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.