Challenges 4 and 5 of "Let's Paint New Mexico" and my Process

To the left is the photo  "Let's Paint New Mexico" 2015 sent as Challenge 4.  I decided to go back to my process learned through an art workshop with sketching out the subject matter and then using tonal shadings to start.  My first sketch is to the right.


To the left is more sketching
and watercolor added. I then decided that rather than doing my usual oil painting I would try out my new Arches Watercolour Paper I'd just received and do a watercolor translation for this challenge. To the right is the final watercolor rendering I did as my submission for Challenge 4.  I named this 9"x12" watercolor "Terra-cotta Taos".

For Challenge 5 I was sent the photo to the left and to the right is my 8"x10" oil painting submission "Nature of New Mexico".

I had just finished painting my submission for Challenge 5 of "Let's Paint New Mexico" when my cousin in Oklahoma passed away.  She had Alzheimer's, had been placed on hospice just weeks before and was blessed to have had a visit by many family members just weeks before.  Her husband passed away last year just after both of her brothers had passed within weeks of each other.  In the process of trying to comfort her granddaughter I found a photograph that was taken when my cousin and her brothers were just children.  That photo was such a comfort to me and others in our family.  In it an aunt had her arms wrapped around my cousin, in back of her were my parents, her mother, and an uncle who had his hands on one of her brothers shoulders.  All in the photo were laughing and smiling.  All with the exception of my mom have now passed and the comfort comes from knowing that they are all together again.  Each day of life is a gift, I'm so grateful God has blessed me with many gifts and the ability to share them with others.

The picture to the left is the inspirational little teapot I used to paint "Fascinated by the Teapot" an original 10"x8" acrylic.  The teapot was a gift from my mother-in-law and I continue to do paintings of it here and there, always fascinated by it.

In December I started painting a birdhouse for a dear friend.  Here is a picture of the first of a variety of different scenes and painting I'm doing on the sides of it for her.

I have some exciting news coming up though saving my announcements for a post closer to the end of the month.  Please come back and visit.