colors because you are actually bringing in other colors depending on which "blue" or "yellow" you use to make green. Read the article, it has helped me a lot in mixing and achieving the colors I want to use.

New Website!

I finally got my website up and running. It took me awhile since I am not so hot on the computer. I want to thank my son for helping me, without him I could not have done it. In computer world words like tag, browser, remote host, html, goes right over my head. I will keep my website more straight forward showing my latest works and use my blog to discuss the process of my work and comment on the wonderful work other artist's do. We are all in this crazy business called the art world, together. So have fun and paint! paint! paint!

Luna's Jacal

9x12 oil on cotton canvas panel
$200 (email me if interested)

Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas consists of over one million acres of mountains, deserts and rivers edge. It is full of wild and fascinating history. This small hut called a jacal built from rock, earth,and plant fiber was built by Gilbert Luna in the late 19th century. Gilbert Luna lived in this small house with his 38 children born by six different wives. He was a hard working farmer growing melons and beans. He died at the age of 108 in 1947. I really enjoyed painting the blue tint in the shadows of the hut. I assume the desert atmosphere and shade of the mountains give off a blue haze.

Texas Homestead

8x10 oil on cotton canvas panel
$200 (email me if interested)

Before the subdivision we live in now was developed, it was a beautiful ranch along the Guadalupe River. There are huge oaks, limestone cliffs overlooking the river and stone walls still standing from the early 1900's. The original ranch home was built by Adam Becker for his family who journeyed to Texas from Germany to join Prince Carl Holms-Braunfels. Together they established Fredericksburg and other surrrounding colonies. My painting is of the back of the home. It was made of locally quarried stone and hand-hewn cypress from the banks of the Guadalupe. The original building still exists but the owners have added to it. When we first built our house back in 1994 no one had made any changes to it. It was so interesting to walk amoung the grounds and feel the history.

Sacred Grounds

16x20 oil on stretched cotton canvas
$450 (email me if interested)

Again, I pushed myself to use more than local colors. I am really happy with this painting. I believe I have made a break through with my painting. I am anxious to get started on another one. I have so many potential paintings floating around in my head. I like the simplicity and the play of shadows across the adobe walls. This is the back of the most painted church, Rancho de Taos Church. It is the curved freeform lines and shapes of the walls against the big blue sky of New Mexico that attracts so many artist and photographers.

Desktop

8x10 oil on canvas panel
$150 (email me if interested)
I finished the mural and was anxious to get back to painting with oils. I used acrylics on a poly canvas. I did not like it! It was like painting on cement. I had to scrub the paint on and the acrylics were hard to blend because they dried to fast. Although, I am pleased the way it turned out. We will be installing it this afternoon. I will take some pictures when it is installed. Meanwhile I painted this
8x10 of some old books I had. I wanted to try and capture the softness of the faded colors. I also found a cigar box of old metal toys in the attic and wanted to include them. I would like to do a series of these toys. They have such beautiful soft colors to them. I found by mixing a color's complementary to it I could achieve this soft aged color.

Another passion

For those of you that have come to my blog expecting to see something new, I apologize. I have been working on a 27" x 110" mural commission. I hope to finish in the next week. Meanwhile, I would like to share with you my love of scrapbooking. Before I started painting full time I was scrapbooking. I love old and new photos and paper products. I also love collage with mixed media. I believe sometimes scrapbooking gets a bad rap as a artistic outlet. There are some very creative artists using these techniques. I made this album about a year ago for a competition. The album had to be about yourself. For my album, I was inspired by the works of Georgia O'Keeffe.

This is the front cover. I did the red poppy in colored pencils and and made the bone closure out of Fima clay.

A Stormy Day

8x10 cotton canvas panel
$200 (email me if interested) Sold

I took this photo in Taos, New Mexico when I was there for an art workshop with Don Ward. After our painting session, I drove around taking some photos for later date paintings. A storm was about to roll in. I was fascinated by the way the atmosphere made all the colors intensified, especially the pink truck and the mountains in the background. I am not used to painting with such intense colors in my landscapes, so I was really anxious to see if I could capture the hues caused by the stormy weather. I really liked pushing myself to use these colors. This is the same truck I did in a smaller 6x8 format titled Taos Truck.

Old Chimayo Plaza

9x12 oil on canvas panel
$200 (email me if interested)

My last trip to Santa Fe I stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Chimayo which is on the grounds of the historic Plaza del Cerro. The buildings date back to the 1700's. It included the home of the Ortega family, the post office and town merchantile til the
1950's. I am always drawn toward old adobe because of the colors and forms. In this painting I pushed myself to use more than local colors. I wanted to express what the sun and shadows can do to these beautiful earthen walls.

Herding the Cows

8x10 oil on canvas panel
$250 (email me if interested)sold

While driving through Truchas, NM on a small one lane road I came across this group of cows in the middle of the road. I could not pass so of course I had to stop. I was reaching for my camera when along the side of the car came a Dingo. He immediately knew he had a job to do. I was fascinated by the way he knew exactly what to do. There was no one around to direct him, it was his own instinct.

Afternoon Stroll

8x10 oil on canvas panel
$250 (email me if interested)

It has been awhile. I spent a week in Fredericksburg taking a workshop from Michael Albrechtsen. What a great teacher! He taught me alot about color and mood. He also talked about how to interpret a photogragh and not just copy it. This is the first painting I have done since the workshop and I am very pleased with it. I actually wrote down some of the high points I wanted to remember and stuck them on my easel where I can see them at all times. Here they are:
1.Things get lighter and more gray further away from the viewer
2.You can use opposite colors to give you distance and separation front to back
3.Pay close attention to your edges
4.You want one edge to be more important than the others
5.Use color opposites to create eye movement
6.Values are closer together as they move away from you

Tulips

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

Again the red tulips. I wanted to paint them one more time in their glory. This time I concentrated just on the tulips. I think I still captured their graceful curve even though I cropped in very close. The 6x6 format worked out well. Next week I start a week long painting workshop in Fredericksburg, Texas with Michael Albrechtsen as the instructor. I am so excited. I will try and post work in progress and give some insight on what I learn in the workshop. See Ya!

Red Tulips

9x12 oil on cotton canvas panel
$150.00 (email me if interested)

It's Easter at HEB! (oops, for those of you that do not live in Texas and surrounding states, HEB is our main grocery store) The flowers are out. You have tulips in every color, lilies, also in every color, roses, sunflowers and of course chocolate. I have always felt tulips were the only flowers that can look so graceful even when they are slumped over. I could visualize the painting in my head before I began. I wanted to show a slight angle and curve to the tulips in the vase. I have used this same green drape in another flower painting. I feel as though this green gives the paintings a quiet, calm to the flowers.

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.