Michael Chesley Johnson's Holiday Letter
16 November 2007
Welshpool, Campobello Island
Holiday Greetings to All!
I came home from the Sedona Plein Air Festival to find Hurricane Noel whipping across the Canadian Maritimes. Noel dropped over 4 inches of rain with 70 mile-an-hour gusts. And soon after that, we had another 2 inches of rain and more wind. Needless to say, most of the leaves have been ripped from the trees. Still, their beautiful colour litters the ground.
I had a great time in Sedona, as many of you will know if you've been following my blog. I got to paint with some top-notch artists such as William Scott Jennings, Michael Obermeyer, John Poon and two dozen others, and to see some truly spectacular autumn scenery.
After Sedona, I went to Santa Fe to tour the galleries on Canyon Road and renew old acquaintances. I had a delightful visit with Albert Handell and also saw his retrospective solo show at Ventana Fine Art. I also landed a new gallery in Santa Fe, Galerie Esteban (www.galerieesteban.com), which is making me part of a 4-man winter show in a couple of months. Being in a Santa Fe gallery is an exciting development for me, and I'm very pleased in particular with this one, which is the creation of the internationally-known guitarist, Esteban (visit www.estebanmusic.com to hear some of his music.) Below is one painting that will be in the show, "Santa Fe Glow" 16x20, oil:
After all this, I headed to a tiny town called Mora.
Mora is a historic Spanish town on the eastern side of the Sangre de Christo mountain range, about an hour from Santa Fe and a little more than that from Taos. Mora is nestled in the cottonwoods on the Mora River with fine views of the Mora Valley and the mountains. Plein air painters such as Handell, Ann Templeton and Walt Gonske think this is a very special place. Trina and I like it so much that we are buying an 1890s adobe there.
We plan to live in the adobe in the wintertime and run a studio gallery out of it. Mora is right on the road to the Angelfire ski resort, and we think the gallery will do well. Adjacent to the property is yet another and much larger adobe for sale. We think it'd be great if another artist were to buy this, and we could turn the two properties into an "art compound." If any of you are interested, here's a link: www.moravalley.com/mvre/rud_01.htm If you are thinking of buying, let me know, and perhaps we can work together on what would be a fun project.
Before I left, I had a painting accepted into the annual Pastel Society of New Mexico juried national exhibition. I'm proud to say this gives me Signature status. So, you'll start seeing "PSNM" after my name in addition to "PSA." (I'm already a Signature member of the Pastel Society of America.) Also, I had a painting accepted into the annual Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional juried show. You can find more about these and other events on my "News & Events" page.
The Sedona Plein Air Festival, followed by a short stay in Santa Fe and Mora, capped my travel season. I'm home now until spring. One of my projects this winter is to complete my next book. Backpacker Painting: Outdoors with Pastel & Oil will be an art instruction book. I'm looking forward to this book, since it will incorporate many of my tried-and-true approaches to outdoor painting, which I've presented to many of you in my workshops.
I just completed my 2008 portfolio. This 44-page paperback contains 37 new Maritime and Southwest paintings, both oil and pastel, all done in the past year. You can order the portfolio directly from the publisher for $15 + shipping at http://stores.lulu.com/miragenm. As a reminder, you can also order my 2008 calendar as well as my first book, Through a Painter's Brush: A Year on Campobello Island, from the same place. Any of these would made a great Christmas gift! (The calendar is $17; the paperback book is $30; and the hardcover is $45.)
Although winter is right around the corner, I'm expecting to paint outdoors throughout the season. I managed pretty well last winter, and I think I will this year, too. I also plan to start doing much larger paintings, some as large as 16x20. I may have to buy bigger brushes! And since the big paintings will take longer to paint, I may have to paint them over several days, returning to the same spot under the same weather conditions. I'll ask Santa for a pair of those insulated coveralls hunters wear, and maybe some chemical heat packs.
That's all for now. Have a great Thanksgiving (if you're in the U.S.) and a blessed Christmas!
Michael
PS Don't forget to check out my website for News & Upcoming Events and Workshops!
