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This years Outdoor Painters Society and Kerrarts & Cultural Center Paintout included 50 artists from around the nation.  We all gathered in this beautiful part of Texas known as the "Hill Country" to record some of the most beautiful and interesting subjects in this state.  It is known for its rolling hills and bubbling streams with the huge Guadalupe River in the middle of it all. This year, however Texas has had an intense heat wave and the severe drought is well into its second or third consecutive year.  That's not an easy combination for painting outdoors, but we managed to create several hundred paintings and have a great time while doing it.  

Above is painting done at the end of the day along the Guadalupe in Hunt Texas.  It is a famous crossing of the River, The Schumacher Crossing, from one side of the highway to the other.  It is not easy to get to as private property abounds on all sides. Access is from the highway or wading to the location.  Since the weight of my painting gear is near 30 pounds and the less than spring chicken age of this participant, wading was not an option. The only access was down some steep highway drainage troughs.  It could be heard from the highway, but not seen.  Once there, it was in the shade and a beautiful sight to paint.

The skies of the West begin as soon as the land flattens out around Amarillo.  Storms can be miles away but appear as threatening as if they were just about to go overhead!

There were no two nights or afternoons when the skies were the same above the Ghost Ranch.  They seem to say "the land has been here for millions of years but we are here to dance every afternoon".

A few sprinkles and the rocks take on heightened color.  The different layers assuming their place for miles and miles

Rising out of Box Canyon where the Archuleta brothers hid their cattle are these lush fields and colorful formations.  

A different time of day produces lovely shadows on the  rocks of lavender and mauve.  

Got rained out on the one.  I had yet to learn that showers were short and could be waited out if you had a tarp.

It had been so dry with the drought that has lasted alll summer that the cactus was small and hard to find.  

This too, was painted from the Mesa.  It is the old riding stables not used for storing equipment and supplies.  I loved its layout and the weathered barns and fences,

Overhanging cliffs along the Chama River were great places for campers, fishermen and painters.  

Some corners from the Old Stables.  What a variety of vegetation and materials.   I love painting things like this!

On the way into the Ranch there is this log cabin. It is not an old one.  \Very sturdy with the river stone chimney.  Fascinated by the construction tin of all the fences around the coral. 

Searching for shade from the sun behind the barns at the old stables I found this great tin storage bin - and a bit of shade to paint in.  

Immediately in from of my Casita was this view.  There has also a Ghost Ranch flag.  I was channeling Edgar Payne with his blocky saturated color.  

One of my favorite places to paint on the Ranch was from the Mesa above where the Casitas were located.  The Mesa was directly above the Headquarters, camping area and the old stables.  I had many interesting things to paint from this elevated view.

 A souvenir for my self!  The vast collection of formations from the Three Walls to the Chimney Hoo Doos closest to the Ranch.  The distances are so vast and the dusty hot air tends to render them pastel.

One of the first  sketches that Idid.  This tree and rocky outcropping was on the walk that I took each morning to the dining hall.  

A painting from the Painted Desert of formations of bright yellow, red, mauve interspersed with the lavender shadows.  

I could have spent the entire month painting trees.  They are so twisted and weathered often with a live portion of the tree coming out of the grey and drying limbs.  They almost always were located with rocks entwined at their roots to give the stavbility against what er and wind.

Jagged zig zag  s through the low sots are the beginnings of canyons just a few years old.

 OUR STORY

Confessions from above

Concessions from below

About a heart

A better heart

ours beating together

Too hot for fire

So we just sat there

in blue Adirondacks and on a

wall

Just hoping

Quiet as stones

Quiet from above 

Quiet from below

Quite hearts

So we could breathe in the

morning

After the noise

Even the birds waited

Ravens wheeled around

Until we were done

With our quiet singing

Quiet and true

From above and Below

And the chairs were still blue

-- Bradley Samuel

_

This past August I spent a entire month at Ghost Ranch participating in their Artist's Residency Program.  It was inspired by the artist Diane Arenberg to provide working space for a group of artist of different disciplines to work at self determined  projects for a month.  Ghost Ranch is situated in some of the most awe inspiring high desert landscapes in the western United States.  Eight adobe casitas which have one room for a studio and one as living quarters provide sparse but comfortable accommodations for eight individuals.  The Casitas sit high on a hill above the Ranch Headquarters.  This blog features gauche sketches that I did during this month.  The artists are housed apart from most of the activities of the Ranch except meals which are served in a common Dining Hall. A close camaraderie developed as we pursued our individual paths of creative expression during the month. It was home for Georgia O"Keefe for many years and many of its iconic landscapes are subjects in her paintings. One of our residents was a poet.  Bradley Samuel's poem "Our Story" is at the end of the blog with oil Sketches.

Ghost Ranch is part of Piedra Lumbre (Spanish, "Shining Rock"), a 1766 land grant to Pedro Martin Serrano from Charles III of Spain. The Rito del Yeso is a stream that meanders through the canyons and gorge, providing a drought-resistant source of water for life to thrive. It was first inhabited by the Archulate Brothers who were cattle rustlers.  They used its canyons to hide their stolen cattle.  When the cattle rustlers were hiding their stolen goods in the box canyon alongside Kitchen Mesa, they discouraged their neighbors from looking around by spreading the rumor that the land was haunted by evil spirits. “Rancho de los Brujos” it was called, “Ranch of the Witches,” which naturally evolved into Ghost Ranch. Finally the brothers were killed and the ranch was sold to Arthus Pack who was an early naturalist.  He turned it into a dude ranch and many famous people came to stay there.  

Georgia O'Keefe was intrigued by Arthur Pack's statement that the Piedra Lumbre was "the best place in the world", she visited the ranch and fell in love with the geography. Soon thereafter, she split her time between New York and New Mexico. She enjoyed having alone time, and was often very demanding of the Packs. The mountain Cerro Peridennial  was a key geographical feature that could be often found in her paintings. One of her homes still remains within the Ranch and is owned by th Georgia O'Keefe Foundation.  The Ranch was sold to the Prespyterian Church in 1967, and is now used as a retreat and educational area. The Hogan Pictured above was said to be 60 years old.  There are places all over the ranch thaT REMin from the turn of the century. The Ranch is also designated as a National Monument.

Most of the sketches that I painted were done within or near the Ranch.  The red and yellow landscape above was painted near the Christ in the Desert Monastery which is located on the Chama River.  It is a lush valley due to the Chama river.  The entire area was once near the equator and had a tropical climate.  There are many fossil remains of dinosaurs and excavation continues to find new  examples of the animals that roamed the area before it dropped below sea level. Today the vegetation is fragile and life is not easy in the dry sandy soil.  Most areas do not have the luxury of the water that the Chama River brings.  

The "Painted Desert" as the land is called around the Ranch has indeed a "coat of many colors".  A bit of rain or the setting sun can set fire to the cliffs as they bask in the rising or setting sun.  When it does rain it pours through sandy desert and creates Arroyos which zig zag through the landscape.  Small bushes spring to life with new growth and flowers with the arrival of rain.  Some of these small bushes are decdes old.  To the left in the painting above are three "walls".   They make for easy identification of photos or art work painted from the Ranch.

This too, was painted from the Christ in the Desert  Monastery.  Some times the layers of rock look purple sometimes it turns to rose.  Green and gray green layers with yellows and bright red.  I remember one area driving into the ranch thet looked like cacao with mint above the layer like a chocolate mint sunday. The clouds are ever changing and are ash of much interest as the rocky landscape below.

A trip into Abiquiu resulted in this painting above  It ws right in the entrance to the little village and you could really see how the adobe ws used to make this old structure.  On the Ranch they were tearing down some of the old accommodations.  Every piece of wood was precious.  This is the desert and everything is precious.  Plants have fuzzy leaves to capture ever the slightest bit of moisture and winds encourage vegetation to find a place to flourish next to boulders.

Another painting from the painted dessert area.  I was sitting at the edge off an arroyo to get a bit of shade.  The tree in the foreground was twisted and turned like a corkscrew.  The boulders were at its roots to hold it in place when the rains came or the winds blew.  There is no end to the number of subtle grays that are in the desert.  

I really came to love working with Gauche paints in the dessert.  They have a dry matte texture and it seemed to me to echo the feeling of the land itself.  I come from Oklahoma so I have always lived in land that had sparse rainfall and very dry areas.  I remember going on a flight test mission with my husband to the desert in California and thinking wow this is just a brown landscape.  But the more I observed, the more beautiful and distinctive the elements become.  It is a landscape that takes hold of you.  It has been there for millions of years and preceded you in a way the t almost seems to give you the feeling that its just allowing you walk on its history.  David read a quote "that the land knows you are coming". 

I coud not paint fast enough or with enough skill to capture the feeling of this beautiful area.  It was kind  of like a scramble to try to catch the look of the straw grass on the side of a outcropping before the sun moved to something else and its vibrance disappeared.  It is a reminder of how temporal and insignificant mankind is when thinking about the formation of this chimney rock outcropping.  

Catching Shadows would be a good description of painting here.  The change of the formations was ever changing.  From one angle or another they could lookkentirely different.  The sun gives them form and then moves on to another destination.  What  a privilege to spend a month trying to capture this beauty.

Over a period of 28 years Alan and I traveled over as area of the United states in and around Texas  He was and avid reader of history and a lover of the night sky.  While I painted he patiently read and followed along during our trips.  We both experienced the rages and pleasures of the southwestern climate.  New Mexico was one of our favorite places to roam.  When I had the opportunity to  participate in an Artists Residency Program at Ghost Ranch I was thrilled at the prospect of on entire month with no restrictions, set apart from the business of everyday. life to paint as a resident artist in a beloved area. The following three blogs display what can be accomplished with reasonable dedication to painting in and around the painted desert of Abiquiu New Mexico.  

Every morning from my little two room studio I would wake up to the view below. Its a majestic God stacked pile of tricolored rocks that seem to be placed there just so that they can be a backdrop for the sun as it rises in the east, or the sunset as it creeps with a golden mantel down the mesa in the west. Its color intensifies with a few drops of rain and both morning and evening it was the stationary setting for the clouds and the rising of the moon.  I had intended to do more paintings in the way of watercolors, but it seemed that oil was more comfortable in the desert than they were. Of the five watercolors pictured here only two were done plein air 

The only thing more beautiful than the earth in Abiquiu are the skies above.  They are an overhanging display of all that Mother Nature can throw down from the heavens.  From storms rolling in from miles away interspersed with the sun finding its way to be seen they are a source of awe for the painter, the poet or the scientist.  

The rains, when they do manage to come, etch into the desert and form arroyos which are often very deep. The shelter and the water that  flows there  and allows forests to flourish.  Any vegetation that manages to grow, whether in the desert or the arroyos, finds itself at the mercy of the elements.  I could have easily spent the entire month drawing and painting only the remains of trees.  They are broken and twisted and turned in the most incredible ways.  The painting below is not finished.  This twisting of trees was still alive and I have yet to figure out a way to show that.  

Below is not finished, it was started as rain was moving into the Ranch.  I simply sat in my doorway and began painting.