WORD PAINTINGS #26 – THE JAMISON GALLERY

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What a Gal! Margaret married well known art collector C. Bland Jamison in the Taos home of Leon Gaspard. Gaspard’s wedding gift to the bride and groom was a wonderful Russian snow scene with a large group of men and women in colorful peasant dress crossing a bridge.  (This was one of my favorite paintings […]

WORD PAINTINGS #25 – NEW BEGINNINGS

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Once we settled into a daily routine, life calmed down.  Mornings, diaper changes, breakfast, laundry – now it was time for me to set up my own schedule to paint.  It was easy to spread out a comforter and all their toys on the floor of the family room.  Cheerios were everywhere.  John had his […]

WORD PAINTINGS #24 – LOST AND FOUND

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SOMBRIO DRIVE, CASA SOLANA – We began to settle into the house – adjusting to a new kind of normal – family life. Of course we had to have furniture.  Tom Broome was Chief of the Voluntary Fire Department.  When he wasn’t battling blazes, he managed his family’s furniture store.  We took out some credit […]

#23 – THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE!!!

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Looking back on all my years at the easel, I have only met two or three artists as generous as Jan Herring.  She poured information into us – new words, new methods, technique.  No question went unanswered.  Our class came together as strangers and when Friday came around we had shared some very precious hours […]

#22 – Taos 9/15/18 -REFLECTION

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Twelve days ago I celebrated my 79th birthday!  A little bittersweet…. Do I miss those long ago days when I had great legs, a nice smile and lived life with strong certainty that I could accomplish anything? – Hell, Yes!!!  Now I move ever more slowly and my word of the day, every day, is […]

#21 – EUREKA!!! MAMA LEARNS TO PAINT!

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Jan Herring had taken a workshop led by Frederic Taubes, a well-known Polish painter and author.  Apparently she excelled and he invited her to be his assistant the following year.  Taubes had studied the methods of the Flemish masters and developed a line of copal painting mediums, which when applied to a board or canvas […]

#20 – JAN’S MAGIC BRUSHES!

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Jan Herring was a dynamo.  Quite simply, she loved people and she loved to teach!  Married to a Texas farmer named Henry they raised their family in Clint, Texas.  She began painting in 1952 and it was my understanding that she had studied with well-known artist and writer, Frederic Taubes. Over the span of her […]

#19-MAMA TAKES SOME BABY STEPS

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Need to start this post with a huge confession.  Although my resume states that I studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, my night school studies there lasted only one half of the first semester.  Started out with high expectations of learning the basics.  Although I won prizes all through my grade and high school, […]

#18 – CLOUDCROFT/THE LODGE

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Late on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my Greyhound Bus arrived in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  Alamagordo’s elevation was 8600 feet. A car from the hotel was waiting to take me  to 9,000 ft!   Our trip to the Lodge was an uphill climb all the way…. heavy forests on either side of the road with only a […]

ON THE ROAD….1968

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The New Year celebrations were very quiet on Alegre Street that year.  It was a time of adjustment, settling into routines. The babies were growing fast and developing their own personalities.  I loved watching them; every day there was something new.  They were funny little people and I enjoyed being their mother. Although I was […]