My Backyard

This is the painting I have been fighting all summer and finally it is done. Richard McKown, my mentor, challenged me in late June to paint my backyard in the dark. So I began painting from 6:00-6:30 each morning and found the process interesting and fun but difficult when it came to the details, which made it very busy. The junipers alone presented a huge problem and the somewhat ragged flower bed with a mix of daisies, echinacea and hydrangeas were basically chaotic. And then there was the partially hidden bird bath which really made no sense. I painted and repainted and was ready to toss it, when Richard suggested I simplify it with hard edges defined by color.

His suggestion came from my reaction to the many paintings we had viewed together online and in museums as he was trying to understand what reaches me emotionally and can be the impetus that will inform the way I express in paint the essence of what I value. The approach he suggested was defintely in line with the paintings I love but was also a whole new way of painting and I hardly knew where to begin. There were many more layers of paint and more struggles as I tried to understand how to simplify and create interest without losing the sense of my backyard. During this process, the time of the painting moved into the light of mid-morning. The blocks of flat color are simplified forms of the yard's plantings. Although not easily seen in this photo, the major features have a contrasting color outlines which energize the painting while defining the objects. Color really became the major consideration in the composition to give the painting movement and create interest.

I learned a lot in the long process of making this painting and am anxious to start another one of these - likely one of the skulls which I love and which lend themselves to this approach. That, unfortunately, is apt to be November since I have so much on my plate for the next 6-7 weeks. So this will be my last post for awhile but I would love to hear from you and get your thoughts on this new approach.

Pecos Mission Ruins II

If you look at Pecos Mission Ruins I, which I posted way back on May 16th, you can place this view in the context of that view of the ruins. In the Pecos I painting, on the lower right side, you see two beams sticking out from the church. In this painting, those two beams are pointing toward you, one atop the other, right next to the corner buttress. The painting it self is fairly dark (top image)and the details are hard to see, so I have lightened it a little in the lower version so you can see the details more clearly.

I have done very little painting since June and am only starting to paint regularly again - although I'll be away for several weeks and will return to prepare a senior seminar that I will be teaching in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oklahoma. The topic of my seminar relates directly to these mission paintings as it will explore the idea that through the architectural remains of 17th century missions and pueblos we can come to some degree of understanding about the relationship between the puebloans and the friars who directed the building of these missions and played an important role in the life of the pueblos.

I do have one painting which I will finish this weekend and post before leaving. It is a complete change of direction from what I have been doing and would love to hear some comments.

Skull II

You will likely see this skull in other paintings because I love it so much. It lay partially buried in red Oklahoma clay for a long time and there is still clay packed in its nooks and cranies. The staining from the soil as well as weathering have given this skull a sense of time long past and a mysterious, almost spiritual aura. The staining along with all the internal folds and slopes make it difficult to paint the subtle changes of color. The internal shadows change the color ever so slightly, requiring a new mix of paint.

Yesterday's pelvis and today's skull relate to my earlier postings of red fruits on red backgrounds. I really enjoy trying to blend the object into the background at the right point so that the differentiation almost - but not quite - disappears. I'm curious now to paint a white skull on a bright or dark background to learn how that affects the way I see and apply color.

This painting is oil on a 16x20 linen canvas.

Horse Pelvis

It has been far too long since I have blogged - and painted - but I'm now getting back to work. The June-July show at the Performing Arts Center at The Depot was wonderful and the sales were most gratifying. I apparently had not posted all the paintings I thought I had before the show so will play catch up for a few days.

Bones have always had a special attraction and interest for me and my favorite bones tend to be pelvises. I think in part this has to do with their kachina mask-like structure as well as the beautiful curves that create the harmonious whole. I also love the subtle color variations in the material itself as well as those created by cast shadows.

It is always tempting to paint the pelvis as a symmetrical form, but it never is. As you can see in this painting and in the skull I will post in a day or two, the two sides are not the same. Just like our faces, each side has its own distinctions. The wear and tear of weathering on the bones contributes to this. Human actions also come into play and I have borrowed a cow's skull which is oddly asymmetrical due to an uneven dehorning process. I will start working on that painting in a few weeks and will post it when complete.

Meanwhile, this painting and the next few I post were part of The Depot show. I hope you enjoy them. I certainly loved painting them.

This oil painting is on a 20x20 linen canvas.

San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos, NM

This church is an iconic image of northern New Mexico and I could not resist the temptation to follow in the footsteps of many artists and paint it myself. The tamped-earth buttresses of the adobe church gives it a unique form that is instantly recognizable. The twin towers at the church entry have tall buttresses of the same shape on their fronts as the one on the back of the apse. The simple geometry of the curved and almost-straight lines gives an organic feel to the structure which is a sculpture in itself.

My postings have been slow as I am still intimidated by my new camera and haven't taken any more photographs. Tomorrow I get the paintings for my June 7-July 25 show back after being framed and will photograh them all. Many of them are already on this blog but I will figure out some way to post the entire show.

Then, I'll be taking a break, visiting family and figuring out the direction I want to go with my painting. That's when I'll get back to regular posts - sometime in July probably.

Pecos Mission Ruins I

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It has been far too long since I posted but I have been painting and am now using my new camera to photograph new paintings. There will be more to come!

The ruins of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, sitting atop a hill at Pecos, are part of a long and important place in New Mexico history. They are now preserved by the National Park Service along with the Pecos pueblo ruins and mounds. I was lucky last summer to be there as a large storm was approaching and the sky was magnificent in its richness and color and depth. This particular view of the misssion ruins illustrates the essential lonliness of the place today and as it must have felt at times to the early Franciscan friars.

This is the image that will be on the invitation to the June 7 opening of my show, Forms Large and Small, at the Performing Arts Studio in Norman. The paintings are at a friend's studio for framing but as I get them home and photographed, I will be posting the entire show.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Frijoles Canyon

It has been a long time since I blogged and this painting is the reason why. It has taken over a month to paint and there have been many days when I walked away and did not return to the easel for three or four days. In the long run, the time spent was worth it because of the many lessons I learned. There are some areas that I painted innumerable times until I could get them to read properly, and each time I changed one rock, I had to change the contingent ones and on and on and on. I completely repainted the foreground five times before it made visual sense. Keeping a tight palette was a challenge. Although this is basically a gray painting, there are a multitude of colors throughout yet I wanted the "grayness" of the volcanic tuff to dominant. Patience and persistence - the qualities I am learning in this painting process.

Frijoles Canyon is the site of Bandelier National Monument in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. There are many pueblo ruins on the floor of the canyon as well as cliff dwellings carved by man and nature out of the canyon's volcanic tuff walls. The cliff houses were up to three stories tall in some places and the roof beam holes are reminders of the Puebloan builders who lived in this canyon from approximately 1150 to 1550. If you Google Frijoles Canyon images you will get a real feel for this magical place.

The sculptural qualities of the canyon walls is found in many other forms. My next effort - a skull stained by and still containing Oklahoma's red earth - will have similar qualities. And it will likely be awhile before I post again!

Trout Lie, Popo Agie River, Wyoming

This is one of two paintings I have finished this week and I am especially fond of it. I had challenged myself to paint underwater rocks as realistically as I could as well as the other river rocks and the opposite shore. The painting itself was fun and I really enjoyed painting the rocks. The hardest part for me was painting the vegetation on the far bank. I didn't want to paint each bush but find it difficult to paint loosely and without more definition. The soil is a pinkish red gravelly sandstone with lots of intermittent white bands and splotches. It proved to be the most challenging part of the painting before I was satisfied with the effect.

The Popo Agie River's headwaters are in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. At The Sinks the river rushes into a very rocky cavern and goes underground; a quarter of a mile down the mountain, at The Rise, it re-emerges and that deep pool is almost black with trout. The view in this painting is down on the flatter terrain of the Middle Popo Agie where a man I met at the turn off took me to this spot. He leads fly fishing workshops and explained some of the basics to me. What I carried away - in addition to my photographs - was his explanation of fly fishing as a skill, an art, and a passion. Watching hin practice his passion was seeing art in motion.

Now that I am home from the holidays and almost back on track to pick up my brushes, I wanted to post this painting that I did five years ago for my sister-in-law. Her parents were life-long active members of St. Paul's; upon their deaths each was cremated and their ashes reside in the columbarium, which is in the tower. This view of the tower shows the path through the garden by which her parents always entered the church.

Upon my return home, I was fortunate enough to take a three-day workshop with Gay Faulkenberry that challenged me to move beyond my comfort zone while also reminding me of those basics of painting which I don't always remember to examine as I work. I won't be posting the studies we did in the workshop but will use those lessons as I get back to painting this week. My posts will be sporatic as I try to complete a number of paintings for my June show. However, I will post each new painting when I am satisfied that it is done.