The White House- Refurbished

From the title of this post do you think I am trying to work the search engine thing to attract politico's? I know there is money in politics- maybe I can crowbar some into the art world.

 White House Ruin, photo, as it is today

 

Painter friend Roger Williams recently put out a pic of a painting he completed - a rendition of the White House Ruin, probably the most stunning setting for any Ancestral Pueblo structure in the southwest. It was a great painting- Roger's and maybe another 100 or so that have been done since the discovery of the ruin in the 1880's.

Roger's painting reminded me of the several times I have been to Canyon De Chelly in northeastern Arizona, where White House is just one of dozens of ruins peppered about the canyon. It spurred me to gather up materials from my trips and attempt a rendition of the White House, tucked in a cavern beneath the huge escarpments of patina-stained sandstone.

I painted the scene on location many years ago and the painting sold immediately. I wanted to do another right away but, until now, had not gotten around to it.

I have learned much about this structure over the many decades. One of the nuggets from my recent research was that these sandstone block buildings were either constructed by Chaco People, or supervised by them. I am referring to the Ancestral Pueblo culture centered around Chaco Canyon in what is now northwestern New Mexico.  These engineering farmers flourished throughout the Four Corners region for a centuries ( 900 to 1200 AD), building networks of connections leaving their distinctive masonry pueblos scattered throughout a vast and spectacular region.

The Chaco builders at White House left behind tell-tale engineered, pre-planned thick base walls built to hold the weight of the multiple stories above them that have since crumbled. They were visionary builders who knew well in advance the completed height of their constructions.

We know the canyon bottom pueblo was four stories tall because of the pictographs seen today far above the canyon floor. They were painted from the rooftops of the fourth story. We can still see where the ladder left its rub marks on the cliff face from the forth floor of the lower pueblo. The ladder was the only way to get up to the cave where they built a tidy complex. The uppermost rooms of the cave complex had its south facing walls whitewashed- a singular rarity and the only one I am aware of. 

Below the whitewash- a sort of wainscoting- was a band of mustard colored stucco. What a tantalizing mystery- who lived in the White House?

 

Floor Plan of the White House

showing both the upper and lower sections.

 

As I progressed through the painting I got to the point of rendering the ruins. One of my musings when looking at ruins is imagining them when they were actively lived in- with fresh mud on the walls, covering the meticulous stonework, tools and pottery scattered about work areas, the canyon echoing the soft voices of the daily village life.

So I did just that.

Tree ring dates showed that almost all of the timbers used to build the pueblo were cut around 1070 A.D. I imagined myself back then and painted what I thought what may have been there.

 

 

 

"The White House, 1072 A.D."  oil on linen   24" x 18"

 

Thus, here is another peek into the past. If you like this post , and painting, you may be interested in my previous post on my reconstruction of Penasco Blanco in Chaco Canyon (Exploring the Past, Feb. 2014)

"It Was a Peaceful Demonstration"

I have been encouraged over the past several years to share my painting methods. This has been through painting demonstrations at classes, on-location painting, talks to aspiring artists and patrons.
When I was first approached by painter friend Coni Grant to do a demo for her adult painting class, I felt honored - to begin with. I was soon apprehensive about doing a hasty painting that would be crap, and in front of witnesses no less.
That initial demonstration was very educational- for me especially. It had been decades since I taught painting and drawing. I knew that I had accumulated a lot of knowledge about painting but it had been extremely internalized over many, many years. It was all in my head.
I  happily discovered that I could communicate this internal jumble to other people and in a way that they could understand, (or were they just being polite?)
Before one demonstration, my wife and I were channel surfing and happened upon a program where a painter was doing a painting video. He basically just said out loud what his process was- what he was doing, with what tool or brush, using such and such color mixed with such and such other color.
So that is one sure way to communicate painting dynamics- just start blabbing away about each and every little thing that you are doing.
Here is a picture of a painting demonstration that I did for Coni's class.

 

 

After the demo I took the painting into the studio and worked it into a more finished piece- into a state that was more refined than a quick draw.

 

Here is the completed painting.

"Crabapple Pond" 16x12 oil on linen

 

I entered this painting into the Western Light Show and Sale hosted by Earthwood Collections in Estes Park in August of this year and it ended up getting the Director's Award for the competition. The Director's Award is given to the painting of choice by the staff and owners for the gallery. Thank you Earthwood folks and owners, Ann and Ron Wilcocks.

Here I am with award in hand.



 

 

This painting is now on display at the Earthwood Collections in Estes Park, and for sale as well!

 

Rio Grande Healthy Living Park

Rio Grande Healthy Living Park

Agua Es La Vida, oil on linen, 16 x 20

Rivertown

I am honored in creating a painting that promotes the attributes of the Rio Grande Healthy Living Park in my Rivertown- Alamosa, Colorado.

www.HealthyLivingPark.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

The park will evolve on the site that belonged to the local school district- almost 40 acres. On a small section of the land, a school once stood- now torn down.

I have a history with this school. It was named after local educator Margaret Polston. I went to school with her daughter.

My daughter, in turn, went to Polston Elementary School. There are towering cottonwoods outlining the playground that were planted by a friend to shelter her son when he went to school there. Local gardeners made plots and a greenhouse and the kids learned that you can eat what you grow- and that freshness is an unparalleled treat.

There are many such stories in this town.

But the school only took up a small part of the property. Enveloping the school and playground was and is an alfalfa field. There is an abandoned river meander that is fed by a distant warm well that affords all the wetland plants and animals a home. And next to the meander, separated by a dike, is the Rio Grande. The Rio runs through this property.

For a while it looked like this remarkable real estate would transfer into private hands. After a Rivertown kerfuffle which exposed some deep feelings below the veneer of civility, this land will once again be by and for the community people- if the funds are raised to purchase it.

The Rio Grande Healthy Living Park is a complex and invigorating menagerie best explained by the architects of its creation. https://www.facebook.com/healthylivingpark?fref=nf

 

One of the features that I am looking forward to is the restored wetlands- removing non-native plants, encouraging wildlife friendly practices and making it a continuing educational feature to Rivertown. It will educate and nurture both children and adults.

Some notes about the painting-

I chose the vantage point from the elevated river dike looking east towards our all-star mountain celebrity- Mount Blanca. It looms over us most days when not obscured by storms- it winks at you from out of the corner of your eye.

 

 

 

 

The wetlands are indeed a treasure. This slough drains into the river and is fed by a warm well coming from the community artesian swimming pool. In the winter this warm stream offers open water in a land that at times has none elsewhere.

One winter I was perplexed to spot a Great Blue Heron at this open ribbon of water. I had only recently started learning about birds and had seen these large birds in great numbers in Florida. But here, in the San Luis Valley- in the bitter sub-zero weather that persists for weeks on end- what was this bird doing here? Then I saw the heron deftly jab into the water and spear up a minnow. These fishies thrive in the warm winter water- and sustain these large elegant birds in the cold of winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The moon reminds us of the subliminal and massive natural rhythms that, although we try, cannot for long be ignored. The rythms are there whether we acknowledge them or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there is the water. Agua es la vida. In the desert, the oases that the Rio creates is life.

Alamosa and the San Luis Valley prosper because of our engineered rerouting of the Rio Grande. We convert the Rio into sustenance that feeds thousands- waterfowl, livestock and crops. This tradition will continue with the Healthy Living Park.

My wish is that my inspired painting will inspire you to help as well. To give your support go to https://www.healthylivingpark.org

Exploring the Past by Illustrating in the Present

One of my many obsessions is an insatiable curiosity about ancestral pueblo archaeology. My first visit to Mesa Verde National Park when I was 12 initiated a still-present admiration for these people, how they lived and the astounding beauty of their homelands. I was raised on TV and movie Indians who spoke in halting guttural awkwardness and rode horses to attack settlers circled in their wagons sending arrows and spears into their midst while being shot off said horses. Not very smart "savages"!
But here were a people that were farmers, built elegant masonry villages and worshiped from subterranean holy chambers.
This spurred my continuing studies of these people and soon led me to the premiere cultural nexus centered around Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico that started around 800 A.D. What fascinates me about the Chaco phenomenon (as it is known by some) is that this super civilization erupted overnight and into a sophistication that then deteriorated over several generations. The elegance of the super villages they created were unprecedented in the Southwest - and they were masterfully planned - symmetrically and astronomically oriented super-villages that made earlier prototypes seem awkward and rare.
When you get a chance to wander around these ruins today, one is struck by the immensity of the pueblos and the thousands of hours to work the sandstone and to haul in thousands of massive timbers, some from over 50 miles away.
I was instilled with the burning desire to be able to see these structures in their prime, with gleaming fresh stucco and crowded with the people.
After a trip to Chaco and pushing miles on foot into one of a dozen of the Super Pueblos or Great Houses as most say, I decided to "rebuild" a village to help myself and others to see how it must have looked to witness such a remarkable sight- a shining city floating above the desert washes.
I was drawn to the structure known as Penasco Blanco (Spanish for white rock, referring to the pale sandstone that caps the mesas in this canyon) unique in that has an elliptical configuration with not one square corner on its exterior walls found in all the other villages. It was one of the original core towns when the canyon was pioneered in the 8th century.
Penasco is at the west end of "Downtown Chaco" and was the portal city for the western edge of "main street" for the people entering or leaving the outlying vastness of the cultural province the Chacoans created.
For more information about the fascinating Chaco phenomenon please visit the National Park Service site for this World Heritage site. Chaco Canyon National Historical Park

Around 1999, I decided to do a rendering of Penasco as a response to the abundance of imagery and obsession by many concerning Pueblo Bonito, the "darling" of Chaco Canyon. Bonito was the largest and possesses a singular presence of grace in design. But I wanted to feature something that had not already been done.






This is an aerial photo of Penasco Blanco Ruin in present day. The round depressions are Great Kivas and the faint line on the right is an ancient roadway.

 

 





Some remnant standing walls to this once 5-story structure. This is the approach from the canyon below. 



A wall fragment showing the skilled masonry of the Chacoans. The walls were covered with stucco, thus veiling the structural beauty.


 

This is the view and elevation that I based my restoration on. This vantage point has a stone shrine structure nearby.

 



I found this floor plan and used it as reference

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This is a study I did to get an idea of structure and lighting.

From the reference material I composed and completed the painting below. Of course the accuracy of the building details is speculation. Some folks think that the Chacoans completed room blocks with fully filled out spaces and elevations creating smooth cube shapes. I chose to show the reenactment to display that although there was definitely a master plan, some segments were complete while others were in progress. I also indicated some sections falling into disrepair.

This massive building was created over many generations and expanded in leaps and bounds. Great Houses in Chaco Canyon started out with open plazas but were soon partially and then eventually completely enclosed with room blocks.

I chose to pick the time when the plaza entry had been reduced to one central gateway, around 1125 A.D. Soon after even this was sealed off and entry to the pueblo was only by ladders that had to be lowered from above. Trouble seemed to have arrived at the canyon.

"Penasco Blanco" oil on linen  32" x 44"

 

 

I also took liberties with the topography to augment the feeling of Penasco hovering over the fields below.

I hope you enjoyed sharing in my proclivity- and that you managed to read this far!

Santa Fe Plein Air

" When setting a scenery, the tableau, if placed in the country side, should be abundant with animals to suggest well being. One should also populate the yarde with powltry as well. This will enliven the display and attract the Patron." - 'Treatise on Content and Composition' by the Compte de Roget, 1745.

I recently took an adventure trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I went there to participate in a plein air event sponsored by the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico.

The event featured a week of painting on-site in and around Santa Fe and culminated in a show at the Gary Kim Gallery. At this posting you can still view the show digitally by going to the Gary Kim Gallery website.

What I value about well-planned plein air events is that they promote and acquaint artists to key scenic areas in the regions in which they are held. I found out that even in places that I thought I knew well I was directed to some scenic spots that I didn't even know about.

I had been visiting Santa Fe for decades and was pleasantly surprised to find intriguingly beautiful vistas unknown or overlooked before.

These group events also present many opportunities to paint with and collaborate with a variety of other artists. Although I do not consciously study other painters' techniques there is always an osmosis that occurs when painting with others. I also consider it a sort of cross- pollination. Whether it is through observation or critique I am always surprised and pleased when new insights and inspiration emanate from these associations.

 

I was graciously invited to stay with my friend and artist Roger Williams and his great setup on the outskirts of Santa Fe. He has a great house, great view, attached studio and greenhouse. All the comforts any freeloader could hope for!

 

Roger was able to come out and play.

We had great times acting goofy and painting on location. I picked up a lot from Roger during my visit. I am a visceral painter and often end up with subconscious visual traps such as repetitive shapes and annoying linear aberrations. Roger is more analytical and his discerning eye helped repeatedly in my paintings. He reminds me that although the trip may be exciting, it also has to make sense.

Here are a few selected pieces (survivors) from the Santa Fe trip.

"Cienega Morning" oil on linen 9x12

We painted this in the early morning from Louisa W. Martinez's veranda. La Cienega is west of Santa Fe and I found it a very enticing area. This is an area of juniper- studded arroyo hills above green laced river bottoms. This piece offered an opportunity to paint the intriguing dry hillsides with early morning tree shadows.

" El Zaguan Garden"  oil on linen  12 x 9
I had wandered by these enchanting grounds along Canon Road for many years and never new the story behind it - or had the opportunity to wander around and paint it.

 

" Cienega Hills" 9 x 12
This was my first painting on the trip and was a " find" while motoring aimlessly about on the back roads. A local realtor stopped to admire my work- and to try and sell me the house that is opposite this view. I offered a straight trade for my car- he declined the offer.

" Ranchos from Under the Cottonwood" 9 x 12
I explored Ranchos De Las Golondrinas on a very hot afternoon and found this view of the old walled compound from under an ancient and shady cottonwood. I brought the piece back to Roger's and thought it lacked something. I mentioned that the latia fenced structure was a chicken coop- so we decided that a fowl or two would spice up the scene (see quote at the beginning). I put several birds in the piece but because of the small scale I felt the one rooster was sufficient and took the others out.

Lots more to paint in Santa Fe!

The Governor's Art Show and Sale--- Small Town- Big Art Center

" Acequia Reflections" 16x12 oil on linen

I just returned from the opening reception at the Governor’s Invitational Art Show and Sale that will be open daily until June 2 at the Loveland Art Museum in Loveland, Colorado. After 21 years this show has tapped me to be in it for its 22^nd show.
To paraphrase Groucho Marx I am not sure I want to be in a show that would let me in it! I am joking. Click to go to the Governor's Show siteThe paintings on this post are all in the show. The one above sold at the reception.

" South Clear Creek Falls" 20x16 oil on linen

I am very appreciative to be accepted into this nationally renowned exhibition. It is sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Loveland and the Thompson Valley.
Many of the beneficiaries of the success of this Art Show and Sale are children and youth in the community and beyond.  Every 3^rd Grader in the Thompson School District gets a hard-bound dictionary. Several thousands of dollars are given to college bound students  and an apprenticeship for a non-college bound student is arranged.  The Kids Pak program feeds hungry kids each weekend for the entire school year.  A Books for Kids campaign and other youth organizations are helped, as well as some international projects.  And, of course, both clubs are extremely active in participating in Rotary International’s End Polio Now campaign. 

 

" Threshold to Loch Vale" 24x32 oil on linen

This show has been a standard for promoting the finest painters and sculptors in Colorado and has presented some of my favorite painters such as Richard Schmidt, Stephen Quiller, and Charles Ewing.

A side story on the Loveland art scene illustrates the power of individuals to shape communities and events.

My family was intimate with Loveland when I was a kid, before the art aspect was developed. It was a small agriculturally-based community and was and is a tourist gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. A favorite trip for us was to motor up to Trail Ridge road and feed the chipmunks (not cool, now).

My aunt and uncle lived there with their two daughters/ cousins and we would visit them several times a year.

I attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins so I dropped in on them occasionally when I was going to school. By the time I graduated in 1975, Loveland was growing rapidly as was all the Front Range but still had not become the art scene it is now.

"Pass Dam" 12x16 oil on linen

That changed when sculptor George Lundeen set up a studio in 1973 followed soon by a foundry. He was the cloud seed that soon started the creative rain for this little burg. Other sculptors and artists quickly migrated to this art friendly environment.Shortly after Lundeen’s arrival, a sculpture show was created that soon became a national renowned annual showcase. There are now two world class sculpture shows annually.
Fine art galleries opened and public sculptures started popping up like mushrooms. Part of this creative upwelling  was also the aforementioned Governor’s Show.
Click here for a link to Loveland

Today Loveland is one of the most renowned small town art centers in the U.S.

To me it illustrates the power of a few individuals with vision- a process that can happen in any community- maybe even yours.

Bitter Winter? Hunker Down in the Studio

Firstly- what is hunker? and how did it get into our language- Perhaps a topic for another blog.( I have already checked out its derivation.) And I am pretty sure you have to use it with "down" and not just by itself. As in- I am going to hunker?
Doesn't sound right.
Us ol'timers in this place called the San Luis Valley were reminded this past couple months of how "challenging" the winters used to be. We have been lulled into a mild decade or so of relatively not-so-frigid winters.
But starting mid-December we were subjected to some particularly bitter temperatues. We set at least 16 national lows for the lower 48 running into January. One reading in the wee hours logged in at a minus 32 F!
And yes you should be envious of our collective fortitude to withstand such extreme cold!
These conditions encouraged me to recollect the warmer and greener times of the summer of 2012.
Especially some of the amazing environs around Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.
So in the studio I have been working up some pieces from a hike that we took up to Loch Vale, one of the most picturesque vistas in all of the park.
Fellow artists Coni Grant, Sue McCullough and Dawn Normali set out in August with plein air gear and took the 3.5 mile trail into the lake.

I also brought up one of my recorders to play music at the lake. I was rusty and the wind off of the lake messed with the notes- but it makes for a great picture- huh.


I was able to get a pretty good start on that painting and touched it up later in the studio.












Below is the finished 12" x 9" oil entitled " The Loch"



Here we are in the act, me, Sue and Dawn (photo by Coni Grant).

When I was confined by the frigid temps this winter I decided to work up a larger painting from another view on the edge of this magnificent lake.

Below is " Threshhold to Loch Vale" and it is 24" by 30."

 

Some of our snow is melting now but there are still large drifts lurking in the north shadows.
Winter is still holding firm but soon we will be out in the field again- time for some spring thaw pieces.