Townies

Every thing about today was different:

- Went for a walk this morning with 2 of the other Artists.

- The other Artists and I met the Residency Assistant at the local cafe for coffee and shop-talk.

- We then all went to visit some of the local shops and galleries (which up until today had been closed every time I went by!)

- I worked in the studio for about 5 hours. Touched up a couple of my Plein air pieces, which I never do and I loved it. Felt great to be in the studio and motivates me to get more studio time when I return home.

- Went with the Site Manager (?) of the Residence to his studio for a tour...

Which happens to be where I've been  stalking this vintage Chevy truck and Airstream. He has some cool paintings that he attaches real bird skulls to the canvas/supports. There are a lot of movie props and cool old junk everywhere. Ahh but that truck/trailer combo! Love it! 

- Highlight! Found out a roadside motel I've been eyeballing to paint, which is called the Dude Motel... Is owned by... THE DUDE. My favorite! My crush! JEFF BRIDGES. Yeah, awesome. 

- Joined some of the girls here for dinner out. Tried a yummy place called Latitude 33.

- Capped the day off with a hot soak, tonight was a 109* pool. It was crazy hot. I'll be sweating for hours!

Super nice day!

Returning to the Scene

Found this good spot overlooking Elephant Butte Island, higher up than where I painted here earlier this week. I arrived early and the water was so beautiful! Like glass...

A few people stopped by to see what I was up to. One man asked if my painting was pastels. I said no, this is oil paint. He said, "no the colors, I've seen them before, thems those Indian colors." Uhh?? 

I'm very pleased with how this painting turned out. I wish I had a small flat brush to get some crisp edges along the water line but I can get those touches in later back in my studio. 

After lunch I took a stroll on Broadway, one of two roads in town :)  Went in to an antique shop, a used book store and a gallery/boutique where a woman sells her jewelry, paintings and paper dress sculptures. The paintings are made out of nail polish. Never heard of that before.

I cruised through town looking at shadows on buildings, cars, trailers... Took a long time for me to settle into a decision. Ended up in an alley basically, with a view to a tiny airstream/argosy trailer. Still needs some tweaks but I'm happy with where it's headed!

About 25-30 feet away from me, the entire time I painted the trailer, which was 2 hrs, an older man in a Grateful Dead Tshirt was standing on the roof of a very large motor home, power washing the roof. 2 HOURS. OMG.

It's the long Holiday Weekend... Tomorrow the other artists in the residency and I are going to a Farmers/ Art Market. That undoubtably will be very very interesting.

A Two-fer

Today was a two painting day. 

Started in the am with a short drive just a couple blocks away to a little park that overlooks the Rio Grande and across to Turtle mountain. It was early-ish, about 8:30 and there were some nice shadows on Turtle mountain that wouldn't appear again until about 7:45 tonight. Even though I did a pencil sketch before beginning, making dutiful notes of shadow placements etc... I ended up "chasing shadows" as painters sometimes say which is only to say ARGH! I got some and made up others... Very frustrating. Also, this piece was a slight departure from my usual and started to get juicy and painterly which was throwing me off a bit. I'll go in and soften the mountain in the distance, too many contrasts... Then it might just pull itself together.

Heading back to my row-casita, I looped around town searching for more Airstreams - found some really great ones that just might be on the agenda to paint tomorrow!

Later in the afternoon I braved the wind and painted over at Elephant Butte Lake. 

I had to bungee the pochade to a wood post and keep a hand on the turp jar which was swinging every which way!

This painting feels much more like me. It isn't finished but I'm liking where it's headed.