Donna Clair

Southwest Contemporary Artist

Author: Donna Clair

CALLECITA DE TESUQUE – 36″X36″ Work in Progress – Orig. Oil (Glazes)

Studio No. 514 – CALLECITA DE TESUQUE – 36″X36″ Work in Progress (Glazes) Orig. Oil on Linen – The glazes are the dark, transparent and semi-transparent colors that add depth to the final painting.  I thin my colors with painting medium and lay them over the underpainting after it is thoroughly dried. To add strength […]

WINTERLIGHT/TESUQUE – 48″x36″ Work in Progress

WINTERLIGHT/TESUQUE – 48″x36″ Work in progress – Original Oil on Belgian Linen.  Eureka! I found a New Color in my stash of oil paints today!  Like discovering gold!  It is Grumbacher Perylene Maroon!  Working on the dark foreground today – the dirt:  Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, the new Maroon color, some ochre – Snow on […]

CORAZON SAGRADO, New 20″x20″ Original Oil

  Studio No. 414 – CORAZON SAGRADO (Sacred Heart – Tesuque, New Mexico) – New 20″x20″ Original Oil on Canvas – wrap-around painting.  Completed 2/3/14.  Now available at my Online Studio Gallery.

WINTERLIGHT – TESUQUE, 48″x36″ Work in Progress (Opaques)

Studio No. 214 – WINTERLIGHT/TESUQUE – 48″x36″ Original Oil – Work in Progress (Opaque Paints) — There is a very good reason why I block in several paintings at a time – Corazon Sagrado is too wet to work on – needs a couple of days to dry. 

CORAZON SAGRADO – 20″x20″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 314 – CORAZON SAGRADO – 20″x20″ Original Oil – Work in Progress (Glazes).  Color Notes:  Sky:  Permalba White, Payne’s Grey, Cerulean Blue.  Building:  Yellow Ochre, Italian Pink, Burnt Sienna – with Dioxazine Purple in the shadows.  Foreground:  Burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Burnt Sienna and Prussian Blue.  Snow:  I found a wonderful […]

FIELD WORK/TESUQUE – 2014

  January 2014 – Field work:  Looking around.  Becoming acquainted with my new neighborhood.  Nothing replaces a good friend with whom to “roam” the roads, a good camera, a good eye — and perhaps a willing spirit.

UNA SENDA DESCONOCIDO – 12″X24″ Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Color Notes

Studio No. 114 – UNA SENDA DESCONOCIDO (A Path Unknown) – 12″x24″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)  – Original Oil on Canvas — Sky:  MG Underpainting White and Yellow Ochre Light.  Trees:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Yellow Ochre, Prussian Blue.  Snow:  Payne’s Grey and Underpainting White.  Road:  Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna.

CALLECITA DE TESUQUE, 40″x40″ Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Color Notes

  Studio No. 314 – CALLECITA DE TESUQUE, 40″x40″ Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Colors are mixed with MG Underpainting White and applied with turpentine.  Sky:  Paynes Grey.  Road: Yellow Ochre/Dioxazine Purple in the Shadows.  Outline/Trees: Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  Brush:  Indian Red.  When I make an underpainting, I try to see the colors […]

LA TIENDITA DE ANTIGUA GUATEMALA – Orig. Oil Painting – Special Offer

LA TIENDITA DE ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA – 51″x 39″Donna Clair Original Oil completed in 2001 – Framed with Linen Liner. My friend Joan Norris, midwife, sent me an e.mail asking if I would help sell this painting to benefit the Northern New Mexico Birth Center.  This painting has been hanging in the Birth Center all these […]

CALLECITA DE TESUQUE – 40″x40″ Work in Progress (Sketch)

Studio No. 214 – CALLECITA DE TESUQUE, 40″x40″ Work in Progress – Sketch in Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  It is my habit to have six or seven paintings blocked in at a time — each morning I work on the one that calls “Paint ME!”

WINTERLIGHT – 48″x36″ Work in Progress – Glaze

Studio No. 214 – WINTERLIGHT – 48″x36″ Work in Progress. Glazes.  Hoping this painting will have the feeling of late afternoon light.  Decided to thin Payne’s Grey with painting medium (not turpentine) and cover canvas.  This is an experiment!

WINTERLIGHT (TESUQUE) – 48″x36″ Work in Progress – Underpainting

  STUDIO NO. 214 – WINTERLIGHT (TESUQUE) – 48″x36″ Work in Progress – The underpainting – Turpentine and color mixed with Grumbacher MG Underpainting White.  Hoping this will have the feeling of a late winter afternoon – am thinking of glazing over the entire underpainting with a thin film of Payne’s Grey.  Snow – Payne’s […]

UNA SENDA DESCONOCIDO – Exhibition-quality Archival Print

  UNA SENDA DESCONOCIDO (A Path Unknown) – Click here for the High Road Print Catalogue.   Long, long ago, after moving to New Mexico, I discovered the mystery and fascination of back roads – some led to quiet pastures, and some to old churches, capillas, ghost towns– old crumbling buildings, broken fences — signs […]

FIELDWORK 2014…….

Una Senda Desconocido (A Path Unknown) – For me all it takes is a good camera and my 20-year old pick-up truck – maybe a sandwich and some cookies!  In every place I have lived and painted – Santa Fe, Truchas, Taos – there has been a period of excitement in the beginning and once […]

STUDIO WORK…..

Once or twice a year I order my paints, canvases and panels. As long as the gesso is mixed, it pays to build an inventory of supplies at the ready.   If in the middle of a “work blockage” — don’t fight it — gesso canvases, build your source material with some field trips.  Taking […]

PREPARING TO PAINT — GESSOING CANVAS

It is my habit to work on a “toned ground” – years ago I worked on a red ground and sometimes ochre.  Then I found that a grey-blue background worked best for me — I mix the gesso (if necessary thin a little bit with water to a workable consistency) with Payne’s Grey and then […]

WELCOME 2014!

NEW YEAR….New palette, new canvas ……anything is possible!

WINTER GIFTS……

  To Art Friends Everywhere!  Many of you have been with me a long time and know I love to send this greeting every year.  The original of this painting was “adopted” by some great friends and very prolific art collectors years ago and still resides in a lovely home in Taos.  The street in […]

FROM MY TESUQUE WINDOW – 12/19/13

This morning – from Tesuque window – I see a painting in there – taking shape – loved the light coming in through the garden gate on the patch of snow…..

OUR DAILY BREAD…..

OUR DAILY BREAD (Taos Pueblo, New Mexico) “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of […]

HARVEST MOON RISING – 30″x40″ Work in Progress (The Glazes)

STUDIO NO. 2113 – HARVEST MOON RISING – 30″x40″ Work in Progress (The Glazes) – Glazes are transparent or semi-transparent colors thinned with painting medium and worked into the underpainting.  Trees:  Combinations of Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Yellow Ochre, Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Red.  Sky:  Ultramarine Blue, Violet Lake, Thalo Red Rose and […]

HARVEST MOON RISING – NEW 30″x40″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

HARVEST MOON RISING –  30″x40″ work in Progress (Underpainting) – Original Oil on Canvas.  Trees:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Yellow Ochre, Prussian Blue.  Sky:  Ultramarine Blue; Cadmium Yellow, Thalo Red Rose, Cadmium Red.  Earth:  Mixed all colors together to get a wonderful “mud”.   All colors mixed with Grumbacher MG White and thinned with turpentine.

TAOS SUNRISE – 36″x36″ Work in Progress (Opaque Colors)

  STUDIO NO. 2013 – TAOS SUNRISE – 36″x36″ Work in Progress (Opaque Colors) – Worked on this canvas all week and dropped the idea of using only five colors.  Added Cadmium Yellow Light to the area where the sun is rising and will add some dry brush Holbein Rose Grey to the sky next […]

TAOS SUNRISE – Work in Progress – the Middle Tones.

10/31/13 – Second day of work on this canvas – “Scumbled” (rubbed in) colors in all combinations.  Laid in branches with combination of Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, and Prussian Blue.  Concentrating intense light in one area.  Let dry for a day or so…..Stay Tuned!

36″x36″ Work in Progress – TAOS SUNRISE (Underpainting)

STUDIO #2013 – TAOS SUNRISE, Work in Progress (Underpainting) – On Toned Ground:  Whole canvas is covered with mixture of gesso and Payne’s Grey.  Allowed to Dry.  Loose sketch:  Darks – Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber – some Prussian Blue.  To lighten add MG Underpainting white.  Light areas:  Yellow Ochre Pale and Grumbacher’s MG Underpainting White. 

RIO CHAMA AT ABIQUIU, 20″x20″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

STUDIO NO. 1513 – RIO CHAMA AT ABIQUIU, 20″x20″ Original Oil on Canvas, wrap-around paintingWork in Progress (Underpainting) – Pinon Trees:  Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna for the darks, chrome Oxide Green and Ochre for lighter areas.  Trees:  Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna.  Water:  Indanthrone Blue with Permalba White and touch of ochre to […]

30″x60″ GARCIA PARK, New Original Oil (Completed 8/24/13)

30″x60″ GARCIA PARK II — New Original Oil Painting on fine Belgian Linen – wraparound painting.  Free shipping.  This painting can be purchased through my Studio 0r Online Gallery.  My first large painting from Tesuque — blocked the underpainting in at the end of May.  Determined it would be completed before the aspens turned. Extra blanket […]

30″x60″ Work in Progress – GARCIA PARK II, Original Oil

PREVIEW!  GARCIA PARK II – 30″x60″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen – work in progress.  This is the first of many large canvases to be completed in this new Tesuque studio.  The different phases of this painting are posted to my Art Journal along with accurate color notes.  This canvas is unusual in that it […]

GARCIA PARK II – 30″x60″ Work In Progress – the Glazes – Color Notes

Studio No. 1413- GARCIA PARK II, 30″x60″ – The sky has been completed – a combination of warm and cool grays.  Foreground:  Combinations of Yellow Ochre, Mars Orange, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  Middle Ground:  Snow – same pile of sky mixture (see previous post) Aspen Trees:  A wash of Yellow […]

GARCIA PARK II, 30″x60″ Work in Progress – Glazes and Opaques

Studio No. 1413 – GARCIA PARK II, 30″x60″ Original Oil on Wraparound Belgian Linen.  Work in Progress – (Glazes and Opaques) – Sky – Two mixtures with Permalba White – Davy’s Grey and Payne’s Grey in separate piles – using the same mix for snow.  Davy’s is warmer and Payne’s is bluer.  Pine Trees:  Prussian […]

STUDIO NO. 1313 – LLANO SAN JUAN, NEW 16″x20″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  Completed 8/13/13.  Click here to preview/purchase. Hello from Tesuque!  Wow!  What an adventure so far!  A real monsoon season this year with hellacious thunderstorms – wind, hail – just everything!  Exciting – especially when the […]

“SUMMER STORM AT CHAMA” – New 16″x16″ Original Oil – Sold

  “SUMMER STORM AT CHAMA” – 16″x16″ Original Oil on Wraparound canvas. Ending Sunday.  SOLD Hello!  Still having a little trouble with new Photoshop – can’t “gray” the sky as much as necessary — The original is more of a midnight blue!   I need to cry “Uncle” and ask for help!   Also have […]

MUMS, NEW 10″x8″ Original Oil

  STUDIO NO. 913 – MUMS, NEW 10″x8″ Original Oil on Panel, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  Completed 7/13. Click here to preview/purchase.

SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN – SIXTO RODRIGUEZ

Anyone seen “SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN”? The story of Sixto Rodriguez who was more famous in South Africa than Elvis – totally unknown in America. Fantastic story – amazing music. His CDs are available on Amazon. Going there right now to buy mine! If you love good lyrics, great guitar…..Wow!!!  Inspiring!  Click here to find his […]

16″x16″ New Work in Progress (Glazes) – ASPENS

  16″x16″ Work in Progress – New Original Oil on Canvas “ASPENS” – All colors are thinned with painting medium.  Sky: Thalo Blue, Thalo Green – a touch of Gold Ochre & Permalba White.  Fir Trees – Burnt Sienna and Prussian Blue – Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Aspens:  Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre – a touch […]

PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION….YET!

Hello from Tesuque!  A lovely and most welcome drenching rain this afternoon — just when we thought that moisture was a figment of our imaginations, the Rain Gods smiled on us!  Longtime Art Friend Dr. David Reagan of Texas suggested I send photos of my new place – here they are.  Just getting started again […]

Change!

New Photoshop, computer upgrade, new studio arrangement, unfamiliar surroundings – strangeness — unfamiliar lighting on palette and easel – the word for the Day is ADAPT!!

MOVING ALONG! THREE NEW AUCTIONS ENDING FRIDAY.

Moving cartons arrived today…..giving away, packing up years and years of stuff.  Five paintings were “adopted” last week – would love to find good homes for these three as well.  Have my blank canvases all shapes and sizes ready for the new studio in Tesuque.  If you have any questions, just give me a call […]

MY EASEL AND I ARE MOVING TO TESUQUE!

Hello!  This past Sunday, after a lovely drive through Taos Canyon and seeing some early bird apple trees in bloom at Velarde, I was driven up a very narrow dirt road to an old compound of houses in Tesuque.  There it was… a casita, a perfect studio with wonderful skylights, brick floors, a fireplace and […]

WINTERLIGHT QUARTET NO. 3 – UNDERPAINTING

WINTERLIGHT QUARTET NO. 3 – “DOWN THE LANE” – 11″x14″ New Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Clouds: Rose Grey/Payne’s Grey.  Trees:  Ultramarine Blue/Burnt Umber.  Buildings & Highlights:  Cadmium Yellow/Cadmium Red.  Shadows:  Dioxazine Purple/Payne’s Grey.

24″x30″ Original Oil – RANCHITOS PASTORAL, Framed

  STUDIO NO. 413 – RANCHITOS PASTORAL (View of the neighboring fields from the Padre Martinez Hacienda, Ranchitos Road, Taos, N.M.), 24″x30″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  Click here to preview/purchase or call my studio at (575)758-7454.

Studio No. 413 – Work in Progress (Glazes-Opaques): RANCHITOS PASTORAL, 24″x30 Orig Oil

3/11/13 Color Notes: RANCHITOS PASTORAL, 24″x30″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen – Sky:  The sky usually lightens at the horizon and deepens from middle to top.  Light:  Cerulean Blue, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre.  Deeper colors – Indanthrone Blue, Thalo Blue and Thalo Green mixed with lighter combination.  Tree:  Dark Shadows:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and […]

Studio No. 413 – RANCHITOS PASTORAL, 24″x30″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Work in Progress:  RANCHITOS PASTORAL – 24″x30″ Oil on Belgian Linen (Underpainting)  Color Notes:  All colors mixed with Grumbacher Fast Drying MGWhite and Turpentine, applied with a bristle brush.  Sky:  Thalo Blue, Indanthrone Blue.  Tree: Darks – Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  Medium Tones – Chrome Oxide Green Opaque and Cadmium Yellow.  Foreground:  Combinations of […]

No. 71 – RIO PUEBLO – (Available)

100 Small Paintings No. 71 – RIO PUEBLO (View from the bridge at Padre Martinez Hacienda) – 8″x6″ Original Oil on Italian Gessoed Panel, Framed – Available

EL LLANO AFTERNOON, 8″x8″ Original Oil – Sold

100 SMALL PAINTINGS NO. 69 – EL LLANO AFTERNOON, 8″X8″ Original Oil on Linen Panel, Framed  – Sold STUDIO NEWZ:  Beginning to block in four or five larger paintings from my field trips last fall — it will take two to three weeks to do sketches and underpaintings.  I will post my progress on my […]

NO. 68 – HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

  NO. 68 – HOW DO I LOVE THEE?  New 6″x8″ Original Oil on Italian Gessoed Panel unframed  – Available at 100 Small Paintings

Studio No. 313 – WINTERLIGHT WORK IN PROGRESS, THE GLAZES

Studio No. 313 – WINTERLIGHT NO. 2 – SNOW CLOUDS ON SANTISTEVAN LANE, New 11×14″ Work in Progress – The Glazes (Dark transparent and semi-transparent colors) – Basic colors mixed with Painting Medium  Sky: Payne’s Grey, Permalba White and Holbein Rose Grey Trees: Cadmium Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Transparent Italian Pink.  Pine Trees:  Prussian Blue, […]

Studio No. 313 – WINTERLIGHT NO. 2 – WORK IN PROGRESS, THE UNDERPAINTING

Studio No. 313 – WINTERLIGHT NO. 2 – SNOW CLOUDS ON SANTISTEVAN LANE, New 11×14″ Work in Progress – The Underpainting – Basic colors mixed with MG Underpainting White and turpentine.  Sky: Payne’s Grey Trees: Cadmium Yellow.  Pine Trees:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and some Cadmium Red.  Road: Payne’s Grey. 

WINTERLIGHT NO. 1 – “LOOKING SOUTH” – New Original Oil (Available)

Studio No. 213 – WINTERLIGHT NO. 1 – “LOOKING SOUTH”  – NEW 11″x14″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen, Framed (Completed 1/18/13) – Now available for purchase at my ONLINE GALLERY/STORE. STUDIO NEWZ:  As promised, here is the first of four new canvases.  Early one evening about  two weeks ago as I took out the trash […]