WINTER GIFTS........

There  is nothing I can give you which you have not;
But there is much, very much that while I cannot give it,
 you can take.
 
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts
find rest in today.  TAKE HEAVEN.
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden
in this present moment.  TAKE PEACE.
 
The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within reach is joy.
There is a radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see,
and to see we have only to look.  I BESEECH YOU TO LOOK.

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by
their covering, cast them away as ugly, or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it
a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom with power.
 
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that
brings it to you.  Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or
a duty, believe me that angel's hand is there; the gift is there,
and the wonder of an overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
 
And so, at this time, I greet you.
Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with
profound esteem and with the prayer that for you now and
forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.

Fra Giovanni, 1513 AD

Wishing you and those you love all the blessings of this holiday season.

Sincerely,

Donna Clair,

Taos, New Mexico

BEFORE -- AN OVERWHELMING URGE TO GET ORGANIZED!

21 December 2009 -- The New Year is almost here!  Yes, it's time for me to roll up my sleeves and get organized!  HAH!  Perhaps some Christmas elves will show up this week while I am dreaming of Sugar Plums dancing!

"ADOBE WALLS/SANTA FE" - NEW 24"X30" Original Oil (Completed)

"ADOBE WALLS/SANTA FE" - NEW 24"x30" Original Oil Painting on Fine Belgian Linen,  framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  This painting was completed about an hour ago. Have worked on this canvas over the past two months -- wanted that coziness one feels after a good ol' New Mexico snowstorm.  For price and availablility, please e.mail or call (575)758-7454.  Visa, Mastercard, Amer. Exp. and Discover.

"The moment I saw the brilliant, proud morning shine high up over the deserts of Santa Fe, something stood still in my soul -- In the magnificent fierce morning of New Mexico one sprang awake, a new part of the soul woke up suddenly, and the old world gave way to a new.  There are all kinds of beauty in the world, thank God -- but for a greatness of beauty I have never experienced anything like New Mexico."
D. H. Lawrence, published in Survey Graphic Magazine, 1931.

"ADOBE WALLS/SANTA FE" - Work in Progress

16 December 2009 --  Worked all day yesterday on the foreground, after putting dark glazes (burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and burnt umber) on the walls.  There is a heavy impasto in the foreground - added cadmium red and cadmium yellow to Permalba White for the snow.  This is the stage of a painting where I could happily quit -- my mind races ahead to the completed canvas -- what I want it to look like - and the painting really has a mind of it's own -- in a way it tells me what needs to be done.  It's a very strange collaboration!  DC - Taos

WINTER POEM IN THREE COLORS - New Original Oil - SOLD

"ADOBE WALLS-SANTA FE" - WORK IN PROGRESS

"ADOBE WALLS-SANTA FE" - A Work in Progress -- This photo is of the painting after it has been glazed; now I will work on the opaque paints and hope to finish it sometime this next week..... DC, Taos, N.M.

"LAST LIGHT" - 9"X12" ARCHIVAL GICLEE (Click here to purchase)

"LAST LIGHT" (TAOS)

A late afternoon view from my kitchen window

NEW SIZE!  9"X12 STUDION EDITION PRINT

TAOS SNOW DAY!!

3 December - View through my kitchen window - First significant snow of the season.  Am ready!  The "extra" snow day groceries are in the pantry, all my painting supplies are in -- going to varnish and frame some small paintings today - and prepare my palette to start some new underpaintings tomorrow!  I love it!   DC

GESSOING CANVAS -- PREPARING TO PAINT

PREPARING TO SPEND THE WINTER PAINTING!  GESSOING CANVAS.  For large and medium paintings I usually use a double-primed linen canvas.  I mix up gesso with Payne's Grey.  This creates a "grisaille", or a grey ground, much favored by the Renaissance painters.  Letting each coat dry thoroughly between applications, I apply two or three coats, depending on the coarseness of the canvas.  Personally I like to smooth out the brush strokes on the gesso.  Because I work with glazing, I find that this is the best preparation for my paints.   Let these canvases "cure" for a week or so -- don't stack them together until they have dried thoroughly.  This is the first step to good painting -- once I start, I don't have to worry about "white spaces" and this "toned ground" mellows out my colors.  Stay tuned!  DC