"Marisol"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord














"Marisol II"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord












Today was my first session with the Taos Society of Portrait Artists.

The model for today was Marisol from Ecuador.

Lovely, exotic features. Gorgeous colors. Just a joy to work with.

For portrait painting, the model stays in one pose, with breaks every 45 minutes or so.

It was great. I can't wait for next week

"Hills Near Apoaca"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord














"Hills Near Apoaca II"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord







Went out with Plein Air New Mexico this morning to paint near Dixon, which is South of Taos.

We ended up in a gorgeous canyon between Dixon and the even less wide-place-in-the-road called Apoaca.

Had a great time and met some really lovely people who I can't wait to paint with again.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go paint with the Taos Portrait Group.

Might not be nekkid day, but might be an acceptable replacement.

Still very tired. I will catch up.

"View From My Kitchen Window"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord









"The Ravens' Aspens; Early Spring"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord












Hi all! Sorry I've been gone so long.

It's been a rough week.

I've finally got my studio all unpacked and gotten settled enough to actually *want* to paint.

The remains of this week are going to be very busy; I'm going to be out painting with Plein Air New Mexico tomorrow and hope to do some figurative stuff on Saturday.

Tonight's paintings are both from my own backyard. The first one is quite literally the view from where I'm currently sitting at my kitchen island. It's amazing.

The second one is from a stand of aspens just to the Northwest of us on a neighbor's property. For some reason, the local ravens love this stand of aspens and we hear them commenting loudly every time we go out back.

My husband and I have been referring to it as 'the Ravens' Aspens'.

I'll probably be painting this repeatedly as it leafs out.

Things are just about to start bud break here in Northern New Mexico.

I'm going to be a busy painter. And I promise to catch up with my paintings before the end of the month.

"Red Bananas"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord










"Red Banana; Peeled"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord













I noticed a lot of people lately painting bananas.

So, of course, I had to go out and find the weirdest version I could.

These are Guatemalan Reds.

And they went bad too fast for me to try one, so I can't tell you how they taste. :(

Sorry about all the starts and stops; we're packing for the move to Taos.

I promise to keep up my picture count; you just might get it in twos and threes for a while.

"The Black Draped Harp"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord













Years ago, I used to play the Irish harp.

St. Patrick's Day was my least favorite day of the year. I've never seen him as a Irish hero.

St. Patrick was a Welsh slave, brought to Ireland in chains.

His curses toppled the Hill of Tara, at the time, the Irish seat of power, culture and knowledge.

He drove the snakes from Ireland (read; pagans) and instituted the religion of the White Christ.

And that set off a thousand years of civil war.

Every year, on St. Patrick's Day, I would drape my harp in black and not play it.

Everyone please lift your glasses to St. Patrick.

Having a holiday dedicated to drinking, song and merriment would probably have pissed him off no end.

I will not be joining you.

"My Peeps"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord










"Love Peeps"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord







I warned y'all I might get around to painting Peeps.

It's finally come.

If you're not familiar with Peeps, go to your local grocery store and look at the Easter display.

Trust me, you'll see them.

They're horribly addictive little marshmallow candies that are the opposite end of the spectrum from circus peanuts in that they're light and fluffy and usually coated in granular sugar.

Mmmmmm.

"Weird Little Carrot"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord















"Bunch of Weird Little Carrots"
3" by 4"
Oil on Gessobord






These are from last week's major raid on the produce section of HEB Central Market.

They're just about to go bad; they've been in my fridge since then.

I went to paint the bunch first.

I was setting up, looked away for a second and my dog, Dulce, walked by, casually snagged the entire bunch and went to her bed with them.

Thankfully, I noticed the theft before she'd done much damage.

She did manage to pull the single most interesting carrot out of the bunch, so I ended up painting that first.

The whole bunch reminds me of a rat king somehow. . .