Busy Past Few Days though Most Projects Now Finished

It has been busy the past few weeks though I'm happy to say I've now completed most of the projects I'd been working on. I finished painting three friendship recipe plaques and one has already been delivered to my dear friend. To the left is a picture of the three finished plaques.

Next I finished an oil painting of cranes for another friend but won't post pictures of that painting until after I give it to him and his wife. I hope they really like it, I painted from photos he'd taken at Bosque de Apache in southern New Mexico and rather than just copy I put together several photos into one composition.

front view

side view

Lastly I finished painting a birdhouse to be presented to a dear friend coming from AZ to participate in a local event as thanks for her generous sharing and will post pictures of the different sides of the birdhouse. I had already posted in an earlier post the other side that had an eagle painted so won't post a picture of that side again.

view of back

Two Paintings Finished Three Days Ago

I've been busy painting the past few days.

Three days ago I finished an original oil painting I'd started on a thrift store bought handmade gallery wrapped 10"x10" canvas. "Mountainside View" is shown in the photo at the left.  This painting will be donated for a raffle coming up soon.

I also picked up an oil painting I had done a couple of years ago and the photo at the right shows an abstract reworked and finished on 8"x10" canvas panel. I named this one "Fall Tree Blur".

Out of State Visitors and Continuing on a Few Projects

This morning we were blessed with an unusual sight of clouds rolling over and
enveloping the Sandia Mountains due to the return of our monsoons and much needed and appreciated rain to New Mexico.  Here's a picture I took this morning.

We had old friends visit and spend the night with us from out of state on Friday.  I worked with them at the U.S. Forest Service in Rimforest and the Arrowhead Ranger Station in the San Bernardino Mountains of California and hadn't seen them in 15 or more years.  They got a respite from the heat of Borrego Springs and we got to enjoy catching up and showing them a little of our area.

Here are some pictures of some of the artwork I've been working on with some ongoing projects.  I have a ways to go before I'm finished but am taking my time and enjoying the process.

Another Beautiful New Mexico Sunset Seen Last Night from Our Backyard

We have been blessed with much needed rain the past week or so and last night, as we sat in our backyard looking east, this is the beautiful sunset we saw.  Of course I had to go grab my camera and am so glad I did.

Once again we've had rain tonight, though lighter than it has been here in our neighborhood.  Santa Fe and the west side of Albuquerque are being pounded and having some flooding and though very grateful for much needed rain I hope that all traveling to and in the area especially in the afternoons keep an eye on the sky and the weather and stay safe.

Busy Painting and Planting and Excited to Have Out of State Friends

A couple of weeks ago my husband taped off a section of our back wall and
prepped it with white primer and last week I painted in the sky and background mountains with some foreground.  Here is a picture of it in process.

Yesterday I finished the wall painting, planted flowers
and added garden soil and compost to our garden.
I've planted wildflowers, butterfly and hummingbird flower seed and cosmos and they are just beginning to grow and bloom.  Here are pictures from yesterday after finishing.

This morning the white paint drips below the wall painting were driving the artist in me crazy so I got my brushes and paints out and painted over.  I actually pleasantly surprised myself at the finished picture I'll show you here, as you can't even tell there were paint drips.

We are now done with the backyard preparation for out of state friends I used to work with at the Forest Service coming to visit as well as some family members this month.