How I Came to New Mexico and learned about Art and Life

WORD PAINTINGS #103 – A WANDERING MIND

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FIRST SNOW (Truchas, New Mexico) New 40″x40″ Original Oil – Sold  

16 October 2020 – Llano Quemado, New Mexico.  Can you believe it? Only 18 more days until the election!  Morning memories, thoughts are sometimes very powerful. Today a connection was made to my childhood comparing that time to these last four years of this presidency.  Daily chaos and confusion.  Am worn down and now I know why – this was my childhood.  Fights, arguments, name calling was the way we lived. Perpetual chaos is abusive. My only saving grace from the age of eight was that box of paints given to me by My Old Artist.  I call it the Donna Bubble.  Sit at the easel,  a blank canvas and a brush loaded with oil paint is all I have ever needed to be transported out of the noise to a more peaceful planet!!  My private world.  Planning to let go of the outcome of the election in order to save what little sanity is left.  Deep down I am a firm believer that writers, poets, painters, artists of every kind can and will create a Brave New World!  

Getting organized this morning – preparing to varnish FIRST SNOW so it can be framed tomorrow.  This painting will go to Taos Crating on Monday or Tuesday to be packed and shipped to Art Friend and collector in Virginia.  Dragged my feet on this one because I love it so much. That little road led to the Hansel and Gretel cottage on the horse ranch in “suburban Truchas”.  Experiences on the ranch changed my life.  My Art Gods led me to this place of peace and for the very first time I experienced the importance of “sanctuary”.  

Am back into almost total isolation except for my friend and helper, Doug.  Bringing some nachos from Orlando’s today as a treat.

18 October 2020 

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First Snow is all varnished and framed.  Wondering why in the middle of this piece I just wanted to quit and not paint again!  What a confession! Many times a painting is so personal it hurts to let it go!  However the reaction to this photo has lit the spark one more time.  Taking the day off to regroup and prepare to complete “Lazy River Dreaming”  this week.  Returning to my old habit of posting color notes on my Art Journal.  Using a really diverse and changeable palette somehow works.  Also have promised a few people online that I would share my process in making this painting.  Today am planning how to detail the making of one of my paintings. It feels somewhat tedious compared to those artists who can just sit down and finish a painting in one day.  (I still love alla prima painting!) Never intended to get this complicated, but sometimes art imitates life, doesn’t it?   Stay healthy; stay tuned….. 

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