Donna Clair

Southwest Contemporary Artist

Category: Art Journal

24 SEPTEMBER 2010 – STUDIO NEWZ

STUDIO NEWZ:   For the past four years the major share of my painting sales large and small have been made via the internet – through my website at www.DonnaClairArt.com     As the result of this online success, I am no longer affiliated with McLarry Gallery in Santa Fe.  All New Mexico sales will go […]

PLACITA IN WINTER (STUDY) – 18″X36″ UNDERPAINTING

  9/15/10 –The second phase of this painting is what I call the “underpainting” – most of the colors have been mixed with MG Fast Drying White.  Although it might look finished now as it is, I will work the top layers of oil colors into it as soon as these paints dry….five or six […]

“PLACITA IN WINTER” (STUDY) 18″x36 Sketch

Hello from Taos!  Here are the beginnings of what I expect will be two paintings — the first is an 18″x36″ Study for Placita in Winter.  I love this composition and the colors and am planning to order a 30″x60″ stretched canvas tomorrow to make a larger version of this painting.  First of all, here […]

LAS NUBES DE TAOS – SOLD

“LAS NUBES DE TAOS” – SOLD (THE CLOUDS OF TAOS) 9″x9″ Original Oil, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner

HERE I GO AGAIN! Another New Beginning

8 September 2010 – It’s that time of the year again when I begin to block in new paintings to work on through the winter.  Have had several field trips so far with a lot of new material.  In the right hand corner of this photo is the new 48″x48″ canvas called “POPPY LOVE GRANDE” […]

BACK TO THE EASEL!

23 June 2001 — Every so often I realize I don’t know who I am without a paintbrush in my hand!  That’s when I have to take a break – time to observe the world without a camera or sketchbook. This hiatus took a little more time than I had planned, but it was well […]

“TAOS AFTERNOON SHADOWS” – NEW 48″X36″ OIL PAINTING

“TAOS AFTERNOON SHADOWS” New! 48″x36″ Orig. Oil on Linen Framed in Silver with Linen Liner Began this canvas in January, although the source photo was made the year before….16 January 2010 – I didn’t want to miss this beautiful light I saw from my kitchen window last winter.  Grabbed my trusty digital camera and shot […]

#1310 – CAPILLA DE ESTACA –SOLD

“CAPILLA DE ESTACA”  – Sold 12″X6″ NEW Original Oil on Linen, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner — Completed 4/22/10 – Now available for sale through my Taos Studio.  Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express thru my studio for your convenience.  E.Mail or call (575)758-7454 for price and availability.

SPRING FLING! STUDIO EDITION ARCHIVAL PRINTS – 3 for the price of 2

SPRING FLING!!  THREE PRINTS FOR THE PRICE OF TWO ($210.00) – Now available from my High Road Catalogue – http://www.donnaclairart.com/prints.html     Offer good until April 30th.   “LILAS DE TAOS” – Spectacular spring show of lilacs in front of the old Taos News Building! – Available in two sizes – Small: $60, Large: $110.  Prices include shipping.  […]

30″x60″ Original Oil – NEW! “CANCION DEL SOL” – SOLD

SOLD STUDIO #1010 – “CANCION DEL SOL” – 30″X60″ Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen – Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  Completed 3/21/10.  This painting has been a long time in the “dreamtime” — which is where I usually spend most of my days.  It is a view from Middle Road here in Taos […]

“CANCION DEL SOL” – WORK IN PROGRESS – PHASE II-THE GLAZES

“CANCION DEL SOL” (SONG OF THE SUN) – 30″x60″WORK IN PROGRESS — Phase II – The Glazes.  Have had the canvas and frame for this painting at least two years and I have painted this in my head at least a thousand times over the past five or six years.  This week I have been […]

30X60 CANCION – WORK IN PROGRESS – GLAZING THE FOREGROUND

   “CANCION DEL SOL” (SONG OF THE SUN) – 30″X60″ WORK IN PROGRESS.  From the bottom up today — Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna in the foreground.  Middle ground a combination of Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna and Italian Pink.  I want the feeling of sunset — early evening — will work the opaque paints into […]

“CALYPSO” – WORK IN PROGRESS – The Glazes

  2/18/10- Here is the phase of the painting where I could absolutely go out for a cup of coffee and not return!  The glazes….the middle stage of the painting.  Transparent and semi-transparent colors over the underpainting — Thalo Blue and Green, Cadmium Yellow, Prussian Blue, Rose Red — background: Permalba White, Ochre and Payne’s […]

30″x60″ Orig. Oil Painting -“CANCION DEL SOL” Work in Progress

  “CANCION DEL SOL” – 30″x60″ Underpainting – New Work in Progress – Original Oil on Belgian Linen.  Have had this large painting in mind and heart for about five years now, and I am very excited to have gotten it down on canvas this week.  Now I have two large format pieces in the […]

FEBRUARY MORNING, LLANO SAN JUAN, NEW MEXICO

  “FEBRUARY MORNING” – LLANO SAN JUAN, NEW MEXICO Now available as a Studio Edition Print 19″x13″ sheet size – $60.00 includes shipping Call (575) 758-7454 to order

TAOS WINTER SUNRISE 1/23/10 – (Photo)

1/23/10 – Up really early this morning and photographed the beginning of the sunrise through my kitchen window.  It was just a special moment – everything felt as though it was at the beginning again – that from this sunrise there will be a renewal – another spring.  “If winter comes, can spring be far […]

“CALYPSO” – Work in Progress – Underpainting

A perfect day today — kind of cloudy, waiting for snow.  Here is the underpainting – am working mostly with pure colors – ochres, cadmium reds, cobalt blue, chrome oxide green opaque, cadmium yellow.  Background is a combination of Payne’s Grey, a little ochre and MG Fast Drying Underpainting white.  Will let this canvas dry […]

“CALYPSO” – Work in Progress

14 January 2010 —  Here is the “cartoon” for my new 24″x24″ oil painting “Calypso”.  I have done the drawing in Prussian Blue — working loosely.   I love this color  for sketching in paintings because I believe the strength of the blue comes through the eventual layers of colors.   This is an important […]

“VETERAN’S DAY/SANTA FE PLAZA” – SOLD

                          “VETERAN’S DAY/SANTA FE PLAZA”- SOLD    In one of my recent “clear outs” I found the slide for this painting which I took sometime in 1969 or thereabouts.  I worked on this painting today and all the while debated whether I would disclose the  surprise it held for me as I worked on it.  Normally […]

AFTER — Getting Organized

6 January  2010 – Today is the Feast of the Three Kings at Taos Pueblo — dances, celebration.  Cleaned up the studio finally — all prepared for my New Beginning……

#820 – THE NEST (NEW BEGINNINGS) – NEW ORIGINAL OIL

4 January 2010 – “THE NEST” (NEW BEGINNINGS) – NEW 10″X10″ Original Oil on Linen, Framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  Call (575) 758-7454 for price and availability. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end” Seneca, Roman Philospher, mid-1st Century AD.  Found two quotes from Seneca recently.  Another is “Begin at once to […]

810 – THE NEST (NEW BEGINNINGS) – WORK IN PROGRESS

#810 – “THE NEST” (New Beginnings) – 10″x10″ New Oil Painting – A solid start today — here are three phases of this new oil painting.  The photo of the nest – the oil sketch – outlined mostly in Prussian Blue – and the glazes.  Will let this set up overnight and am hoping to […]

WINTER GIFTS……..

There  is nothing I can give you which you have not;But there is much, very much that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our heartsfind rest in today.  TAKE HEAVEN.No peace lies in the future which is not hiddenin this present moment.  TAKE PEACE. The gloom of the world […]

BEFORE — AN OVERWHELMING URGE TO GET ORGANIZED!

21 December 2009 — The New Year is almost here!  Yes, it’s time for me to roll up my sleeves and get organized!  HAH!  Perhaps some Christmas elves will show up this week while I am dreaming of Sugar Plums dancing!

“ADOBE WALLS/SANTA FE” – NEW 24″X30″ Original Oil (Completed)

“ADOBE WALLS/SANTA FE” – NEW 24″x30″ Original Oil Painting on Fine Belgian Linen,  framed in Gold with Linen Liner.  This painting was completed about an hour ago. Have worked on this canvas over the past two months — wanted that coziness one feels after a good ol’ New Mexico snowstorm.  For price and availablility, please […]

“ADOBE WALLS/SANTA FE” – Work in Progress

16 December 2009 —  Worked all day yesterday on the foreground, after putting dark glazes (burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and burnt umber) on the walls.  There is a heavy impasto in the foreground – added cadmium red and cadmium yellow to Permalba White for the snow.  This is the stage of a painting where I […]

“ADOBE WALLS-SANTA FE” – WORK IN PROGRESS

“ADOBE WALLS-SANTA FE” – A Work in Progress — This photo is of the painting after it has been glazed; now I will work on the opaque paints and hope to finish it sometime this next week….. DC, Taos, N.M.

TAOS SNOW DAY!!

3 December – View through my kitchen window – First significant snow of the season.  Am ready!  The “extra” snow day groceries are in the pantry, all my painting supplies are in — going to varnish and frame some small paintings today – and prepare my palette to start some new underpaintings tomorrow!  I love […]

GESSOING CANVAS — PREPARING TO PAINT

PREPARING TO SPEND THE WINTER PAINTING!  GESSOING CANVAS.  For large and medium paintings I usually use a double-primed linen canvas.  I mix up gesso with Payne’s Grey.  This creates a “grisaille”, or a grey ground, much favored by the Renaissance painters.  Letting each coat dry thoroughly between applications, I apply two or three coats, depending […]

WINTER ROAD – Special Print Offer – Visit the HIGH ROAD PRINT CATALOGUE

“WINTER ROAD” Winter on the road to the ranch at Llano Quemado (suburban Truchas). My first winter there was an unknown — I bought a little freezer from Sears and filled it to the brim with groceries. Foresight was rewarded when it snowed for days over the Christmas holidays — the snowplow didn’t come through […]

DOS ARBOLES DE TAOS – Click here to visit THE PRINT STORE

3 November  -FYI — Have begun a new web log entitled “THE PRINT STORE”.  This blog will be a venue for new print images, both small and large, available through my Taos studio.  It is my intention to post to this blog on a regular basis.  You are invited to bookmark that page and visit […]

WINTER DREAMS – Click to Visit the High Road Print Catalogue

21 October 2009 — Cloudy, raining – just looked out of my kitchen window to the hills in the distance — SNOW! My first thought was “I’m not ready for winter”! Going to visit with son, John, today — fix him a nice lunch. Clean up the studio — set up a new palette — […]

48″x60″ Original Oil Painting “FIRST LIGHT”

“FIRST LIGHT”48″x60″ Original Oil on Fine Belgian LinenCall Taos Studio (575)758-7454 Earth, give me back your pristine gifts,towers of silence which rose fromthe solemnity of their roots.I want to go back to being what I haven’t been, to learn to return from such depthsthat among all natural thingsI may live or not live. I don’t […]

FIRST LIGHT – 48″X60″ WORK IN PROGRESS – OPAQUE COLORS

23 September 2009 – Making progress! Have concentrated on the top one-third of the painting. The sky and distant landscape are completed and, I believe, inform the light for the rest of the canvas. The middle ground – I have found some long forgotten tubes of Transparent Oxide Yellow and Transparent Oxide Red — Am […]

FIRST LIGHT – 48″x60″ Oil Painting (Work in Progress)

21 September 2009, Taos, N.M. — “PENTIMENTI is an alteration in a painting….that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting – the word derives from the Italian pentirsi, meaning to repent”. First of all I changed the name from “Donde Nace la Vida” to “FIRST LIGHT” – […]

DONDE NACE LA VIDA – 48″x60″ UNDERPAINTING

(PLEASE CHECK OCTOBER 13, 2009 POST  TO VIEW COMPLETED CANVAS NOW TITLED “FIRST LIGHT” –“DONDE NACE LA VIDA” (UNDERPAINTING) — NEW 48″X60″ Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen — Started the drawing for this canvas in late May. Tomorrow I will post the photo of this underpainting with the first layer of glazes. Have passed […]

ARROYO SECO AFTERNOON – Click here for the HIGH ROAD PRINT CATALOGUE

“ARROYO SECO AFTERNOON” – Now available as an archival giclee print from THE HIGH ROAD PRINT CATALOGUE. (BUY TWO, GET ONE FREE). 9/9/09 — Have had good intentions all week, but unable to get into the studio. Making green chile chicken soup for daughter Mary and her husband’s visit tomorrow. On Friday a visit from […]

Birthday Roses in the Morning Sun

5 September 2009 — Another year! Friend John sent these roses from LA — they are brightening my kitchen bookcase this morning — making me smile. This was one of those BIG birthdays that brought up a lot of strange feelings of getting older — one remedy for that is for me to get back […]

#15 – HIGH ROAD AFTERNOON – SOLD

“HIGH ROAD AFTERNOON” SOLDNEW! 6″x8″ Orig. Oil unframed on Italian Gessoed PanelThis painting was sold within an hour of studio newsletter – in it’s placesee “Vecinos de Truchas” below)

ADOBE WALLS – NEW WORK IN PROGRESS

8/10/09 – Here are the glazes on a new canvas “ADOBE WALLS” – 24″x30″ Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen. I posted the underpainting June lst — you can scroll down to see the color combinations. Will let this dry for several days before working into it again. Am all set to begin new work […]

“CASA VIEJA DE CHIMAYO” – Visit THE HIGH ROAD PRINT CATALOGUE

5 AUGUST 2009 – “Casa Vieja de Chimayo” – Available as a Studio Edition Print — You are invited to visit THE HIGH ROAD PRINT CATALOGUE on my website — just click the above link. Deciding to spend most of August prepping for new work — gessoing canvas, blocking in new paintings — am anxious […]

CORDOVA AFTERNOON – WORK IN PROGRESS – THE GLAZES

15 July 2009 – “CORDOVA AFTERNOON” – 24″x30″ Work in progress – Phase II – The Glazes – transparent and semi-transparent colors — painted over the underpainting after it has dried using the painting medium (recipe for medium in column on the right of this page). The sky is completed — Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, […]

CORDOVA AFTERNOON

15 July 2009 — “CORDOVA AFTERNOON” – 24″x30″ Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen. Underpainting – Palette colors mixed with turpentine and MG Underpainting White. Sky: Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, touch of ochre to gray color a bit. Middle Ground – combinations of Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow. Foreground: Ochre and Diox. Purple. Back […]

NEW PAINTS ARRIVED YESTERDAY!

11 July 2009 – Jerry’s Artarama (online) had a fabulous 4th of July Day Sale — I went the whole hog and spent all my money — strange, this is something I would do in November right before the snows arrive…..hmmmm. Does this mean I am settling in again?

FROM MY TAOS STUDIO

7/8/09 — Don’t think I can stand more “rest” — I miss my easel — cleaned most of my cabinets, did the laundry, unpacked cartons — settling back into my old routine — and I NEED TO PAINT!

GONE FISHIN’

29 June 2009 — Taking some much needed time to rest, relax and reorganize……Will resume posts to this blog 15 July. HAPPY SUMMERTIME TO ALL! DC – PS – To receive notice of new paintings and prints, send your e.mail address to me and I will add your name to my list of Art Friends.

“ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE” – NEW Original Oil

“ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE”Completed 25 June 200924″x30″ NEW Original Oil on Fine Belgian LinenFramed in Gold with Linen LinerFor price and availability, please e.mail or call my Taos Studio at(575)758-7454

“ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE” – PHASE II – GLAZES

“ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE” – 24″x30″ Oil on Belgian Linen – Work in Progress – The Glazes. Glazes are transparent, semi-transparent color which I apply over the underpainting. I believe this phase of the painting is essential to add depth and vibrancy to the final painting. After the painting is completed (the next stage is […]

“ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE” – WORK IN PROGRESS

“ROAD TO WILDERNESS GATE” – NEW WORK IN PROGRESS – My most favorite place in “suburban” Truchas, N.M. (UNDERPAINTING). Mixing all my colors (except for “cartoon” which is reinforced with Prussian Blue) with MG Underpainting White and turpentine. Sky: Thalo Blue – Thalo Blue Green with touch of Ochre to “gray” the colors. Clouds: White […]

GUATEMALAN JOURNEY

“ANTEPASADO” – This week I found a real treasure – a portfolio of photos and sketches from Guatemala — planning to do some new prints and paintings from this material and have begun a new web log – http://donnaclairguatemalanjourney.blogspot.com Stay tuned!

NOCHECITA DE CHIMAYO – New Studio Edition Print

“NOCHECITA DE CHIMAYO” – Just published as a small-format Studio Edition print – 8″x10″; 9″x12″ – On Ultra Premium Presentation paper with Ultra Chrome Inks — hand-titled and hand-signed – $35.00, plus $5.00 S&H. To order, call my Taos Studio at (575)758-7454.

“SCENE FROM A SUNSET WALK” – UNDERPAINTING

9 June 2009 – WORK IN PROGRESS – “FROM A SUNSET WALK” – 8″x28″ Original Oil on Fine Belgian Linen. This underpainting has been drying for a little over a week – My painting medium has turpentine in it, so the oil sketch must be dry, otherwise the color would be picked up. Now I […]

“BEHIND ADOBE WALLS” – New Underpainting

1 June 2009 – “BEHIND ADOBE WALLS” – NEW 24×30″ Underpainting. FYI — While the large 48″x60″ underpainting “Donde Nace la Vida” is drying, I am spending this week “blocking in” several more canvases. Sitting at an easel for long periods to complete a painting is not easy — and there are days when I […]

“WILDERNESS ROAD” – STUDY

“WILDERNESS ROAD” – STUDY NEW 6″x8″ Original Oil on Italian Wood PanelFor price and availability e.mail or call my Taos Studio at(575) 758-7454

DONDE NACE LA VIDA – 48″x60″ UNDERPAINTING

“DONDE NACE LA VIDA” – New 48″x60″ Original Oil (Underpainting) – Here is the palette for the underpainting – using MG White with turpentine and mixing the colors. Sky: Davy’s Grey, Payne’s Grey, Cadmium Yellow. Middle ground: Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna. Trees & Foreground: Same colors as middle ground, adding Chrome Oxide […]

“DONDE NACE LA VIDA” – New 48″x60″ Oil Painting

“DONDE NACE LA VIDA” — Here is the “cartoon” for a new 48″x60″ Canvas — this begins a series of 12 large format oils titled “AMBIENTES” (Environments).I will attempt to journal every phase of this painting on this web log – would love to hear your feedback. DC

STARTING OVER –

ANOTHER NEW BEGINNING — The reception for the exhibit of my new paintings was Friday – and today I go into the studio with many, many blank canvases talking to me – “Paint me, paint me!” Unlike years past, this time I have a new “starting place” in my head. Normally, I would rest on […]