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.