Taos Lilac Festival, Painting the Blooms

"Crabapple Pond" 16x12 oil
Available at the Copper Moon Gallery105 Kit Carson Road. Taos,NM, 87571
I will be painting blooming trees in front of the Copper Moon Gallery in Taos on Saturday, May 21.
For the past three years Taos has celebrated the blooming Spring with a festival of lilacs. This year the town has scheduled the Taos Lilac Festival from Friday, May, 20 to the following Friday, May 27. Part of the festival is walking tours around the historic downtown district. Near the junction of the Camino Real and Kit Carson Road within in this historic zone sits the Copper Moon Gallery.
I have had the privilege of showing in this gallery for the last couple years and will be painting outside the gallery on Saturday, May 21.
I will be manning my plein air accoutrements- French easel, sun hat, paints, brushes, sunscreen, umbrella, water, coffee.
However, I an anticipating fresh cookies may be lacking.......

I am also the current featured artist in the gallery and have a copious collection of recent paintings on display and for sale.

I hope you will find the time to hang out in this magical town in blooming brilliance and stop by to chat and visit while I paint a rendition of floral Taos. Besides lilacs, there are assorted fruit trees and bushes from apricot to cherry to one of my favorites- crabapples.



Like Lazarus

I have had many collaborations with musician Don Richmond over the years. He has honored me with including my artwork on four projects so far: two for his solo projects and one for a release with Hired Hands. The latest is a piece I did for his latest solo project “Like Lazarus.”

We had talked for several years about this album - as he gelled the tunes together the cover image came to him as well. Pivotal in both projects was his miraculous comeback from life- threatening cancer. It is truly a gift to us all to hear him sing and play this collection of music, much of it born from his magical adventure. To quote another musician- long may you run!
He wanted imagery relating to rebirth. The resurrection of Lazarus with the help of Jesus is a very iconic template which he refers to in one song. He wanted me to portray the newly revived Don gazing out at the world from the portal of the tomb- eyes blinded by the magnificence of a first morning.
I had a first version that was more in tune with my naturalistic portrayal of the landscape but it wasn’t quite “acid” enough- a reference no doubt to movies we have both seen.
So I cranked up the chroma and color intensity as well as the magic as well.
This allowed me to push my envelope and go where I don’t usually go.
In a word Fun.
The coyote was adorned with an aura and the halo around Sierra Blanca was revealed to all.
So enjoy this image and bug Don to see the original- its bigger than the CD cover.
Pick up this very fine collection of music and even better try and find the time to see Don perform in person. He is having several CD release events and you can check it out by the link provided. Thanks for reading!

The painting: "Like Lazarus" oil on linen 16"x20"

To check out Donnie's Doings go to http://www.donrichmond.com/