Part 1 Wild Rivers Paint Out

The Wild Rivers Paint Out, June 17 - 22,  was many things:  fun, exciting, exhausting, interesting, and more.  The weather cooperated.  It was supposed to be rainy but the rain was light and in the afternoons so did not interfere with the activities.  Sixty-three artists took part in Questa, New Mexico, and surroundings.

The photos of the prize winning paintings are here:  https://www.wildriverspleinair.com/2018-winners
The home page with a list of the painters and links to more information is here:  https://www.wildriverspleinair.com/

You can see there were some great artists there.

The artists began the first day at the Sheep's Crossing Turnout in the Wild Rivers Recreation area.  After signing in 7:00 a.m. and getting the canvases stamped, artists were free to paint in the area.  A demo with Lewis Williams, http://lewisartwilliams.com/ ,and Bonnie Griffith,  https://bonniegriffith.com/ , 2 to 4 pm was interesting and fun.  They both painted on the same pastel painting demonstrating dual skills.

 Bonnie and Lewis.  Lewis was kind enough to have the easel at Bonnie's height and he worked in a crouch of sorts.

Lewis uses a charcoal line drawing which he did over Bonnie's orangy under painting.  He uses black to darken any color and adds more black lining/definition.  I took a still life workshop with Kathleen Cook http://www.kathleencook.com/  many years ago and she did the same. You can use charcoal under a color to make it darker so you don't have to buy dark pastels.

 Bonnie works in a more traditional way, it was fun to see how wonderful the painting came out.  It was auctioned at the reception to benefit the organization.

Joan Bohls, artist from Bastrop and Angel Fire, http://www.9eranch.com/joan-bohls-art.html , encouraged me to attend the paint out.  Her husband, Kent, drove us to Questa the first day.   The drive was about and hour and twenty minutes or so.  Beautiful in the misty morning and lovely scenery.  We took snacks to get us through the day.  We separated before the demo and I went to the demo with Lou Baggett and daughter, Jesse, from Oklahoma.  You know Lou as Bag Blog in comments on my blog.

The four of us painted plein air in the same area at the check in point.  Joan and Jesse painted in oils.  Lou and I painted with pastels.

 Jessie and Lou

 Me

 Joan in these 3, my painting behind her.

 Lou in these two, you can see the beautiful vista with the Rio Grande below.

 I finished my painting and did a sketch of Jesse and Lou.

After the demo we came back to Red River and met up with Gene .  Lou's cousin, Barbara, invited us for gumbo.  It was great to meet and visit with others in Lou's family.  We brought gumbo home for our next dinner, it was so good.  It was a long day leaving at 7 a.m. and getting back about 10 p.m.  It didn't take me long to fall asleep.

I should mention that Angel Fire is 8.500 feet above sea level and most of the area we painted in was close to the same.  Questa is 7,600 and Red River 8,600.  We arrived here on Sunday evening, July 15, and started the paint out on July 17.  I hadn't quite acclimated to the altitude.  The paint out wore me out, in more ways than that.  I hadn't painted for about a year and using the right brain tires you out when you are trying to remember what you know.  Also the sun is stronger at altitude and I was feeling the effects.    These are reasons, not excuses, for my not up to par painting efforts.

I thank Joan, Kent, Jesse, Lou, Barbara and family for putting up with me.  Gene, too.  He says I am a PITA (pain in the a_ _)  Really that is his nickname.  I especially thank Joan for encouraging me to go on this adventure.  Part 2 to follow.