Donna Clair

Southwest Contemporary Artist

Author: Donna Clair

CHIMAYO – New 16″x12″ Original Oil

Studio No. 715 – CHIMAYO – New 16″x12″ Original Oil on Italian Panel, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  Completed 2/6/15 – Sold 2/7/15 (Bernardsville, N.J.) – Thank you!

PASSING STORM – 12″X36″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 615 – PASSING STORM (Taos, New Mexico) – 12″x36″ Original Oil on 2″ cradled panel.  Panel is gessoed with Payne’s Grey tint 3x.  Colors are mixed to pastel tones with MG Underpainting White and Distilled Turpentine.  Clouds: Paynes Grey, cobalt blue.  Mountains:  Prussian Blue, Cobalt Blue.  Trees:  Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre.  Foreground:  Cadmium […]

COUNTRY LANE – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 315 – COUNTRY LANE – 22″x28″ Orig. Oil – Work in Progress (Glazes).  Glazes are transparent or semi-transparent colors applied to the underpainting once it is sufficiently dry with oil painting medium.  Fall foliage:  Burnt Sienna, Pink Ochre, Ochre.  Grasses:  Burnt Sienna, Deep Ochre, Olive Green, Burnt Umber.

COUNTRY LANE – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 315 – COUNTRY LANE – 22″x28″ Orig. Oil on Belgian Linen. Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Colors are mixed with MG Underpainting White and Turp. – Pinon Trees:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque – outlined with Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  Fall Foliage:  Cadmium Yellow; Yellow Ochre.  Grasses:  Combinations of Mars Orange, Yellow Ochre, […]

ASSEMBLA DE DIOS (Truchas, New Mexico) New 40″x40″ Original Oil

ASSEMBLA DE DIOS (Assembly of God Church, Truchas, New Mexico) – 40″x40″ Original Oil, unframed. Completed 11/20/14. Note: I rented the small adobe house to the left of the church from my friend, Susie Romero, and it was my studio once upon a time.  Click here to Preview/Purchase.

Studio No. 215 – ASSEMBLA DE DIOS – 40″X40″ Work in Progress (The Glazes) – Glazes are transparent and semi-transparent oil colors which I believe add richness and depth to the final painting.  Glazes are mixes with Oil Painting Medium (Recipe will be posted next week).  Trees and Yellow Grasses:  Transparent Gold Ochre, Burnt Sienna, […]

ASSEMBLA DE DIOS – 40″x40″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

ASSEMBLA DE DIOS (Truchas, New Mexico) – 40″x40″ Work in Progress (Underpainting).  Almost all colors are mixed with Winsor-Newton Underpainting White.  Note: Am testing this new white – doesn’t dry as fast as Grumbacher MG.  Sky:  Thalo Blue, Thalo Green.  Trees and Grasses:  Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red, Burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green […]

HOW I PAINT – Creating a Portable Work Station

CREATING A PORTABLE WORK STATION – I am an easel painter and I need a comfortable and easy set up for my palette and tubes of paint.  I have a stationary taboret where I keep my additional supplies of paints and brushes.  This steel utility cart (purchased through Amazon) can follow me all over the […]

LAS NUBES DE TRUCHAS – 12″x44″ Work in Progress

  LAS NUBES DE TRUCHAS – 12″x44″ Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Original Oil on Belgian Linen.  All colors mixed with  Winsor Newton Underpainting White and Turpentine –Clouds: some Naples Yellow Light.  Payne’s Grey for darker areas.  Sky: Cobalt Blue, some Thalo Blue and Thalo Green.  Foreground:  Olive Green, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Yellow Ochre […]

PREPARING MY CANVAS – GESSO/TONED GROUND

PREPARING MY PAINT SURFACE (Canvas, untempered masonite panels, birch panels, Italian Gessoed panels) – All my paint surfaces are prepared with two to three coats of toned gesso.  What I like about the gessoing is that it fills up the interstices of the canvas and the toned ground softens the final layers of paint.  (Toned […]

HOW I PAINT – FIELD WORK – Photography

FIELD WORK – Photography — Years ago I painted plein air when I could.  Had three small children at home and worked a full time job!  Would get together with friends and pack my paints to have some wonderful autumn afternoons painting in Madrid and Golden, N.M.  Then some kind soul gifted me with a […]

HOW I PAINT – WHAT TO PAINT? FIELD WORK

HOW I PAINT – FIELD WORK:  CHOOSING MY SUBJECT MATTER.  Before leaving Chicago for Santa Fe, N.M. 48 years ago, I was able to be one of thousands who lined up at the Art Institute for the major Andrew Wyeth retrospective.  After waiting in lines that stretched almost to Lake Michigan, we were only given […]

CHIMAYO, N.M. – Oct. 18, 2014

FROM THE TOP OF THE HILL – CHIMAYO, N.M. – Starting some sketches today – organizing paints, setting up a new palette…. life is good!

ON THE ROAD IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO – 10/18/2014

ON THE ROAD with the Dollie Sisters yesterday (Jan McDowell and Jolene Allen) – Almost 250 new pics! The trees are at their glorious peak all over the north country – Truchas, Chimayo, Dixon – heavy frosts are late this year. Canvases are gessoed in many different sizes – making a list and ordering the […]

BEING GRATEFUL TODAY……

EARLY SNOW CLOUDS AT PICURIS – Archival Print from an original painting – you are invited to visit The High Road Print Catalog. Oh yes!  It’s that time of year again – fall sneaked up on us here about two nights ago – a chill in the air.  This morning landlord checking the heating zones […]

0N THE EASEL – PUESTA DEL SOL – 30″x40″ Work in Progress

ON THE EASEL NOW — WORK IN PROGRESS – STUDIO NO.3414 – PUESTA DEL SOL (Taos, New Mexico) 30″x40″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen. ( This is the second in a series of 30 new paintings from northernNew Mexico) The color notes and process of the beginning of this painting are posted below.

PROGRESS!

ABIQUIU – New 40″x40″ – painted the bottom of the canvas this week – upside down to dry for ten days or so and then on its way to a new happy home in Ohio!

PUESTA DEL SOL – 30″x40″ Original Oil – Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 3414 – PUESTA DEL SOL – 30″x40″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen – Work in Progress (Underpainting).  Color Notes: All basic  colors mixed with Grumbacher MG Underpainting White and Turp.  Sky – Dioxazine Purple.  Mountains – Cerulean Blue, Sky Color.  Trees:  Cadmium Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre.  Foreground:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Olive […]

ABIQUIU – 40″x40″ Work in Progress – Underpainting with Color Notes

Studio No. 3314 – ABIQUIU – 40″x40 Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Color Notes:  All colors mixed with Grumbacher Underpainting White and turp.  Sky and Water:  Cobalt Blue, Turquoise Green.  Back Mountains:  Cobalt Blue and Dioxazine Purple.  Yellow Ochre and a dirty brush.  Earth:  Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, dirty brush.  Trees:  Prussian Blue, Chrome Oxide […]

BLANK IS THE END; BLANK IS THE BEGINNING…..

Blank is the end and blank is the beginning — A whole new chapter – the front yard was full of magpies this morning – a wonderful omen. I learned a new word today – “hybridity” – and realized, yes I am a hybrid – a life lived in many layers! Find your own way […]

STUDIO CLEAN-UP DAY – 5 New Auctions!

Studio Clean-up Day – New Auctions as listed below – preparing canvases to block in new paintings this week. Would love to send my free Studio Newsletter to you, just send your email address (never shared). There is no obligation to buy and you can opt out at any time.  – Happy Friday! DC

STARTING OVER TODAY…..

Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world. – Lao Tzu, [Tao Te Ching]

LA TIERRA DEL PUEBLO – 22″X28″ WORK IN PROGRESS (Glazes)

Studio No. 3114 – LA TIERRA DEL PUEBLO – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Glazes):  Color Notes:  Sky:  Cerulean Blue and Permalba White.  Distant Mountains:  Cerulean Blue, Permalba White and Cobalt Blue.  Take Bristle Brush after the basic painting – dip in painting medium and “spritz” into sky and mountains to create distance.  Trees:  Prussian Blue, […]

EL RITO DEL NORTE 20″x16″ Work in Progress – Glazes

  Studio No. 3214 – EL RITO DEL NORTE (Early morning, Garcia Park, Taos, N.M.) 20″x16″ Work in Progress (Glazes) – Color Notes:  Oil colors mixed with painting medium.  Sky:  Cerulean Blue, Payne’s Grey, Permalba White – Repeat for reflections on the water.  Aspens:  Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow, Italian Pink.  Dark Grasses:  Prussian Blue, Burnt […]

LA TIERRA DEL PUEBLO (Taos, N.M.) – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 3114 – LA TIERRA DEL PUEBLO (Taos, New Mexico) – 22″x28″ Work in Progress Underpainting.  Color notes:  All colors mixed with MGUnderpainting White and Turpentine.  Sky: Cerulean Blue.  Mountains:  Cerulean Blue and Cobalt Blue.  Greens:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, some Yellow Ochre.  Fields:  Yellow Ochre, Italian Pink.  Foreground:  Burnt Sienna – some Chrome […]

WALKING RAIN – 24″x30″ Work in Progress – Day 7

Studio No. 3014 – WALKING RAIN – 24″x30″ Original Oil – Work in Progress – Day 7 – The Foreground.  Color Notes:  Highlights on the earth – Naples Yellow Pale, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna – some Holbein Rose Red and Dioxazine Purple in the shadows.  Trees:  Permalba white, yellow ochre, chrome oxide green for the […]

WALKING RAIN – 24″x30″ Work in Progress – Day 5

Studio No. 3014 – WALKING RAIN (Taos, N.M.) – 24″x30″ Orig. Oil – Work in Progress – Day 5.  Color Notes: Dark Sky – Prussian Blue, Mars Black.  Lighter Sky –  Prussian Blue, Payne’s Grey, Davy’s Grey.  Lightest Sky – Permalba White and Naples Yellow Pale. Foreground:  Trees – Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and some […]

WALKING RAIN – NEW 24″x30″ WORK IN PROGRESS (UNDERPAINTING)

STUDIO NO. 3014 – WALKING RAIN (Taos, New Mexico) – New Work in Progress (Underpainting).  Color Notes:  All colors mixed with Grumbacher MG Underpainting White and Turpentine.  Sky – Variations of Payne’s Grey, Prussian Blue, Cobalt Blue, Permalba White.  Foreground:  Earth – Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna.  Trees:  Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green […]

INTO THE LIGHT – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 2914 – INTO THE LIGHT – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Glazes – transparent and semi transparent colors, usually the darks of the palette mixed with painting medium and applied over the underpainting) – Color Notes: Pine Trees – deep, dark Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna, some Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Road – Burnt […]

INTO THE LIGHT, 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 2914 – INTO THE LIGHT (In the Taos Mountains, New Mexico) – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Color Notes: – Color is mixed with turpentine and Grumbacher MGWhite.   Trees – Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Sky:  Thalo Blue, Thalo Yellow Green, Permalba White.  Scrub Oaks:  Cadmium Red, Burnt […]

HAPPY SPRINGTIME!

ESTACA IN BLOOM – Exhibition-quality archival print now available.  17″x22″ Sheet size – $75.00 plus shipping ($10.00)  To order: Call Tesuque studio.

LA PUERTA – NEW 16″X14″ ORIGINAL OIL

  Studio No. 614 – LA PUERTA (Tesuque, New Mexico) – 16″x14″ Original Oil on Italian Gessoed Panel, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  (Size with frame 24″x22″)  Completed 2/20/14.  Now available for preview/purchase at Online Studio Gallery.

ASPEN SHADOWS – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

   Studio No. 814 – ASPEN SHADOWS – 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Glazes) – When paint from a day’s work is slow to dry, I go to the next  one.  That is why I usually block in several pieces at a time.  Then one day – Voila! – they are all finished!  I love it. […]