White Flowers And Porcelain

White Flowers And Porcelain

6"x6" oil on Raymar panel $120.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note

This was a demo for one of the 

Artist Guild classes.

It is the last month 

of the Guild sessions until August

and we are doing a refresher 

of everything which has 

been  reviewed this semester.

I started this painting with a 

 dark transparent paint

 covering 

the board 

and then I lifted off

the lighter design with a rag.

This exposes the white 

of the canvas. 

To make the main flower shape

 whiter I used a brush 

dipped in Gamsol to totally

lift off the underpainting.

I find it pretty easy to gradually 

build up  the shapes with

layers of color making sure 

only one or two flowers 

are a tad realistic and the rest 

just abstract suggestions of color.

Maybe this is the easiest way of all

for floral still life paintings.

I bet most of you have tried it. 

What do you think?

Sunning!

Sunning.
8"x 6" oil on Raymar panel $150. SOLD

This is part of an small adobe
house in the Upper valley area
of El Paso, Texas.
It is very old and once housed the
seasonal farm workers
for the large farm it is on.
It looks abandoned...
I guess machines
now do all the work .

Cats were everywhere!
They were very peaceful
and there was not a skinny one
to be seen.
There must be a treasure trove of
field mice around!

Light and Shade

Light and Shade

8"x6" oil on Raymar board  $150.

Purchase Sold

Artist Note.

Yes...

another New Mexico Gate.

They somehow reach right into my heart 

and grab it. 

I truly get an emotional response 

of pleasure when I see one.

I like to paint beautiful things.

No room for angst in my painting world.

How about you - do you feel the same?

I am pretty sure the answer is yes

 from what I see you all do. 

Lilacs At The Nichols Ranch, New Mexico.

Lilacs At The Nichols Ranch, NM

8"x 6" oil on Raymar panel $150.

Purchase Sold

Artist Note.

I went painting...

An artist who belongs to the guild,

Sue Nichols,

lives on a beautiful ranch 

which has been in her husbands family

for well over a hundred years. 

It is one of the places 

where you can go 

and pick your own fruit if 

you want to.

I was invited to go and paint 

the fruit orchards in bloom.

 I wish you could

have been there to see the glorious

Cherry

Apple

Peach,

Apricot

 orchards finishing or starting to bloom

At the end of a fun painting day 

I saw the late sun

catching the lilac bush.

All I can say it was magical

and totally 

impossible to capture its 

true beauty.

Loved doing this piece though.

Take a look at some of the 

many gorgeous views 

HERE

They have a big Cherry festival

coming up in June. Fun for the whole family.

I cannot wait!

Sue paints her environment

A coupled of painting she has done.

Of all the cow paintings out there'

this is from direct observation - the real deal!

Coming To Water.  oil. Sue Nichols.

Windmill And Sunset. oil Sue Nichols

and if that is not enough

Sue does beautiful Stained glass work.

Stained Glass Screen.  Sue Nichols

And here is this busy woman digging

holes for new cherry trees...

the old fashioned way.

She also bakes and makes the BEST pies ever!

Thanks for the great painting day, Sue.

The Roses Are In Bloom

Roses In Bloom

8"x6" Oil on Raymar board  $150.

Purchase Sold

It is wonderful when the roses bloom

for the first time in a new year.

My home has an abundance 

of these beautiful roses growing

along a fence.

I have so many containers to choose from
so I decided on a color harmony first,
where the roses would be the secondary color
and pop out a bit more.

Here you can see I used a warm light bulb

but I changed it to a cool light

and liked it better. 

Maybe due to all the blues 

and greens I had. The blues 

in the warm light can take over.

It made the warm color of the roses way too hot

competing with the aqua glaze of the pot.

I had to remember 

the roses had the starring role.

Although I gave up teaching workshops

I still teach regular weekly art classes 

at the Artist Guild, here in Las Cruces.

This is a group hard at work.

I couldn't show all of them

from this angle but you can get the drift.

They love painting so much

that some drive

for over an hour, one way, to come

 Not only that, this group brings 

amazing munchies!

Every group has a different energy

I love teaching.

I am blessed.

After saying that...

I know they

they will look at this with

a critical eye regarding this month's focus.

So this is for them.

Every quarter is different

as are the outer edges.

Snow in Spring

Snow in Spring

8"x 6" oil on canvas panel $150. SOLD. 

Artist Note

This actually is a place in 

Northern New Mexico.

The trees were popping out in that 

lovely fresh green and about 7pm,

winter came back.

This is from a photo I took in the car.

No plein air painting for this 

smart lady!

white tulips

White Tulips

8x6 inches oil on Raymar board $150.sold

Artist Note.

I have been painting all the spring flowers

and loving every moment of it.

Anyone else doing it?

The Poets Daffodil

The Poets Daffodil-  Narcissus 

6x6 inches oil on canvas panel $120.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note.

A friend gave me these from her garden.

I was really captivated by the red rim

around the yellow center.

I started off by placing the vase

outside in a bunch of weeds -

just to see the color the white petals

turned with the blue sky 

casting its color down on them. 

I made a few color notes 

then I came back inside

and finished it off with a warm spotlight

imitating the sun.

Have you ever placed a piece of white paper

in the shadow area outside?

It has to be where the sky is directly overhead.

It is AMAZING how blue the paper becomes.

Better still, try placing it half in shadow 

and half in the sunshine...wowzer!

The name The Poets Daffodil - Narcissus
is very appealing. The legend and history
I found interesting. If you have time
see link below
more on Poets flower.

Santa fe Adobe

Santa Fe Adobe

8x6" oil on canvas panel $150.  SOLD

Artist Note

I started this plein air last year 

and finished it off in the
studio recently
when I discovered it at the bottom

of my plein air carrying box!

What more could I want...

an adobe home with a blue gate

- the subjects I love.

These people must get a lot of mail. 

This has a sturdy post and big box.

Tulip Pleasure

Tulip Pleasure

8x6in oil on canvas panel $150.SOLD


Artist Note.
I love to paint the flowers that are in season
and at the moment that
means Daffodils and Tulips.
I bought these tulips into the
studio for a fellow guild member
who loves tulips.
She has taught me
a lot of neat things about them
like...
they move all the time...
and they can grow extra petals!