My "little" painting trip to New Mexico!

#1   Pleinair painters (lots) at El Santuario de Chimayó
10 x 8 inches    oil on Multimedia artboard

My site and set-up (I loved the scallop thing on the adobe wall).

Thumbnail sketch to get me started.

May was a busy month, I can't believe it is June!

I traveled to Albuquerque and then to Santa Fe, New Mexico, 

to attend the 9th annual PACE (Pleinair Convention & Expo).

After a delay of two years, it was super exciting ... 

but people were hoping it wouldn't turn into a Super Spreader event. 

I have not heard that it has, 

but there was talk of some people coming down with the virus.

Luckily I did not, and wore my mask when in demos 

and in the expo crowd.

I made 5 paintings, learning from each one, and I will show you them 

along with my set-up and site, like #1 above.

The next spot we traveled (there were usually 2 or 3 huge air-conditioned busses) was Santa Fe proper. We set up wherever suited our fancy, keeping near the center square.

#2   La Fonda (The Inn) Santa Fe
7 x 5 inches   oil on Artefex Alcot aluminum panel

I had a perfect set-up away from the wind with shade!

Next day we went to El Rancho de Las Golondrinas (the ranch of the swallows). 

This year is their 50th anniversary.

It was very windy and dusty, but I did find a spot to set up to paint 

the old waterwheel and mill house; 

first I made sketch of a cool adobe building near the goat barns.

Thumbnail for La Fonda, and the adobe building at Golodrinas.

thumbnail sketch

#3  Waterwheel & Mill House
El Ranco de Las Golodrinas
6 x 8 inches   oil on ultralight multimedia artboard

This one still needs a bit of work.

Our last trip was to Ghost Ranch, the stomping grounds for Georgia O'Keeffe.

I made a painting standing outside a little cottage that had a sign with her name on it.

Cerro Pedernal means flint hill.

Now usually people just call it Pedernal.

#4  Cerro Pedernal from Ghost Ranch    oil on Masonite   8 x 10 inches

#5  Cow Skull at Ghost House   oil on Arches paper  8 x 6 inches

This last painting was done from a skull hanging on the adobe

of Ghost House, an old residence on the ranch. Please look up

Georgia's skull paintings, or any of her paintings ... they are wonderful.

One more thing ... before the conference began,
I met my daughter who flew in from Austin, in Albuquerque. We drove to Santa Fe and she stayed with me for the first few days! We had a blast going exploring (Meow Wolf, a brewery, The Sopapilla Factory) hiking and hanging out.

We hiked to a beautiful overlook and painted with watercolors she brought.

I hope you are all enjoying summer (northern hemisphere people anyway)!

Continue to take care, stay healthy and keep painting!

🎨

yep

                                                                        

Primrose Time - acrylic painting!

JOA manager's house (my painting from another summer)

(JOA = Jensen-Olson Arboretum)

This year (2022) the City of Juneau is celebrating 

their Arboretum's 15th anniversary. 

The Jensen-Olson Arboretum 👈 that link is the city's page, 

but they have their own facebook page 

and they keep it up to date HERE.

My local painting group heads out to paint there quite often,

and I love it there. I will go again soon, however,

 this painting was done using one of my

photographs from another year.

I painted with acrylics for this one ... not something I do very often,

so you can see how it went below!

my photo for my scene

primula

This photo shows Primula denticulata (Drumstick Primrose).

In the Victorian language of flowers, 

primroses' association with youth and young love means

 “I can't live without you.” 

Across cultures, primroses signify spring, protection, safety, and love.

Primrose Time (at the Arboretum)    acrylic on canvas panel   11 x 14 inches (unframed) 

We repurposed an older frame and I love it!

I hope you can get to visit the JOA this summer! 

(those who live here, and those who will be coming to Juneau!)

Happy Spring! Happy Painting!

🎨

Painting with acrylic, oil, collage ...

... and a limited palette!

I used this photo, which I took at the Shrine of St. Therese in 2020, as the basis for a painting submitted as part of a painting challenge presented by Juneau's Plein Rein Painters. 

The parameters (thought up by a few of the painters) were as follows:

Here are the steps my painting took.

I used a grid to guide my composition.

At one point, I turned the photo upside down 

to remember to "just paint shapes".

My paint ...

and uh, the reason there is a blue tube of paint
is that I use that and the Burnt Umber
to make my own black.

Which I did.
And greens were made using my own black + yellow + the other legal colors.

It made lots of nice greens!

This is where i added the (pink) collage paper.

You can see the number 30 on the paper ... 

proof it is paper!

and more pink paper

"glued down" with acrylic gel medium

Shrine Sunset

12 x 18 inches

acrylic underpaint, oil, collage on panel

I will be varnishing and getting this painting 

uploaded to my website soon, so have a look 

 and 

if you have not already done so,

please sign up for my every-now-and-then

newsletter! Click on "Keep in touch" in menu.

I really appreciate your interest, and comments.

TeriRobusStudio

Take good care, stay safe ... and sane!

🎨

South Point Tree (Hawaii)

 

kiawe tree bent by the wind 

We went to the Big Island, Hawaii, to celebrate my husband's birthday in February. 

While driving the road to the southernmost point of the USA, 

we saw this tree. The wind was not howling that day;
maybe just a breeze ... but the tree had been permanently bent 

by the usually strong and constant wind.

It was such a stark and beautiful sight that we took photos.

Here is the picture story of how the painting 

came to be.

(scroll to the end to see the final)

The tree was all by itself in the dry field.
Beyond the tree, you can see the ocean,
with no land for 7000 miles until Antarctica. It is kind of a lonely place.

Another reference photo.

I had gathered some coconut fiber, just a bit, 

while we were at Punalu'u Beach. 

I had painted there before  on a previous visit. I posted about it in 2014, 

but the photos from that post have disappeared from this blog. 

I don't know why ... i hope to find out.

I used Golden acrylic gloss medium to adhere the coconut fibre (coir)

to the prepared wood panel.

I set the panel on top of our wooden rack to dry the acrylic medium
which will embed the coir.

I decided to use acrylic paints as my underpainting and it went very well.

Here is the aftermath of painting with oils on top of the acrylic.

And below is the final painting.

South Point Tree (kiawe) - Hawaii    acrylic, coir & oil on panel     11.5 x 22+ inches

Thank you for reading! Take great care.

🎨