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.



It's SHOWTIME!

Winter is the time of year to concentrate on studio pieces and to look for show opportunities, at least for me.
Winter on-location painting can be challenging ( ok- cold ) and usually involves shades of white with cool-blue shadows. I am not real excited about snow scenes this winter for some reason.

So I have been visiting larger studio compositions that allow my subject matter to breath a little easier on a larger canvas. I notice that I have a tendency to cram too much content into the plein air pieces and seem to forget the always helpful hint- " less is more."

Another aspect to larger paintings is that they seem to be better candidates for competitive juried shows. Shows are part of the trifecta of selling schemes that also includes commissions and galleries.

I have entered the prestigious Salon International Show for the past decade and have only gotten in twice- until this year where I had two! paintings accepted after a long dry spell.
This show only accepted 434 paintings out of almost 1200 entries submitted from around the world. I am pretty stoked to be in the 2012 show that was judged by Edward Minoff.
The opening for this show will be in San Antonio, Texas on Friday, April 13 at the Greenhouse Gallery. The Show runs until May 2.

"Lemon Cliffs" 18x 24 oil on linen










" Emerald Creek" 16x20 oil on linen









I was also accepted into the Plein Air Artists of Colorado Juried Show for 2012, another highly competetive show. The opening for this show will be Saturday, May 5 in Taos New Mexico at the Wilder Nightengale Gallery.






"Coyote Willow Creek" 9x12 oil on linen

Courtyard

The painting featured here was done from the covered boardwalk near the historic home of Kit Carson in Taos. A pleasant spring afternoon after an overnight dumping of wet, spring snow. Many passers-by stopped to engage in discovery and sharing of experience. The painting was near completion when I felt the piece had a certain lack of energy.
As I surveyed my subject I noticed that I had left out a pair of saplings in the courtyard. I had also overlooked or had taken for granted the presence of a robin that had been lazily roosting in the tree almost the entire time.
When I put these in, it seemed the painting had more spark.

"Courtyard" 12 x 9 oil on linen

Performance Art

Unless you are very skilled at being antisocial and reclusive, painters who work on location often interact with the public. My personal experience has been for the most part very positive. People are in general very curious about the artistic process and are excited to actually see the very rare event of a painter painting. Kids especially.
Most children are very active drawers, colorers and of course dabble in the ultra-sensual finger painting. I think it enlivens them to see the possibility of taking all that outdoors and interacting with their surroundings.
For adults, it is a pleasant upgrade from seeing courtroom artists sketching you at the defendant's table, as I have so often personally experienced.

These are pictures taken of me painting on location on Kit Carson Street in Taos. I was in front of the Walden Gallery, which shows my work. Walden Fine Art

They were taken by my friend and fellow painter Coni Grant
Coni grant

I will back in Taos doing some more street painting this Saturday, April 24,from 2 to 6 pm. so if you are around check it out.

Next up: the actual painting from this performance!

Bloom time

Spring in Taos is always accompanied by fruit trees in bloom. This is one well-established apple tree in Arroyo Hondo on the road to the Gorge. The Sangre de Cristos still hold patches of winter snow that will soon vanish under the approaching rain showers.

"Bloom Time" 16 x 20 oil on linen