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| I love the abstractions geology creates. Canyon Wall, 5x8 gouache on 300 gsm watercolor paper. |
Good spring weather continues here in the high desert of northern New Mexico. I'm seeing our beautiful spring flowers opening up: the deep red blossoms of the claret cup cactus, the heavy blooms of the yucca, the delicate, orange flowers of the desert mallow. With these have come the birds. Hummingbirds zip crazily around our feeder; the grosbeaks have begun to monopolize the feeding stations. Although last week we had some hot weather—80+ to me is hot—over the weekend a front moved through, bringing welcome rain and more seasonable temperatures.
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| Banana yucca |
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| Claret cup cactus |
With the good weather, I've been able to maintain my discipline of heading most afternoons into the canyon for sketching. Shade is more important now than before. New Mexico is windy in the spring, but the breeze seems to die the deeper into the canyon I go. My viewpoints are dictated by the most comfortable rock in the shade. (I sit and work in my lap for these sketches.) The other day, I came home with a few insect bites, and yesterday I noticed ants crawling up my leg. Now I tuck the pants into my socks and my shirt tail into my pants to keep out the ants.
I thought I'd share the most recent set of sketches. I'm continuing to focus on canyon walls, ledges and rocks. Close-ups of these seem to provide a quality of abstraction that I'm enjoying right now. I'll save the long vistas for a future sketchbook.
If any of these 5x8 gouache sketches appeal to you, I'll be happy to create a new painting based on it. (Rather than cut out and sell pages from my book.)
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| I couldn't resist this 150-foot, magnificent ponderosa! |
