Happy Birthday, Gene! (2010)

Happy Birthday, Gene!

Well, it is the day of the long ride!  You can read about Gene's last year ride here.  He tries to make 100 miles on his birthday on his bicycle.  He has done it a few times.  He started riding his age every year, quite some time ago.  Then one day he realized that when he is 80 or so that will be a really long ride.  He decided then to go for 100 and put some miles in the bank to use when he can't quite make it.

This year he will ride sort of the same route as last year.  He will start on the New Mexico side on Highway 285 just before you get into Colorado north of Taos, New Mexico, and ride to Alamosa, Colorado and then come back.  He did the practice the other day and did the 51 miles north so all he needs is 49 miles south, right?  He hopes to do it all tomorrow.  The weather should be good, it will be 31 degrees F (predicted) in the morning here.  We hope to leave about 6:00 a.m. and it will be about 8:00 a.m. for the start.  It will warm up quickly in the sunshine to about 75 degrees tomorrow.  It will take him about 8 hours riding time with no wind.

I will read, paint, sketch and do crosswords and be the SAG car.  We take snacks and water, etc.  It will be a long day for me, I can't imagine how it is for him.  Yikes!

Gene taking off recently near Angel Fire.

His equipment on the practice ride in Colorado

On his practice ride getting near Alamosa.

Gene by the Rio Grande Gorge last week when Gen was here.

Hopefully we will get to Red River to The Texas Red's Steakhouse for dinner.  Happy Birthday, Gene!

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.

Bolivia Oil Painting, On the Shore of Titicaca

I painted this small landscape in oils. I was still in my brush painting mode. I truly love Bolivia. I feel that it is my second country after the good old United States of America. We lived there almost ten years at two different times. Longer than anywhere else before retirement. We have been in Bastrop longer now.

The people in Bolivia are kind, generous and good. We have many memories and friends from there, including our precious daughter and son, Jennie and Larry.

This view is along the shore of Lake Titicaca. When I took the photo, we were probably driving to Oruro for Carnival or to Cochabamba to get away for R and R from La Paz.

Today is the day before Ash Wednesday and that reminds me of Carnival. It was said you have to go to Oruro for Carnival so we went a couple of times. The dancers are amazing. They dance most of the day at an altitude of about 12,000 feet above sea level. The costumes are beautiful and heavy. It takes a lot of energy and oxygen at that altitude just to breathe, much less dance and play musical instruments. It is a most amazing thing to be there see the beautiful ceremony.

On the Shore of Titicaca
Oil on canvas panel, 7 x 5 inches

You can buy this painting on my Jo's Notions page of my website. $50, free postage, unframed.

Road House in New Mexico, Pastel Plein Air Painting

It was a beautiful day and Gene was biking, preparing for his 100 mile birthday ride. I decided to go paint with my soft pastels along the road where he was riding. By the time I had been out about an hour the wind was whipping and I had to hold my easel down with my left hand. Which is OK, as I don't use my left for anything when I am painting. I don't know how Gene can bike in the wind and mountains, but he did thirty miles or so.

Here is the start, under painting. I put on some pastel and brush it around with water. The Pastelbord was a beige color .. you know not my favorite. The purpose of the under painting today was two fold. I like to cover the white or beige in this case so the white doesn't show through and I don't have to use as much pastel to cover the surface. The second reason today was that the board has been around a while and was scuffed up a little. It is hard to cover the marks and they will show in the sky. The under painting helps that, too.

I started by adding in the sky and the far mountains. By the time I finished there were quite a few clouds, but I thought they would distract from the house and aspens. I like to work all over the surface, but in a landscape it is easier to work from back to front or top to bottom for the most part. I also try to have the board tilted a little forward so the pastel dust falls away from the painting. That wasn't too easy today.

You can see a little more development of the painting here. Basically just continuing the process.

This is the painting at the end of the two or so hours. 11 x 14 inches on Pastelbord, plein air.

I was not happy with the size of the house, so I worked on it some more here at home and developed the foreground a little bit and added blue to the far mountains to move them back. I will post a photo tomorrow as there was no direct sun for the photo here at the condo.

After about two hours I was finishing up and Gene came by and I gave him a lift home. The last 1/2 mile or so it torture coming up to the condo on the bike as we are right at the foot of the ski lift. It was a good day, we were both tired. We went to dinner and are now ending the day. A glass of wine and enjoy the sunset from the balcony.

Magdalena Old Timers Show and photos

The time flies when you are having fun, they say. Well, it crawls when your internet is on the fritz. In Magdalena we had to use an internet cafe, Bear Mountain Coffee House and Gallery. It wasn't the fastest and when we are wireless I share Gene's computer so my time is limited a little there, too. The iPhone didn't work in Magdalena except at the internet cafe. We arrived here in Angel Fire on Wednesday to dial-up. I am trying to adapt, hard on us old folks. Hopefully we will be back on high speed by Wednesday.

The skies are the most beautiful in New Mexico, maybe because we are up higher. Whatever it is, I do love them.

The evening clouds from the motel.

One of the sunsets in Magdalena.

We went to the memorial service for Wendy Jones on Monday morning, July 6. It was very nice up in Water Canyon on a beautiful morning, too. There were many people there to celebrate her life. She was well loved and remembered.

Road to Water Canyon.

In Water Canyon.

Then we went to Albuquerque to visit Gene's Mom, Frances, for a couple of days.

Back to Magdalena on Wednesday night and put up my show on Thursday for the Old Timers Reunion and the show at Peppers for July 11 and 12.

The famous Ladron Mountains from I25 between Albuquerque and Socorro looking west. I usually show them from HWY60 looking north.


We went to Socorro on Friday to the doctor for me for my congestion (My congestion is finally clearing. It seems to be a combination of cold and sinus.) and to play golf with Roger, who came from Arizona. We only played nine holes on a beautiful day. No photos of golf again. Oh my.

I did get this old building which I thought was the Ice House, but it may not be. You can see the train coming up the tracks. The train runs to a perlite mill just west of Socorro.

As we were returning to Magdalena I got the train coming back from the mill. Not a telephoto shot, a regular through the windshield shot.

Old Timers in Magdalena was quieter than I remember in years past. It was quiet at Peppers. The parade had a great crowd. The parade is very good for a small town. They have a rodeo queen that has to be over 62, I think it is. My Mom was the second queen and Gene's Mom was queen in 1986. The rodeo performers have to be fifty years old. If it is a team category, they have to add up to 100 years -- you could have a 70 year old and a 30 year old. Then they have a barbecue with the meat cooked underground.

My show was from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. It was a really nice day for me as I had many visitors from our family and friends that always stop by. I did not get any photos and that is sad. It would have been fun to post photos with my sister, brothers-in-law, nieces, sisters-in-law and others. I won't mention all by name, I am sure I will forget someone.

Frances, Gene's Mom, in 2005 at a tea for the past queens and election of the new queen. She is ninety-two now. What a young face she has.

The outside at Peppers.

The top shelf with my paintings and some items from my Cafepress shop, link on the sidebar if you care to visit my shop.

The right hand corner for my show. It is high, so I put older paintings there with the exception of the little adobe house on the bottom left.

The left corner of my exhibit.

The main wall. It is difficult to have a flowing arrangement. The top row have permanent nails that can't be moved because of the thick adobe walls. The lower two rows are on some boards that held kitchen cabinets so you can't vary the height too much. I am thankful to have such a nice place to exhibit and Marky Bamert, owner of Peppers Art Gallery.

We served sandwiches and carrot cake from the Magdalena Cafe. That is an amazing place. They are open for breakfast and lunch except on Sunday and are open on Thursday and Friday for dinner. They have huge portions and excellent food. Excellent! We had wine, chips (Texas shaped tortilla chips from our HEB grocery at home.), cookies, candy, and soft drinks.

On Sunday, I painted outside Peppers. Lilly, Wendy's daughter, painted with me. She is a very grown up nine year old. She has been painting with me since I started the shows a Peppers, six years ago, so I was thinking she was going to be 12. She is great and will be an artist one day. She was a little distracted, of course, but did great anyway.

Lilly's greenhouse, 8 x 10 inches, acrylic on canvas board. Lilly paints with no fear and is not afraid to use her ideas and technique. I never touch her paintings. She is fun.

I painted on an eight inch square board. I painted the edges so it did not have to be framed. My demo is the door prize for my show. Mary Soliz from Albuquerque won the painting.

The door prize almost finished. It was a scene out of my memories. I would like to live in a house like that with poplar and cottonwood trees around.

The finished door prize. Acrylic on board, painted on the edges for no frame, 8 x 8 inches.

I did sell some paintings to my great collectors. I thank them so much for supporting this old artist. Next year I plan to have the demo on Friday when there are more people around. Sunday morning they have a pancake breakfast at the rodeo grounds and then people pack up and begin to leave. The food booths and the arts and crafts stay open but the crowd really dwindled.

Oil Painting, Sandias

I worked on an oil painting yesterday. I have been wanting to paint the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque with the cottonwoods along the Rio Grande in their fall colors for many, many years. I hope to do them in a larger long format, about 12 x 24 inches. I think it would be cool.

Here is the start.

Sandias
Oil Painting, 8 x 10 on canvas panel

I have a few adjustments to make. I did a reddish and purple under painting with thinned oil paint. I should have used acrylic paint for that so it would be dry, but I didn't think about it. Anyway, the sky is a little dirty in color from picking up the under painting, more than it shows here. I think the paint is set enough so that I can clean it up today. I also want to break up the horizontal line of the bushes in front of the house, even though it is really there. That will help the compositional questions.

This composition is difficult. Something you are always told is to not have the horizon line in the middle. This painting has several horizontal lines that are not necessarily the horizon or eye level, but still divide the painting. The most obvious to me was the bottom of the trees, so I put it lower than the middle. This makes the tops of the trees about the middle. If I pull it down then that leaves a small amount of foreground and the sky would be the most important part. If I push it up it makes the foreground too much.

I'm hoping that in a large painting the length of the painting will help minimize this effect. If I change these lines too much, then it is no longer the place I want to portray. I think in the larger painting I will have it be a little later in the day so that the mountains look a little more purple than blue to contrast with the complement, yellow.

Sometimes the painting takes over and comes out different than the plan entirely. We shall see......

And a blog for today, hmmmm. How about Katherine Tyrrell, Making a Mark. Her blog, sketches, pastels, colored pencils and information go way beyond what I can keep up with. I'm not sure how she researches and shares so much information and still draws and paints. Whew. I discovered her sketching blogs and from there went on to explore all her blogs and Squidoos. She writes about art happenings, her travels and sketching and research. She has a Squidoo for colored pencil and one for pastel. There is so much to learn on her site. She is my art encyclopedia covering business, blogging, sketching, and so much more.

Most of you already know about her. Her blogs are some of the most popular art sites around. If you haven't been by her blog in a while, go check things out. She does a weekly post, "Who's Made a Mark This Week", and the current one is a review for the year she has been doing that. Get a cup of coffee, you will be there a while.

Plein Air Pastel Paint Out

Finally a little plein air outing. It had been a while. The Austin Pastel Society organized a paint out for today. It is so good for my heART. I have a good time, become very enthused and enjoy the overall atmosphere. It is great to be with other artists and share the day.

I didn't get very good photos, are you surprised? I didn't get any of the artists that they would enjoy publishing publicly. We met at a Starbucks where Regina has an exhibit. From there we went to see her beautiful studio and dream about having such a fine place to work. After that we went to Bear Creek Resort to paint the beautiful views and grounds. I will try to make links to the other artists from today a bit later.

A pretty area near the entrance of the property.

Maybe this is the Welcome Wagon.

Some cattle wandering by in a long row, going to water I would guess.


A prickly pear blossom.

Regina's painting and her set up.


Bear Creek View
Plein Air Pastel, 9 x 12 inches
on Colourfix card.

I'm pleased with what I accomplished in about a two hour stint. I was near Regina so the view was similar. I focused on the cacti. I did an under painting with a dark reddish purple under the cacti and red under the trees. The paper was sort of a yellow so I left that under the sky. It was cloudy to start with and made the colors rich. Later the sun appeared and changed the feel. I hope I kept the cloudy day feel in the painting.

A little baseball note. The Longhorns are playing this weekend series with the Texas A & M. Texas won last night in extra innings, the Aggies won today. Tomorrow?? Check out the news on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page and the official page. Did they loose today because I wasn't there?? Hmmm. Baseball people are very superstitious. :) And who is going to win the conference? It is so close....

Plein Air Pastel

The Friday that Sue was here, we went to the 9E Ranch to paint at Joan Bohls invitation. The view was beautiful with hills and all the trees. Sue stood in the gazebo and painted the view and I painted a couple of trees and a bit of the view. It was lovely there, shady and cool on a very warm day. It was a great place to spend the afternoon. I didn't end up with a photo of Sue's painting. A couple of photos and my painting follow:

The corner of the gazebo and the view I painted.

The view that Sue was seeing.

My painting for the day, 9E Ranch View, about 9 x 12 inches, Soft Pastel on Colourfix paper.

It is always so invigorating to paint with someone. Sue and I met about 1995 at a workshop in Montana held by Jack Hines and Jessica Zemsky as I have mentioned many times before. We try to paint together at least once a year and hopefully more. Because Sue lives in Michigan and we live here in Texas and New Mexico, it is hard to do more. Just looking at the world with another artist makes you think and explore ideas. I am so thankful we have this friendship.

Being with other artists may be why workshops are so popular. Is there that much new to learn? I know we need practice, but sometimes that is what it is. I was so tired after the week with Sue and then the 3 day workshop in Georgetown. Whew! At the same time, I couldn't wait to get out the pastels and try something new. I worked on some strawberries and blueberries yesterday, but didn't finish. I bet my studio smells wonderful, don't you?

I hope that you get out and paint with someone. Doesn't have to be plein air. Just get a bunch together and try something new. All paint the same thing and critique each others work or try a new medium. Sometimes being in an organized group/club takes more time and energy than you have at the moment. But painting is very solitary and being with others can inspire and give you energy. Give it a try.