Talking birds

I have a dear friend, Gordon, who is a wonderful photographer. Out of the goodness of his heart he allows me to see and use any of his photos for inspiration for my paintings. This one of the two birds caught my eye, but it was solemn shot and in the process of painting it I felt the left hand bird begin to enjoy the fountain. I know how odd that sounds, but he talked to me about it, and I was compelled to let him show is feelings. Sometimes these things just happen

imagining a face

I was looking through old tintypes from the southwest -- imagining the men and women who lived and struggled here. As beautiful as the New Mexican land is, it is undeniably harsh, and the people in some of the photos -- particularily of the Native Americans -- showed it. I began thinking of those Natives that battled the calvary to preserve their way of life... and how many of them ended up sequestered on the reservations. In my mind's eye I saw them - -beaten but undefeated, still proud, but with the hardship reflected in their eyes. So this is not any one photo or person, but a number of them, combined to give a face to that image. I have named it 'the undefeated'

THE PLACITAS STUDIO TOUR

This month I participated in the Placitas Studio Tour. It is a unique event where many of the resident artists in the community all open their studios over a single weekend. There are jewelers, painters, sculpters, ceramicists, fabric artists, and much more. Placitas is a mountain side community, with hilly roads that wind and end without any constant pattern so there is much planning involved to make sure each studio can be found by visitors. There are some kind of food and drink offered at each studio, and with so many artists participating I think the visitors can nearly make a meal of it! Here is a picture from my studio with the painting I worked on during part of the tour. I have noticed the people who stop by are very curious about how an artist works, and want to see me actually paint. Because I teach oil painting twice a week I am very used to being watched.

I do wish my home had more room to add other artist friends to the event.

The first blog

I have toyed with the thought of a blog for some time, and at the entusiastic urging of my friend Paula Scott ( a wonderful artist and photographer) I have decided to attempt one. I envision this a way of sharing my art, and the process of creating it, and even perhaps all the meandering thoughts that run through my head about what to paint, and why.