virtual paintout: arles

 
(11x15)
It's been awhile, but I joined in this month's Virtual Paintout of Arles, France. I found many charming streetscenes using Google Streetview but found them harder to paint than expected. I thought a streetscene, with it's succession of receding box shapes and flat planes would be "easy" to paint. Not so.
The scene above was my third attempt.

ornamental

The last couple of years I haven't been home at Christmas, and so didn't put up a tree ... I always miss having a tree more than anything. This year I'll be at home, so I've begun unpacking all the boxes and looking over all my ornaments.
When I worked in the Flatiron building in NYC I was just a block from a huge ornament wholesaler that would open its doors to the public during the holiday season--I accumulated, or maybe hoarded, a nearly insane amount and variety of tree ornaments.
The last few times I've put up a tree, though, I've found myself gravitating to gold and silver.
But the themes are the same: birds, trees, stars, snowflakes, pine cones, reindeer, Santas, fairies, and boats.

knitting factory

My friend Lisa taught me how to knit last year, and so, this year, everyone gets scarves for Christmas. I've already given a few, which I wish I had photographed, and I'm working on one for Peter, where I purl as well as knit and which is taking forver as I find purling very awkward. I call the scarf I'm kitting for Peter Take Five.
And these are, from left to right: Atlantic, Bluebird, Lollipop, Magic, Bandelier, Blonde, and Abby.
A name seems to pop into my mind as I knit: I wish the same would happen for paintings.
Below is the tag I've made to attach to my offerings.

ken hamilton workshop

 
from a photo (11x15)

Saturday before last I went to Millville,, NJ--a nice small town with an artsy main street and a great Irish pub!--for a one-day expressive figure painting workshop with Ken Hamilton. Ken did really wonderful demos, and if you visit his website you'll see his landscapes too: I hope he'll do a landscape workshop soon.
He started by asking us to quickly sketch a generic face and paint it using a limited palette: don't agonize, he said, but of course we did. I thought it was a great way to start--to jump in and vault over the usual nervousness.
Then before lunch and before the model, who was coming from 12-3 p.m., arrived, we painted from photos. I used a photo of Ken's for the painting and determined, once again, to improve my photo taking! (I was going to paint the dress, but decided against it--for now!)

Jamie, from life (11x15)

After lunch, which I had at the Irish pub, of course, stew and ale, the model, Jamie, arrived: a lovely young woman with the most translucent blue-green eyes--and a fabulous beret.
I enjoyed drawing her very much and marveled at, again once again,  how much I enjoy drawing.
This was my last painting of the day. Jaime's sweater had a big ruffle, which was fun to draw and paint. I've decided to leave this one just as it is.

not quite finished NM

Behind Mabel Dodge Luhan's, Taos (7x11)

The last of my New Mexico paintings; these two are not quite finished, but I won't be working on them anymore now--I'll wait until I go back.

 
View from somewhere, Ghost Ranch (11x15)

indoors NM

(7x11)

In New Mexico I painted from photos of tropical flowers. Sounds a bit absurd, but for the first several days that we were in NM, it was cold, cloudy, and rainy. When the sun came out on Thursday, everyone spilled from the studio of the Espanola fabric arts center--a very cool space filled with giant looms--where the workshop was held into the weedy driveway and yard: it was hard to paint indoors after that.

 
(11x15)

 
(7x11)

outdoors NM

Ghost Ranch (11x15)
I've been back from my New Mexico trip for just over a month and may be finally getting back to some semblance of routine ... though I still have not made it back to spin or yoga: tomorrow, always tomorrow.

A couple of the paintings I did in NM and a couple of the subjects from NM I am hoping to paint: tomorrow, maybe the day after that ...

Near Echo Amphitheater (11x15) unfinished

 

Unsent postcards

 
Virgin of Guadalupe, Santa Fe

 
Ristra, Chimayo

Ghost Ranch