Three Plein Air Landscape Paintings

I have not been painting much here in Angel Fire.  Luckily I ran into Joan Bohls and she suggested we do some plein air painting together.  We went on Wednesday and Friday and I got three paintings done.  Great, eh?

On Wednesday we went to Monte Verde Lake and set up our easels in the shade of some pine trees by the shore.  Great place as I even had a picnic table to put my pastels on and a place to sit and take a break.  As we finished up it started to sprinkle and there was lightening.  The attendant lady at the office came out in a golf cart to get all the fishermen and artists to leave to be safe.  I got a few sprinkles on the pastel so had to touch it up at home.

I worked on Richeson pastel board which has a very rough surface.  The painting looks better in person than in the photos.  In real life you don't see the "holes" as much.  I used this same surface for a painting of the Kelly Church.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.  It does keep you from doing any detail.  It certainly wouldn't be good for detailed portraits.

My painting in progress.

Having fun, notice we have on sweatshirts, the breeze was cool.

Me painting and the scene.

Joan painting with oils.

Joan again.

The scene as we started.

Notice how the reflections changed and the water had more movement after thirty minutes or so.  That is why you have to put down your idea and values quickly and then paint on the highlights and details

Scene and clouds from the Community Center.

We painted in the morning starting about 9:30 a.m.  Later that evening Joan, Kent, Gene and I went to dinner and then to the Community Center to hear three classical guitar players.  It was an excellent day.

I borrowed this description of the guitar players from Gene, who got it from the newspaper:

Daniel Weston, Master of Music in guitar performance, is known for serenading the imagination with over six hundred professional appearances from radio and television to the concert stage. A direct heir by mentor ship to Francisco Tarrega, the founder of classical guitar method, Weston will perform the Impressionistic masterpieces of Tarrega as well as his own compositions.

Stuart Green heads the guitar programs at both the University of Redlands and California State University, San Bernardino in addition to being an active concert and recording artist. Green mentored with the late Terry Graves, a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Falla Guitar Trio, and also studied with Dusan Bogdanovic, Juan Serrano and Christopher Parkening. He received high praise from Soundboard Magazine. National Public Radio aired a CD featuring his transcription for guitar and recording of a set of suites by French Baroque master Robert De Visee. He played music written by a Spanish composer who composed his music in 1546, I did not get the composer's name. According to Green his was the first music to be printed by the newly invented printing press in the 1500's.

Roberto Capocchi, Brazilian native and Santa Fe favorite, has been portrayed as an extremely expressive player and true master. Capocchi won top prizes in numerous international guitar competitions, and studied performance and theory for his doctorate. He teaches at Adams State College, New Mexico Highlands University and United World College. He will be playing 20th century music from Spain and Latin America, including selections from his most recent CD.


Then on Friday we went and painted at the golf course.  Another nice place to paint as we were on the patio of the clubhouse so had tables, chairs and a latte.  Can't beat that when you are roughing it for plein air work!

Joan getting ready and my easel with the aspen painting on it.

Joan's painting of the Wheeler Peak.

The aspens I painted.

It was a nice day, well couple of painting days.  I put my paintings on my Jo's Notions page on my website.  I sell small unframed paintings there with free shipping in the States.

From Wednesday:

Monte Verde Lake, pastel, 12 x 9 inches, Richeson board

The first painting on Friday:

Summer Aspens, 13 x 9 inches, pastel on Colourfix paper.

The second painting on Friday:

Wheeler Peak, pastel, 13 x 8 inches, on Colourfix paper.

Too much to blog about!

I have been slow in blogging so I don't know where to start.  I will start with this little painting I did yesterday, one of Jo's Notions.

Yesterday after "fixin'" things - other paintings. I decided to to a quick painting to get me settled down and help complete the painting "mood".  I took some "vista" photos around Angel Fire and one of the pics from the Angel Fire Resort Golf Course had these pots of geraniums in it.  I do love red and geraniums have a loose texture and very beautiful red color.  I could paint them all day.

Geraniums under painting.

 I started on tan Pastelbord.  I decide to brush on the first layer of pastel with water.  I didn't want the "beige" showing.  I know some people love the earth colors, but  -  I am not one of them.  :)  I brushed water with a small paint brush first over the yellow then the light area on the pots and kept going to the darkest parts.  Then I let it dry.  That doesn't take long in this high, dry altitude.  I think it is about 9,000 feet plus here.

Angel Geraniums, Pastel on Pastelbord, 5 x 7 inches

This painting is  available as a Jo's Notions for $50.00.  Free shipping in the U.S.

I will put glass, taped directly to the Pastelbord and ship that way.  You can pop the pastel and glass into a standard 5 x 7 frame of your choice.

The dark and detail in the leaves and the brilliance of the flowers do not show in this photo.  Digital photos, especially  red and blue,  are difficult to adjust for the computer views.   I guarantee my work, if you are not satisfied, return the painting and I will refund your money or apply it to another painting of your choice.

Friends of Orion by Regina Burchett

Hey, you all have to read this book. It is great!  A little mysterious fantasy I suppose.  Regina Burchett, my pastel buddy, has written and published her novel, "Friends of Orion".   I really enjoyed reading this.   Very well written.  Yay, Regina! 

Congratulations, Regina!

The End, Scavenger Hunt 186

This Hunt, 186, ends tomorrow.  I do not imagine I will get any more sketches done for this Hunt.  I sketched in the large sketchbook with a Micron 003 pen.  wetcanvas.com has been experiencing some problems with images, they are doing some sort of update and most of the images have disappeared for us viewers.  There is lots of complaining going on.  :)  You can post attachments, but the other uploaded photos are not viewable and you cannot upload new ones.  I imagine it will be fixed soon.

Number 3, painting gear - my watercolor kit.  It is pretty well worn considering how little it is used.

Number 4, man-made - Gene's shoe.  It looks a little weird without the recliner he was on and the other foot crossed over it.  That accounts for the weird angle.

Oh, and my regular e-mail seems to be fixed, too.  aplus.net is still working on my e-mail lists.  I may have to resort to something else for my newsletters.   I have had my website there forever.  The company was Cedant before and they have always been reliable and helpful.

I ran into friends from Bastrop today.  They have a place here in Angel Fire and will be here for a while.  Joan and I are going to go paint on Wednesday morning.  Maybe being out together will get us inspired.  It is always good to be with other artists once in a while. 

I painted with pastels today, I have been working on a landscape from photos and memories.  If it comes out as planned I plan to enter it and a couple more in a juried show here in Angel Fire with the Moreno Valley Arts Council.  You can read about art happenings here on Katherine McDermott's blog, Everything Art, Angel Fire and Beyond.  She has a wonderful gallery and devotes her time to art and art promotion for herself, the artists in her gallery and the area.

We just heard someone on the porch upstairs and it reminded me to bring in the hummingbird feeders.  Jan, the manager here, saw a bear last night.  It was not good having the raccoons after the nectar, don't think we want the bears coming up here on the porch.  We also brought in Gene's nice recliner chair, wouldn't want that torn up.  It is a canvas recliner that Roger gave him.  Gene loves it.

Fighting Creator's Block

Don't we always find a time when we lack enthusiasm or don't feel creative?  I usually just plow through it and try several things, this time I seem to be bogged way down. 

Today I got an e-zine from Carla McElhaney who is the pianist for the Revels that I have posted about on my blog.  Joel Becktell is the cellist and together they make fantastic music.  Now Carla is doing an e-zine called,  Passion in Action, e-zine for your creative soul.  It is inspiring and informative.  You can visit Carla's blog to subscribe and read all about Carla and Joel. Be sure and read this post by Joel, "Creative Work"  It is not often that we get a chance to see/read/hear in depth how creative people work.  Joel also talks about creative block in his interview.   Please check it out and see if their advice doesn't help us all to be better musicians, writers and painters.

You can see what I posted about the Revel previously with photos and a short video here.  Isn't it great to know such creative and generous people?

I'm hoping to get back into my painting routine, this e-zine came at a perfect time and should help.

Scavenger Hunting 186

I haven't sketched much lately.  For Scavenger Hunt 186, I finally did two.  The first one was on July 27 on the deck, with a Pilot ball point pen in the large sketchbook.  The second was today in the medium sketchbook with a micron 003 pen.  The nine days of the Hunt are up on August 3, so you see I haven't done many of the 26 items. 

Number 1, at arms length 

Number 2, bubble

 I am trying the new editor on blogger, It will take some getting used to, but may work very well.  It is hard to break old habits.  :)