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Hi Folks,
It’s been quiet on the painting front since returning home from my residency, but I’ve been busy in other areas of life. Honest.
Go visit multicraftual.wordpress.com if you are interested in crafting and want to watch my friend Liby and I in a new video podcast. We yammer on about crafting, we sing songs and put knitted garments on her cat pancake etc. Pancake is a star. The podcast is worth watching just for his expressions.
Crafting podcasts (and there are many: dramatic knits, stockinette zombies, 90% Knitting, the knit girllls, whatcha swatchin, yarnivore, craftstash, to name just a few) are most often watched while engaged in knitting or crocheting yourself. As I recently explained to my mother, it is not meant to be captivating in the same way a tv show or movie is… rather, it is like sitting down with friends to knit and gab together. That is the best I can explain it.
In other news, the Brit (husband) and I are gearing up for a move into a new home July 1st. Same town. Portales. It means “porches” in Spanish. We like it.
The move means less time in the future with the neighborhood cat Butters. Since I got back from residency, Butters has been visiting me every morning for pats and scritches. His meow is a scratchy pathetic sound like something from a dying animal. But he is nevertheless quite talkative and affectionate. I will miss him (and frequently walk through our old neighborhood just to visit him).
Butters, mi amigo
on the porch
This was one of the last paintings I completed for my show. I began it over a month ago when Portales experienced a nice storm – anyone who lives here will understand what a great thing this is. Rain!!! I get very excited when it rains and especially enjoy thunderstorms, dark skies and the swallows that take shelter in my covered porch with me.
I felt the air pressure change and set up my supplies on the porch and painted quickly as I watched it move towards me across the fields. The swallows didn’t make a peep but watched intently and I took that as a compliment. Storms seem to blow over quickly here, so I knew I had to work fast. The result of such a quick painting session didn’t impress me all that much, so I set the canvas aside. After that storm passed and we were left in bleaching sunlight for another month I just couldn’t bring myself to continue work on it.
Finally, last week we had another rainy day and I was inspired to finish it up, just before my show went up. So… er, yes, it’s hanging wet in the gallery… shhh!
The storm behind the fence, oil on canvas, 12 x 24"
Here is another sketch for my colouring book of sorts:
Picnic colouring book page, ink on paper
And here’s how I would colour it in! I truly can’t wait to get the book done, get it out into the world and see what others do with my drawings. That’s still a long way away though since I have so many ideas I want to include.
Colourful Picnic, watercolour and ink on paper, 5 x 5"
To commemorate the very last day of summer I thought I’d post a summer-dinner painting.
Here is a table spread our friends laid for us one summer evening in their Toronto backyard… fond memories of the evening still linger.
Stay tuned for another summer meal post tomorrow!
Summer Dinner, watercolour on paper, 4 x 6"
This week while at Oasis State Park climbing a sandy slope to look for a nice place to paint I stumbled upon a snake. Not at all unusual, but the largest I’ve seen in the wild in New Mexico.
I was walking under a tree when I noticed some very slight movement above my head. I looked up to find a tan/gray shape coiled in the crook of the tree. I paused for a moment and saw that it was on the move down the tree three feet to my left. Obviously I retreated to the car where I continued to watch. Snakey (I named him/her) then investigated the area where I was standing and headed for the car. Unfortunately my nature viewing ended soon afterwards because I had clearly disturbed Snakey and he or she was now moving intently towards me. I didn’t want to let Snakey get so close to the car that I might run them over, nor did I want to stick my head out the open windows to check his/her progress… so I drove away.
I parked the car at a safe distance and walked to a shaded picnic bench where I painted for a few hours (see post “Oasis” which shows another canvas from this day). In this painting, the tree on the right is the one I saw Snakey in.
Where I saw the Snake, oil on canvas, 8 x 10"
I described my snake spotting (in great detail) to some park employees and they helped me identify it as a Coachwhip.
Some neat things I learned about Coachwhips: They are often active in hot conditions when other snakes seek shelter in cool retreats. They spend most of their time on the ground but are capable climbers so are occasionally encountered in trees and on cacti. They are slender bodied snakes relative to their length and are extremely fast (believed to be the fastest in North America). If they are cornered, coachwhips will strike repeatedly (often at their attackers face) and bite strongly if given the opportunity (they can raise the first third of their bodies to reach what they want to bite). Though they are aggressive in defense, these snakes will not chase a person down and “whip them to death” as a common legend suggests. Phew.
So, this is just my shoddy internet research (Online Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Arizona among one of my sources) and I could be wrong in attributing some characteristics to Snakey when there are seven subspecies of coachwhips widely distributed across the southern US. But I got carried away with the fun factor of writing about snakes… I hope you forgive me.
There is nothing like a pool of water in the middle of the desert. Bizarre: yes, peaceful: incredibly so.
This was painted at the nearby Oasis State Park. Many people are attracted to the fishing hole here. On a busy day families are lined up along the pink stones dropping their lines in for catfish and guzzling sodas. The morning I set up my paints at a shady picnic table the only other people around were a father and daughter fishing quietly from camping chairs.
I’ll definitely be revisiting this gorgeous place to paint more… if only it was a swimming hole!
Oasis, oil on canvas, 8 x 10"
Here is today’s painting with some detail pictures because it’s been a while since I’ve worked in a larger format.
Fox and I, oil on canvas, 24 x 30"
Fox and I, detail
Fox and I, detail 2
I want to hide under leaves.
Under Leaves, watercolour on paper, 7 x 9"
On Crunching Twigs, watercolour on paper, 7 x 9"
Here is another painting in my new body of work on the theme of merging with the natural world. It is a lot more subdued and calming in person but I needed to photograph it with more light to catch the detail.
On the Pond, oil on canvas, 16 x 20"
On the Pond, detail
