Winter In New Mexico - Southern Part

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This February has been more like Tucson than Silver City. We are so very much higher, and cooler. So it is with surprise that we experienced 72 degree days this month!
Perfect for plein air painting! And no snakes yet!

My friend Gay and I went 'sploring on down the road in the Mimbres Valley, just East of Silver City. What we found was an area whose accessibility was determined by the rate of flow of the Mimbres River. Many people live on the far side of that river and rely on four wheel drive, lifted vehicles. Some leave a car on the city side to get out and do routine things like shop or get gas. We didn't have one of the aforementioned vehicles, so we stayed on the tame side. But we still had views that were varied and just downright gorgeous.

The motif

I started my piece by rubbing a tone of a violet all over the board. (I have been watching Shana Kuntz" new video). Its great for making you think and start a little different from your normal starting point and method. Its that thinking differently gives you different results thing. I love the friendship of violet and greens, not to mention the love of yellows for violets, resulting in some of the most rich offsprings possible. We were at riverside and the water was so noisy that we couldn't hear each other talk unless we yelled. Somehow that just was gauche.

The block in

Locals drove their monster tired trucks by ever so slowly so as not to dust us. Who says locals are indifferent to their surroundings? Its so nice to have such a kind and thoughtful welcome.
We painted until we got the sense that we were both starting to dink around with it. For me that is the moment that I think " I can make it better if I just do this", and then the last stroke kills all sense of immediacy - it kills the " I am there" moment. I wish I had a guardian angel who could break my arm before I do that.

In The Shadow Of Cooke's Peak

This was what resulted from one of the nicest days in the sun, with a lovely breeze and friendly people. Mimbres Valley is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places to paint.

In 2010 we experienced a major upheaval in our rather predictable lives. We decided, in 10 days, to sell our home in California (after 34 years there), buy a new one in New Mexico and set up my painting studio. WOW. We shocked our kids, our friends, and ourselves. Not to mention our bosses!


My main thought was to gain a studio and time to do what I had always dreamed about - paint full time. Hubby wanted to ride his motorcycle and not work. Man, was he wrong. I have managed to keep him ever so busy, setting up my studio, and trust me, he has worked. My dream became his as we worked to make it a reality. It has been a herculean task, one that never could have happened without my husband's support.

Big White Fire Truck, in hubby's garage

I found our dream home online - all 10 acres of it, complete with rough outbuildings. But there was a catch, - we had a firetruck in one of the outbuildings! Living in the country, as we were to learn, has its own little idiosyncrasies. The big white truck stayed with us almost a year as the local volunteer firefighters put up their new home on Truck By-Pass. As a side benefit we got to know some of our neighbors and listen to the sirens every week as they made inspections. Talk about shock the first time we heard it, right outside the bedroom window! 


The rest of the time we worked on the studio when we wanted to, when the weather permitted, (new concept for southern Californians), and when the local hardware store had what we needed. We made a lot of trips to Tucson, and we bought winter coats and boots. And we have been riding New Mexico on our BMW, learning what beauty this great state has.


We are into the second year of this new phase of our lives - the payoff for all the hard work and faith over the years. The studio is nearing completion and becomes more real each month.
Problems are becoming memories and the future dream is becoming reality.

Studio before the transformation

As the studio is now workable, (though not finished) I am painting almost every day. I love schlepping all my painting stuff out to the field and coming home to my studio to study and finish the resulting pieces. I am beginning to learn the area and have future paintouts planned. I have established a local paintout group that is open to area artists (and I mean a large area). It works with an online notification available at www.meetup.com  Simply put in your area code and look for the Grant County Plein Air Painters. Join us if you care to. We are a supportive group.

Bridge Over Big Ditch - 8x10 Oil
For Sale - email me

Studio Transformation In Progress

The studio odyssey continues. How do we put in a washroom? Where does the sink go? I love my new skylights! (Thanks, Honey) And, can we still get rid of that huge, big , whale-sized center door???

Priorities - Its Always Priorities

When  I decided to set up a studio there were things that had to be done first. Everyone is different, and every artist has different needs. I always thought that one must plan, or maybe have a vision. I'm the visionary - then I plan. It had to be inviting, and one capable of sustaining prolonged periods of time spent developing my art, whatever the medium. It was only after having this mental picture that all efforts were directed to the making of the space.


My proposition is this; Your studio does not exist only in the real world - it exists primarily and more concretely in your mind before it ever takes shape in wood, tile, concrete and plumbing. Your 'studio concept' is what goes on in the time prior to the building time, in the pre-execution, in how, and what order you direct your efforts to the making of your studio and by extension your art. 


We put in the walls of my studio before we put in the floor. We secured a water source before we put in the sink. We plastered before we painted. All this seems obvious. But how does an artist plan a painting? A work of art? It is even more critical in plein air. We are assaulted by a barrage of input. All demand the same attention. We must distill, create a mental image, discard the flotsam and solidify the concept, the plan to build upon.

Creative time is precious. As you get older it becomes more precious. Those of us over 60 are ever more painfully aware that if we are to succeed, we must plan more audaciously, execute more unerringly and promote more unabashedly. Wow - did I say that?


So why do I need a studio if I paint 'en plein air'? Well to paint plein air is to learn to distill, to study and to execute. Does the musician study only to study? Of course not, he performs, to the delight (he hopes) of his audience. An artist performs by enlarging his studies into larger canvasses. By the building of my actual studio, I will have the space to build upon my plein air studies. But I will always be doing plein air, because that is the spark for the concept.


Below are 2 new pieces that I did two weeks ago when I went to the Plein Air Convention in Las Vegas. That could be a blog entry all on its own. Two days spent painting and two extremes in environment. From squalling rain and wind to extreme sunshine and wild burros.


If you are interested in either oil, please let me know. Both are 11x14 and are framed.

Rainy Day at Red Rocks

Red Rocks at Spring Valley

 "A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art."Paul Cezanne