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.