Like many churches in New Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe has undergone many renovations and restorations. This painting was based on a photo taken after the work done in the early 1920s. It is the first of three paintings commissioned by dear friends and is their favorite church in Santa Fe. This was an early effort and it taught me a lot about hard and soft edges, values, and perspective. As with all those things in life which we find difficult but through which we persist, I moved from frustration to real pleasure with this painting.
I have a book of New Mexican churches with historic photographs and am going to select a few of them to visit for new paintings - and in some way try to imply the structural history of the churches while painting their current form. I am not sure if this is possible or how I would go about it but it is, at the very least, an interesting way for me to view the current structures. I respond strongly to the underlying structure of things and the way that structure forms what we see even when hidden by other layers. I plan to explore this in future paintings and this way of looking at the churches will certainly provide me with lots of challenges.
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