"PASSING STORM"
NEW ARCHIVAL GICLEE - Follow above link for details.
MY PROCESS--DOCUMENTING "WORKS IN PROGRESS"- NEW PAINTINGS AND PRINTS. -- INCLUDES PALETTE AND COLOR NOTES.

21 October 2009 -- Cloudy, raining - just looked out of my kitchen window to the hills in the distance -- SNOW! My first thought was "I'm not ready for winter"! Going to visit with son, John, today -- fix him a nice lunch. Clean up the studio -- set up a new palette -- pull out some good music to inspire me - and settle in to do some serious painting. I actually love the quiet of winter -- it's time to stop striving, relax and just put a blank canvas on the easel and lose myself in some new work! DC


23 September 2009 - Making progress! Have concentrated on the top one-third of the painting. The sky and distant landscape are completed and, I believe, inform the light for the rest of the canvas. The middle ground - I have found some long forgotten tubes of Transparent Oxide Yellow and Transparent Oxide Red -- Am also mixing Indian Red, Mars Orange, Ochre and Chrome Oxide Green Opaque. This painting is taking on a life of it's own -- it's like the movie "The Red Shoes" -- Moira Shearer couldn't stop dancing and I can't stop painting! DC
21 September 2009, Taos, N.M. -- "PENTIMENTI is an alteration in a painting....that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting - the word derives from the Italian pentirsi, meaning to repent".
(PLEASE CHECK OCTOBER 13, 2009 POST TO VIEW COMPLETED CANVAS NOW TITLED
"ARROYO SECO AFTERNOON" - Now available as an archival giclee print from THE HIGH ROAD PRINT CATALOGUE. (BUY TWO, GET ONE FREE).
5 September 2009 -- Another year! Friend John sent these roses from LA -- they are brightening my kitchen bookcase this morning -- making me smile. This was one of those BIG birthdays that brought up a lot of strange feelings of getting older -- one remedy for that is for me to get back to painting this coming week. Have replenished my paint supplies -- gessoed my boards and canvases -- have new material for new work. I want to continue with my 100 SMALL PAINTINGS and have several larger paintings in progress. Will begin new posts Tuesday - stay tuned.
8/10/09 - Here are the glazes on a new canvas "ADOBE WALLS" - 24"x30" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen. I posted the underpainting June lst -- you can scroll down to see the color combinations. Will let this dry for several days before working into it again. Am all set to begin new work - including my 100 SMALL PAINTINGS and GUATEMALAN JOURNEY. DC

15 July 2009 - "CORDOVA AFTERNOON" - 24"x30" Work in progress - Phase II - The Glazes - transparent and semi-transparent colors -- painted over the underpainting after it has dried using the painting medium (recipe for medium in column on the right of this page). The sky is completed -- Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, a dab of Ochre, some Prussian Blue and Paynes Grey for variety. Stay tuned.
"ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE" - 24"x30" Oil on Belgian Linen - Work in Progress - The Glazes. Glazes are transparent, semi-transparent color which I apply over the underpainting. I believe this phase of the painting is essential to add depth and vibrancy to the final painting. After the painting is completed (the next stage is the application of opaque colors) the light enters into the canvas and is refracted back through the layers of color. Somehow this method has evolved over the years and seems to work for me. DC
"ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE" - NEW WORK IN PROGRESS - My most favorite place in "suburban" Truchas, N.M. (UNDERPAINTING). Mixing all my colors (except for "cartoon" which is reinforced with Prussian Blue) with MG Underpainting White and turpentine. Sky: Thalo Blue - Thalo Blue Green with touch of Ochre to "gray" the colors. Clouds: White is mixed with just a small dab of Cad. Yellow - Grey is Payne's Grey mixed with the while. Middle Ground Greens: Prussian Blue, burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque. Grasses: Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna. Foreground: Earth colors mixed with Dioxazine Purple.
9 June 2009 - WORK IN PROGRESS - "FROM A SUNSET WALK" - 8"x28" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen. This underpainting has been drying for a little over a week - My painting medium has turpentine in it, so the oil sketch must be dry, otherwise the color would be picked up. Now I can "lay in" the glazes -- the transparent dark colors, which is what I will do today. DC
1 June 2009 - "BEHIND ADOBE WALLS" - NEW 24x30" Underpainting. FYI -- While the large 48"x60" underpainting "Donde Nace la Vida" is drying, I am spending this week "blocking in" several more canvases. Sitting at an easel for long periods to complete a painting is not easy -- and there are days when I lack a certain enthusiasm. Usually five or six underpaintings (oil color sketches - MG Fast Drying White and pigment) sit all around me....and as long as they are "down" on the canvas -- I can paint them in my head anytime of the day or night. When I finally put them on the easel, the difficult work of planning the light and shadows, colors, etc. is mostly done -- the excitement has built to complete the canvas and my days at the easel go much more smoothly! DC

"DONDE NACE LA VIDA" - New 48"x60" Original Oil (Underpainting) - Here is the palette for the underpainting - using MG White with turpentine and mixing the colors. Sky: Davy's Grey, Payne's Grey, Cadmium Yellow. Middle ground: Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna. Trees & Foreground: Same colors as middle ground, adding Chrome Oxide Green Opaque and Prussian Blue. This canvas now needs to be set aside for about ten days to "cure". In the meantime I will block in several new underpaintings, which I plan to post here. (To keep track of my studio work, you are invited to become a Facebook Friend!) Stay tuned!

