I previously primed four birdhouses I bought at Michael's and started painting the sides. When I first posted photos of my beginning birdhouses another artist I admire asked if I was going to sell them because she wanted to buy one. What a huge compliment! I began painting those and also a larger oil painting, a gift to my cousin, and was feeling a little overwhelmed with all my "Works in Progress" and needed a break. I decided to combine one of my own photos with a photo I was sent by the administrator of "Let's Paint New Mexico" and painted an oil painting on 8"x10" canvas. It is "Sunset Beauty Arroyo Seco" and my submission for Challenge 16 for "Let's Paint New Mexico" shown on the right.
My husband and I made a trip to the
back country of the Valles Caldera which had been closed due to high fire danger and just reopened. This place has always been special and very inspirational for me and it did not disappoint. It was wonderful to experience the feeling of being totally alone in a pristine untouched mountain area with only cattle, birds and an occasional other "visitor" driving down the
long dirt roads. It takes about an hour from the visitor center to the furthest back country so because of the monsoons we went early just in case there was a storm. We reached the end of the road and sat out our chairs and had a little lunch before we decided we'd better head back since it would take an hour and clouds were developing. We had a rain storm with some hail on the way out and totally enjoyed this outing. It also provided me with resource material for future paintings. Here are some of the photos I took.
Here are some progress shots of one of the four birdhouses I'm painting, two sides are finished thought I still have the front to finish and have not even started on one side. I'm having a lot of fun painting these scenes in acrylic paint on the sides of the birdhouse and it is especially gratifying to know that there is so much interest in these that they are selling before they are even finished. I hope to be able to schedule my painting time in between the rest of our busy schedule to finish these birdhouses before Christmas (haha).Next is a photo of my original oil painting on 16"x20" canvas I'm painting as a
wedding gift to my cousin who lives in California of one of the photos she took on their honeymoon in Italy. It is still obviously a work in progress although this one needs to be finished before the first of October so there is a little bit of a time crunch going on and of course I want it to be beautiful and framed perfectly.Many exciting things coming up, one of which is the 5th Annual Balloon Museum Holiday Arts, Crafts & Book Fair, Sunday November 11th from 9 a.m. to 5:00 pm at Anderson_Abruzzo International Balloon Museum, 9201 Balloon Museum Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113. I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of people there and it will be after our annual Balloon Fiesta, so enough time to mark it down on your calendar and come see me there.
As I type this update it is my favorite time of the year here in New Mexico ... Fall! The weather has started to cool with crisp mornings where my husband and I now have to put on our long pants and sometimes a thermal shirt to do our morning two mile walk and you can smell chiles roasting in front of stores in the huge chile roasters. The smell is something unlike any other and one I look forward to all year. This sign at The Range Cafe in Albuquerque kind of says it all.
