MADRUGADA DE PICURIS - 48"x48" - Work in Progress - Glazes and Opaque Paint

8/1/08 -"MADRUGADA DE PICURIS" -- Morning trees at Picuris Pueblo -- This painting has such a calm to it -- such a quiet peaceful feeling, I am considering eliminating the pinon in the foreground to uncomplicate the composition and just let it BE! DC

MADRUGADA DE PICURIS - GLAZES/OPAQUES

7/27-08 -- "MADRUGADA DE PICURIS" - 48"X48" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen. The sky is completed - there are pink and yellow sunrise tones in the sky - hoping this part of the painting will inform the light on the trees and foreground. On a canvas this size everything is a SURPRISE! This canvas has the feeling to me that it is painting itself ..... in my vocabulary, it's called "a little magic". DC

MADRUGADA DE PICURIS - 48"x48" Work in Progress

"MADRUGADA DE PICURIS" - Underpainting
48"x48" Orig. Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

7/23/08 -- It seems as though I have been staring at this underpainting for months, perhaps longer. These trees are on Picuris Pueblo land at the turn off to Truchas. They've always symbolized something really peaceful and solid for me.....I guess I've hesitated because I hope so much to do them justice. Have been working on the glazes for a week or two and will post them as soon as this second phase of the painting is complete. DC

SIESTA IN RED - NEW ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING

"SIESTA IN RED" - NEW
24"X24" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen
Framed in Gold with Linen Liner
For price and availability, please call my Taos Studio at
(575)758-7454

AGUA FRIA - NEW COMPLETED ORIG. OIL

"AGUA FRIA" - NEW ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING
30"x24" on Fine Belgian Linen
Framed in Gold with Linen Liner

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon here in Taos -- Listened to a new audiobook titled "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger this morning while I worked -- thought it was quite appropriate. This is a painting is of the Rio Pueblo as it runs under Ranchitos Road near my house. I took great license with the time of day and other details.....in the end I think it all came together quite nicely.

For price and availability, please call my Taos Studio at
(575) 758-7454
(PS: To see the initial underpainting for this canvas, scroll down to my post of 24 June - DC)

AGUA FRIA MIXING PALETTE

Friday, 18 July - Here is the palette for AGUA FRIA from yesterday -- I thought these colors were so fantastic, I hated to clean them up at the end of the day. The blue/purple tints are for the sky -- saved the rest of these mixes to paint the water today. The orange/reds are for the setting sun. DC

AGUA FRIA -- MORE GLAZES

"AGUA FRIA" - WORK IN PROGRESS
30"x24" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

7/15/08 -- If you scroll down to the previous image, you might understand that I wanted to give up on this canvas entirely. Finally, I put a new Audio Book on my CD player and "dived" in -- no pun intended. My intention is to have the feeling of "last light" in this piece, which means the foreground will be dark and moody and the sky and the highlights soft. The setting sun is a combination of Cadmium Red and Thalo Rose Red with a touch of white. The tall trees are combinations of Yellow Ochre, Permalba White, Burnt Sienna and Mars Black - a little Holbein Rose Grey (I love this color! it adds warmth to the transitional tones.) The water - various combinations of Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, Mars Black. I will let these colors dry for a day or two before I work in the final opaque paints. Stay Tuned! DC

AGUA FRIA - WORK IN PROGRESS - THE GLAZES

"AGUA FRIA" - WORK IN PROGRESS
30"x24 Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

7/5/08 - Another painting with a lot of free form -- that's why I love to paint water. Autumn, early evening colors -- will work on the glazes more tomorrow. DC

MOONDREAMS -- New Original Oil - SOLD

"MOONDREAMS" (Completed 7/4/08)
Sold 7/5/08

24"x30" Original Oil Painting on Fine Belgian Linen
Framed in Gold with Linen Liner

"MOONDREAMS" - More Glazes

"MOONDREAMS" - Work in Progress
24"x30" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

6/30/08 -- More Glazes! This layer of paint will add a deep richness to the final application of opaque paint. Dark Greens - Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna. Toned Greens: Chrome Oxide Green Opaque and Cadmium Red. Foreground Darks: Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and Diox. Purple. Lighter Foreground: Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna.

"MOONDREAMS" - WORK IN PROGRESS

"MOONDREAMS" - GLAZES
24"x30" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

6/27/08 -- AH! THE GLAZES! -- Yes, I have painted this little church before, but never quite in this way. As of yesterday, I have almost completed the sky -- and then the foreground was completely "washed" in Cadmium Red thinned down with painting medium. Opaque paints can be thinned to a semi-glaze and then put over the underpainting. I want the final painting to have that last minute look of sun on an early summer evening. This painting is a great example of the value of glazes and how they inform the final tones of the canvas. Am challenging myself to pull this one out of my Art Hat! DC

"MOONDREAMS" - WORK IN PROGRESS

'MOONDREAMS" - WORK IN PROGRESS
24"x30" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

6/26/08 - Blocked in four new paintings this week -- I work on portions of one while the others are drying in between underpaintings and glazes. My goal for this piece is to have the autumn moon rising while the sun in setting through an orange glow. I will post the photo of the glazes on this canvas today or tomorrow. They are essential to the final effect of this oil painting. DC

LLANO DREAMING - WORK IN PROGRESS

"LLANO DREAMING" - WORK IN PROGRESS
30"x40" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen
(Underpainting)

6/24/08 -- When doing underpaintings -- work fast. Mix the colors with turpentine and either Foundation White or MG White -- fast drying. This canvas is another perspective of Llano San Juan - one of my favorite places. Trees at the top are a combination of Chrome Oxide Green Opaque and the darker areas are Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna. The colors in the fields are a combination of Yellow Ochre and Mars Orange. Foliage in the front: Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and some Diox. Purple -- Also some Burnt Sienna. For the snow I am using just the Foundation White -- mixing some Payne's Grey for the shadows. I have a really good feeling about this canvas! I will need to let this underpainting dry for about a week.

AGUA FRIA - WORK IN PROGRESS

"AGUA FRIA" -- WORK IN PROGRESS
30"x24" Original Oil on Belgian Linen
(Underpainting)

6/24/08 -- HERE WE GO AGAIN! Beginning some new work today -- my house smells like turpentine -- even my three-legged cat, Rosie, is hiding under the covers!

This is a "rito" near my home here in Taos. I love to paint water and don't get very specific with the underpainting -- the water needs to "flow", which means it is a free form of painting. Notice the reds at the top center of the painting -- hoping to catch the viewer's eye with that - it's a little trick. Sky: Thalo Blue, Thalo Green with a little Ochre and Foundation White -- a fast-drying underpainting white. Trees and shrubs: Light greys are a combination of the white, Rose Grey, some Ochre and Payne's Grey. Water: A mixture of the sky colors with Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna for the darker colors. Also bring into the water the other colors in the painting to peek through as reflections. This canvas will be fun -- Stay tuned!

AUTUMN DREAMING - NEW COMPLETED OIL

"AUTUMN DREAMING"
(Completed 6/21/08)

22"x28"New Original Oil Painting on Fine Belgian Linen
Framed in Gold with Linen Liner
For price and availability, please call my Taos Studio at
(575)758-7454

AUTUMN DREAMING - WORK IN PROGRESS

AUTUMN DREAMING - WORK IN PROGRESS
22"x28" Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen

Monday, 6/16/08 -- Working this painting a little differently than many of the others. Rather than just putting in pure glazes, I am mixing a lot of opaque paints with the darker colors. The sky is completed -- Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, Permalba White with a touch of Yellow Ochre (which grays the blue so that it isn't so overwhelming). The trees and the yellow part of the chamisa is a combination of Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre -- and for the darker parts, I have added a little bit of Diox. Purple. The greens are various combinations of Burnt Sienna and Prussian Blue for the darkest areas -- also added some Diox. Purple. For the lighter greens I used a "dirty brush" -- a combination of the yellows for the chamisa with the greens. The road will be a bunch of left over colors from my palette mixed together after a day of painting - otherwise known as "mud". This will be a bright and interesting painting. If you would like to see the underpainting, please scroll down to my blog entry of May 26th. Stay tuned!

TEMPLO SION - Studio Edition Archival Giclee

"TEMPLO SION" - New Studio Edition Print

6/14/08 - This morning I was able to photograph this original painting (only three oils left of my personal "Truchas collection"). For a while I lived next door to this little Assembly of God church on the main road in Truchas -- and this is the way it looked twenty years ago. As with everything in New Mexico these days, it has since been turned into a gallery with orange shutters; I can't help feeling that something precious has been lost in the translation.

Now available as a Studio Edition Archival Giclee - printed on Enhanced Matte Presentation Paper (22"x17" sheet size) -- $100.00, plus $10.00 Shipping and Handling (mailed flat). Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express now available through my studio. To order please call my Taos Studio (575) 758-7454.

HOLY SMOKE! -- FINAL TOUCH - SOLD

"SUENOS DEL NORTE" - Completed 6/5/08
Sold 6/2/08

Added the swirl of smoke -- the painting didn't feel complete to me without it!

SUENOS DEL NORTE - SOLD

"SUENOS DEL NORTE" - SOLD
(Completed 2 June 2008-Sold 3 June 2008)

22X28" Original Oil Painting on Fine Belgian Linen
Framed in Gold with Linen Liner
For price and availability, please call my Taos studio at
(575) 758-7454

SUENOS DEL NORTE - WORK IN PROGRESS

"SUENOS DEL NORTE" - GLAZES

Monday, 5/26/08 - It seems that I mixed a little too much cobalt dryer into my painting medium and the varnish got a little syrupy -- added more turpentine. I want this to be a quiet, dreamy full-moon painting, so the lighting is a little tricky...a lot of "invention" will go into this canvas! Stay tuned.