Sante Fe Souvenirs

Colorful Casita-8x8 oil on linen panel-SOLD

First I'd like to welcome any visitors from the Summer Art Market website--I look forward to seeing you at the Market!

Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe

Like so many artists before me, New Mexico is one of my favorite places to visit. As an artist, you can't help but feel both welcomed and inspired by all the art, color, and creativity. I'm not much for long car rides but if I wanted to I could leave my front door around 11 AM, drive due south and be in beautiful Santa Fe just in time to have some veggie tacos and mango margs at the Coyote Cafe rooftop cantina at sunset.

Mm-chocolate pastries at the Maven

 In the morning before I head down Canyon Road to stroll through all the galleries I'd probably stop by the Chocolate Maven Bakery for some chilaquiles (my favorite breakfast of all) and some spicy Mexican hot chocolate. Sounds pretty good doesn't it?  As I recall, this little adobe home was either along Canyon Road or just off.  I'm hoping to visit Santa Fe again this fall again and I'm already looking forward to it.

Quick note about my recent posted smaller daily oil painting like today's posting. Typically, I'd be selling these on the Daily Paintworks site but I like to take as many paintings as I can to the Summer Art Market in a few weeks. But after June 10 I'll be uploading my paintings again on the DPW site for bidding. In the meantime, I wish everyone a colorful and creative May!

Fine Feathers

"Fine Feathers" 8x8 oil on linen panel

Happy May everyone! I think one of the hardest tasks any busy artist has is prioritization. I'm taking a quick break from painting and getting ready for the upcoming Summer Art Market in just a few weeks on the weekend of June 9 and June 10 to post this new bird painting.

If you've prepared for a show or festival you know there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in addition to painting--such as event paperwork, getting your tent ready, ordering post cards (love Vistaprint for those), etc. In other words, many tasks that tempt you outside of your main goal which is creating art.

Lately I've been trying some new colors on my palette. In this little bird oil painting it's Old Holland Caribbean Blue--which is a wonderful and not very common blue-green thalo turquoise pigment (PB16 for my fellow pigment enthusiasts).

Thanks for stopping by--be sure to check out the Scarlet Owl Pinterest boards for more art inspiration. I look forward to seeing you all at the Summer Art Market and for all my fellow artists in the show I hope you all have a super successful sunny show this year!

I Break For Irises

Blue Tongued Beauties 8x8 Oil on Linen

And anything else that I think might make an interesting photo that I could use for painting.  I’m loving Kevin Weckbach’s “Master Class” in oil painting but I've learned already that I need to keep taking a lot more photos.  He gives weekly “homework” and it’s nice to have a variety of subject and themes to choose from.

Photography is not my strong suit so I find I have to take dozens of photos to get just that right painting. Last Saturday morning (while visiting a neighborhood tag sale) I spotted these intense blue violet irises. 

In Kevin’s class we’ve been reviewing the importance of strong, unique, specific shapes as well as dark and light pattern in paintings. So I really tried to concentrate on achieving both in this study.  Speaking of Kevin there's a nice article about him in this month's Southwest Art Magazine previewing his one man show opening on May 11 (my birthday) at Gallery 1261 in downtown Denver. I can't wait to see this and Wicked for the first time that night.


The Summer Art Market is (yikes) only about 5 weeks away on June 9 so I’ll be concentrating most of the next month on painting for that. Most of the paintings I'm posting from now until then will be on sale at SAM-- Particularly since I have an entire booth to fill this year which is both daunting and exciting.

Quick thanks to all my Spring students--Hope you all have a wonderful May month of creativity, spring joy, and artistic discovery!