Visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico

As promised in my last post, here are some pics from my visit to Santa Fe.  While my reason for being there was a workshop, I'd never been there before, so I was excited to explore the city.

My first stop was the famous Canyon Road.  Galleries line both sides of the famous street and I stopped into just about every one.

I was very excited to visit Sage Creek Gallery.  I've been reading about it for years and so it was on the top of my list of places to see.  Living in NYC, there are not too many galleries showing the kind of work that I do, but Sage Creek seems to represent all of my favorite artists.  I had a great time wandering around and looking at the paintings of artists that I had only seen in magazines and online.  If only I had a few thousand dollars to spare, there were a few paintings I would have loved to take home with me!


After the workshop finished I had almost an entire day before leaving for home.  On the advice of the hotel shuttle driver, I visited the Santa Fe Farmers Market and The Artists Market.  I'm so glad he suggested I do this as I really enjoyed both places.

I started in the farmers market.  I love visiting markets when I'm traveling and this was one of my faves.  There were vendors with many new to me items.  Of course, I came home with various spices to try out, as well as a few items made by New Mexico artisans ( my favorite: a hot pad done in a map of New Mexico, done by a local artist).

There was also a ton of good food available, too bad I had already eaten!

The Artist Market is out back from the farmers market in the Santa Fe Rail Yard.  If you have ever been to the Rhinebeck Craft Fair, it is like that, but takes place every Saturday.  I walked through twice, and of course came home with a bunch of handmade ceramics.  It was really nice to see a place where artists are supported and have a chance to sell their work.

After the markets, it was on to The Plaza.  It's a bit touristy, but there was some cool stuff there, including an oxygen bar that I wish I'd known about at the beginning of my trip.

One of the best things about visiting Santa Fe, for me, was seeing some sunshine after weeks of gray dreariness.  The sun and blue skies really revived me after our never ending winter here in New York.

I had a great week visiting Santa Fe and can't wait to go back.  I'll tell you all about the workshop in another post.  It was a good one!

A Visit To The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

On my recent visit to Santa Fe, visiting the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was at the top of my list of places to see.  I've seen O'Keeffe's work in various museums, but I had never seen a complete exhibition of her work, so it was very interesting to see so much of it in one place.

As I'm still typing with one hand, I'm just going to post the paintings, but if you would like the title of a specific painting, leave me a comment and I'll post it there.

I've always been a fan of the floral paintings.  The prevailing wisdom over the years is that they are representing vaginas, even making it into a Breaking Bad episode.  However, I just happened upon an article in The Guardian regarding the 2016 O'Keefe show at the Tate Modern, stating that the reference to female genitalia came from Alfred Stieglitz, not from O'Keeffe herself, and that she always denied that there was a sexual component to the paintings.

If you are ever in Santa Fe, don't miss seeing this museum.  Not only is it filled with beautiful artwork, but I must give a shout out to the staff.  Everyone from the ladies at the reception desk to the security guards could not have been nicer or more helpful.  Since that is not always the case here in New York, it was a nice change.  They also have lockers available, so you don't have to schlep your stuff all over the museum.

Hope you enjoyed seeing these paintings.  I'll have more Santa Fe photos coming soon.


UPDATE:  I forgot one of my favorite pics, Georgia's paintbox!

Edgar Degas Dance Sculptures At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Happy May Day!  Spring finally sprung today here in New York City.  Yesterday it was 48 degrees, today it was 73.  So excited that winter seems to finally be over.  This past Sunday was International Dance Day, and that reminded me that I had photographed some of Degas dancer sculptures while visiting The Met this winter.  I actually have quite a few things from The Met to show you as I spent a lot of time there last fall and winter, so I'll start today with the dancers.

I just love these sculptures, so I hope you enjoyed seeing them.  Check out their gallery if you are visiting The Met. I could spend hours there just looking at Degas sculptures, paintings and pastels.

Hydrangeas In A Small Ginger Jar

Back in December I painted a small painting for the 10x10 fundraising show to benefit The Art Guild of Port Washington.  It was the yearly fundraiser and there were so many beautiful paintings for sale.

Since the canvas was small, I decided to use my small ginger jar and add some hydrangeas.

While the original set up was cute, if you've been following this blog, you know I like to fill my canvas with flowers  The single bloom was just not working for me.  Luckily, the hydrangea bush is right outside my studio, so I simply clipped a few stems, stuck them in the vase and got to work.

Now things started moving along.  It was at this point that I knew the painting would work.  Always a great relief.

The pattern going in.  Always a scary time!

And here is the finished piece.  Painting for a fundraiser is always nerve wracking.  I really wanted this painting to sell.  I told my husband that if it didn't, he had to buy it ( and that exact thing happened in an episode of Midsomer Murders, so I'm not totally crazy!)  Luckily, it did sell and the fundraiser was quite successful.  We had a great night for a great cause.

Cast Drawing At Grand Central Atelier

Hello All!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I have been out of commission with a broken shoulder.  It will be a bit before I am back to painting, but I am going to attempt to put up some blog posts.  I am typing with one hand so there won't be a lot of text, but I have lots of pictures to show you.

First up, I did a cast drawing course at Grand Central Atelier.  Around this time last year, I was feeling burned out and bored with what I was doing.  I actually thought it might have been time to move on from painting and start doing something else.  After thinking about this for a few months, I decided to try something completely different than I had ever done before.  I had never done cast drawing before, so I decided to give that a try.

Cast drawing is completely different from my usual way of working.  It is very precise and you can spend weeks working on one little area.  It turned out to be just what I needed to jumpstart my artistic life.

Here are some photos of my progression of an ear cast.  I have reached my typing limit, but if you have any questions, leave me a comment and I'll answer there.

The above photo is where I ended the last night of class.  This was such a good exercise for me.  I'm hoping to do it again this summer.

Something Blue At The Art Guild Of Port Washington

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I have two paintings in the Something Blue show at The Art Guild of Port Washington.  I got a sneak peek last night and it is a great show, featuring the color blue in various art forms.

Here are my two entries.

The reception is tomorrow, Saturday, from 3-5pm.  If you are in the NYC/LI area, please come by.  It will be a fun time with a lot of great artwork.  Hope to see you there!

The Art Guild
200 Port Washington Blvd
Manhasset, NY