A Day in Taos

PAPNM, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Show at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos drew painters and friends from all over. On Exhibit until November 14th, it is a show worth seeing if you are in Taos this fall.
Several of the High Desert Painters were in town after painting at Ghost Ranch the previous week and taking in the show. They rented a ranch house between Arroyo Seco and Arroyo Hondo and on Monday after the show opening Sue McCullough and I drove back to Taos for a beautiful autumn morning of painting with them in New Mexico. At the top are Judy Howells from Southern California, Nelson Hubley of Nova Scotia (yes, Canada), myself and Jana Van Wyk of North Carolina.

This view looks north/east toward the mountains where aspens are dotting brilliant yellow and below, Judy paints with a friend nearby.
It really was an exceptional day and sadly, the last day of painting for me this season. I took a jump off the ranch house porch, onto a step that gave way, did a little tumble and (revealed later in x-rays) broke 3 metatarsals bone in my foot. Of course, not being able to walk should have been my first clue. Tra la.
So I am off it,
and just about everything else for 8-9 weeks.
I did learn to spell 'metatarsal'.







Below is the painting I was working on at the time of my unlucky leap - fortunately, nearly completed.
Titled "Monday in Taos", this piece sold later at the Plein Air Artists of Colorado Show- in Denver.

Spring in Taos, NM with the PAAC

I just got back from 5 days in Taos painting with the Plein Air Artists Colorado (PAAC).
This time of year can be blustery or even snowy in Colorado - so Taos is like a tonic. Cottonwoods are bursting a brilliant green and crab apple trees are blooming pink; it is a treat to paint there in the Spring, and a challenge. It must be a type of snow blindness that we get during a long winter, because seeing all those New Mexico greens made me think the cones in my eyes would pop.
At the top is Sue McCullough and David Montgomery painting a street scene in Arroyo Hondo. We also spent a day painting in Arroyo Seco and this is the view from the back of the little church there.
The bottom photo is Ranch de Taos Church, a land mark in Taos and later I will post the painting I did of that same church from way down the road.

High Desert Painters in Taos, NM

The High Desert Painters were also in Taos this week.
We met about 5 years ago at Ghost Ranch through Ann Templeton and formed a wonderful professional association, coming together from New Mexico, California, North Carolina, Colorado and Novia Scotia to paint the West en plein air.
Janis Loverin, Nita Harper, Jana Van Wyk, Judy Howells, and myself.
Ann Templeton was painting down the road and didn't get in this group photo.
We also missed Nelson Hubley, who wasn't able to join us from Nova Scotia.

Class Notes: Ladies of the PAAC

I shot the photo scrap for this little piece at a Plein Air Artists Colorado paint out in Taos almost 2 years ago. The directionality of the painters at the easels is interesting enough but without the contrast of the dark bluff behind their highlighted forms this would just be, so - so photo scrap.
I am always looking for scenes with strong value that translates to good patterns of light and dark.
Can you see strong value shapes in your color photos? Not sure? Take them to a copier and print them out in black and white. A color photo with good value will pop in black and white. Once you see clearly - exactly what you are looking for - look for more photos with the same sensibility: strong darks and strong lights. You will eyes will recognized what it is and your photos will get better and lend themselves more readily to paintings that communicate the sense of light.
And isn't that what we all are going for?