Donna Clair

Southwest Contemporary Artist

Category: Art Journal

INTO THE LIGHT – New Print….

INTO THE LIGHT (Garcia Park, New Mexico) – From an original oil painting.  New print, greeting card and other related items now available at Fine Art America.

RIO CHIQUITO – 12″x24″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 1615 – RIO CHIQUITO – 12″X24″ Oil – Work in Progress (Glazes) – Sky: Payne’s Grey, Prussian Blue, Permalba White.  Autumn Trees:  Italian Pink, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red, some Chrome Oxide Green, Opaque.  Road:  Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber.  Dark Trees and Grasses:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque. 

RIO CHIQUITO – 12″X24″ WORK IN PROGRESS (Underpainting)

Studio No. 1615 – RIO CHIQUITO – 12″x24″ on cradled panel Work in Progress  (Underpainting) –  All colors are mixed with Grumbacher MG Underpainting White and Distilled Turpentine.  Color Notes – Sky:  Payne’s Grey.  Trees: Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Burnt Sienna.  Road:  Holbein Rose Grey, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna.

ABIQUIU DREAMING – New Print!

ABIQUIU DREAMING (Rio Chama at Abiquiu, New Mexico) – from an original oil painting – new prints, greeting cards and other related art items now available at Fine Art America.

CAMINITO DE TESUQUE – 30″x24 Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 1415 – CAMINITO DE TESUQUE – 30″x24″ Work in Progress (The Glazes) – Sky and Snow:  Cobalt Blue, Payne’s Grey, Permalba White.  Dark darks:  Burnt Umber, Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Mars Black.  Highlights:  Naples Yellow Light, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre. 

ALMOST HOME – new prints, cards….

ALMOST HOME (The back road home to Taos through the village of Rio Chiquito, New Mexico) – from an original oil painting.  New prints, cards and other related items now available at Fine Art America.

GARCIA PARK – Print

GARCIA PARK (Taos, New Mexico) – From an original oil painting – new print, greeting cards and related products now available at Fine Art America.

RIO CHAMA AT ABIQUIU – New Print

RIO CHAMA AT ABIQUIU (Abiquiu, New Mexico) – from an original oil painting – new print, greeting cards and related products now available at Fine Art America.

BACK TO BASICS: A TONED GROUND – GESSOING

Starting from the Beginning – again! Friend Carol pitched in to help gesso canvases in preparation to paint – behind the scenes studio work – the part that no one sees or considers when looking at a finished painting! GESSO RECIPE: Gesso, Payne’s Grey – enough color to create a toned ground. If necessary, thin […]

POEMA DE LA NOCHECITA (Taos, New Mexico)

POEMA DE LA NOCHECITA – (Evening thunderspirits – Taos, New Mexico) from an original oil painting.  Prints, greeting cards and related products now available at Fine Art America.

PASSING STORM (Pecos, New Mexico)

PASSING STORM (Pecos, New Mexico) – from an original oil painting – prints, greeting cards and related products now available at Fine Art America.

LILAS DE TAOS (Taos, New Mexico)

LILAS DE TAOS (One fine spring day in front of the old Taos News building – Taos, New Mexico) – from an original oil painting – prints, greeting cards and related products now available at Fine Art America.

MORNING POEM (Taos, New Mexico)

MORNING POEM (View from my kitchen window of 23 years – looking out toward the Pecos Wilderness, Santistevan Lane, Taos, New Mexico) – 60 images now available as prints and related products – Fine Art America

SANCTUARY OF PADRE MARTINEZ – Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 1115 – SANCTUARY OF PADRE MARTINEZ – 60″x50″ Work in Progress (Glazes) – Color Notes:  Left side:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Sky and Water: Permalba White, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue.  Autumn Trees:  Naples Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre.  Foreground:  Dark Prussian Blue, Perelyne Maroon, Mars Black.  Lighter Trees:  […]

SANCTUARY OF PADRE MARTINEZ – 60″x50″ Work in Progress

SANCTUARY OF PADRE MARTINEZ ( Martinez Hacienda – Taos, New Mexico) – New 60″x50″ Work in Progress – Yesterday completed the underpainting on the 60″x50″ Sanctuary of Padre Martinez.  It is of the Rio Pueblo that runs in front of the Martinez Hacienda in Taos.  Got this view on a photo trip with my dear […]

CLOSEOUT! STUDIO EDITION PRINT INVENTORY

Great News!  In anticipation of a new venue for my print images  from my fairly large body of work (in other words a diary of the last 48 years of my life in painting northern New Mexico) – I am offering the existing inventory of my Studio Edition Prints at very affordable closeout prices.  There […]

TAOS EVENING LIGHT – 16″x20″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

TAOS EVENING LIGHT – 16″x20 Original Oil – Work in Progress (Glazes) – The sky and the mountains are complete.  Sky:  Cobalt Blue, Paynes Grey, Cadmium Red, Permalba White, Naples Yellow Pale.  Mountains:  Cobalt Blue, Payne’s Grey, Yellow Ochre, Permalba White.  Trees:  Dark Trees – Perelyne Maroon, Dioxazine Purple, Mars Black.  Lighter Trees:  Burnt Sienna, […]

TAOS EVENING LIGHT – 16″x20″ Work in Progress (Overall Glaze)

TAOS EVENING LIGHT – 16″x20″ Work in Progress – Overall Glazes.  This is a somewhat new step for me, especially for late afternoon or evening paintings.  I used my painting medium to thin Payne’s Grey and Dioxazine Purple and glazed over my underpainting (make sure the underpainting is thoroughly dry).  As you can see the […]

TAOS EVENING LIGHT – Work in Progress (Underpainting)

TAOS EVENING LIGHT – 16″x20″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen – Work in Progress (Underpainting) – Color notes:  All colors are mixed with MG Underpainting White and Distilled Turpentine.  Sky:  Cadmium Red.  Trees:  Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red and Cadmium Orange.  Darker Trees:  Brush with yellow colors on it (dirty brush) and Dioxazine Purple.  Foreground:  Yellow […]

CORAZON SAGRADO – 40″x30″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 1115 – CORAZON SAGRADO (Rio Chiquito, N.M.) – 40″x30″ Work in Progress (Glazes) – Colors are thinned to transparency or semi-transparency with painting medium.  Color Notes:  Tree – Italian Pink, Brown Pink, Cadmium Red, some Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Sky:  Payne’s Grey, Permalba White, Cobalt Blue.  Green Trees:  Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Chrome […]

CORAZON SAGRADO – New 40″x30″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

CORAZON SAGRADO (Rio Chiquito, New Mexico) – New Work in Progress (Underpainting) 40″x30″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen.  Color Notes:  All colors mixed with MG Underpainting White and Distilled Turpentine.  Sky:  Payne’s Grey, Cobalt Blue  Tree:  Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red and some Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Greenery:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Prussian Blue […]

WINTERLIGHT – Work in Progress – the Middle Tones

WINTERLIGHT – Work in Progress  (Middle Tones) – 22″x28″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen – If at any phase of the painting I begin to get excited, this is it – I see the end in sight, the possibilities.  This phase is the transition from the darks to the lights.  Am using more opaque paints […]

EXPERIMENT!

Something New!  Another phase of WINTERLIGHT painting – in order to modulate light and hopefully give it that “last moment before sunset feeling” have used a transparent Payne’s Grey glaze thinned with fast drying painting medium.

WINTERLIGHT (Tesuque, N.M.) Work in Progress

Studio No. 1115 – WINTERLIGHT (From my kitchen Window, Tesuque, N.M.)  – New 22″x28″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen – All colors mixed with MG Fast Drying Underpainting White and Distilled Turp.   Color Notes:  Sky: Paynes Grey, Cobalt Blue  Trees:  Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow.  Light Areas on Snow:  Permalba White, Yellow […]

PLACITAS – 40″x30″ Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 1215 – PLACITAS – 40″x30″ Work in Progress (Underpainting) – All color are mixed with MG Underpainting White and applied with distilled turpentne.  Sky:  Thalo Blue, Thalo Green, Dioxazine Purple.  Greens:  Chrome Oxide Green Opaque.  Chamisa:  Yellow Ochre, White, Cadmium Yellow, Mars Orange.

SANTUARIO – 60″x50″ Work in Progress (Loose Sketch)

Studio No. 1115 – SANTUARIO (Rio Pueblo at Martinez Hacienda, Taos, N.M.) – 60″x50″ Work in Progress – Okay, here we go!  This is a very loose sketch – working with distilled turpentine, Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna.  A long way to go before I begin to lay in the underpainting – tighten sketch – […]

PROCESS – A GRID AS A GUIDE

3/16/15 – SANCTUARY -This is a 60″x50″ Belgian Linen canvas.  Most often a painting is a long time in the making — and most of it is painted in my head months, or  sometimes years, before it finds life on a canvas.  A few years ago my traveling buddies, Jerry Walter and Rick Finney, and […]

STUDIO WORK IN PROGRESS – Untitled 30″x24″ Original Oil

STUDIO WORK IN PROGRESS (Sketch) – Untitled 30″x24″ Original Oil on Linen.  Loose sketch applied to a toned ground with Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna and Distilled Turpentine.  This is a little road in the Village of Tesuque late on a February afternoon.  Often I block in six or eight paintings at a time for a […]

STUDIO WORK IN PROGRESS – WINTERLIGHT (Sketch) 22″x28″

WORK IN PROGRESS (Oil Sketch) – WINTERLIGHT – 22″x28″ Orig. Oil on Linen – Loose sketch on “toned ground” with two colors – Prussian Blue and Burnt Sienna – applied with distilled turpentine.  This is the view from my studio window one evening when the sun was coming in low – right before sunset.

MIS SUENOS DEL RIO – 22″X28″ Work in Progress (Glazes)

Studio No. 915 – MIS SUENOS DEL RIO (Rio Grande at Pilar, N.M.) – Work in Progress (Glazes) – New 22″x28″ Original Oil on Belgian Linen.  This is the second phase of the methods I use to do my paintings.  I thin the colors to a transparent or semi-transparent glaze with my painting medium and […]

MIS SUENOS DEL RIO – Work in Progress (Underpainting)

Studio No. 815 – MIS SUENOS DEL RIO (Rio Grande at Pilar, N.M.) 22″x28″ Work in Progress (Underpainting).  All colors mixed with Underpainting White and Turpentine.   Color Notes:  Hills – Combinations of Prussian Blue, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Yellow Ochre, Dioxazine Purple.  Trees: Combinations of Prussian Blue, Chrome Oxide Green Opaque, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium […]

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