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| This is the scene that greated us on our arrival home. Somewhere in all that is a path that needs to be cleared to Raku's pen. |
First, to answer the question: I hope to paint very soon!
But before I get into that, let me tell you about my trip. I'm home now, after 2820 miles. That's the distance, more or less, between Campobello Island and my studio in New Mexico. Tiring? Yes, but we had a few respites along the way. Read on!
Closing up the Campobello studio was, as always, bittersweet. Paintings came down to be stacked up against the walls, facing away from the light. Art materials containing water were boxed up in coolers and stashed in the cellar to protect them against the cold Canadian Maritime winter. Plastic sheeting was pulled over everything else to guard against dust and stuff falling from the ceiling. (My barn studio has a resident red squirrel who likes to decorate my studio with pink Fiberglas insulation.) After that, we took a few hikes to say goodbye to a place that is beautiful well into fall. “We are leaving too early,” we told ourselves. Next year, we'll probably stay longer.
Along the way west, we stopped in Vermont to visit family. I also met with Marcia and Jeremiah, a couple of old friends I haven't seen since 2009. (That it had been so long surprised all of us; my last contact with them was shortly after the pandemic began, when I called to tell them that George, another of our friends, had recently passed on, not a victim of the virus but of pancreatic cancer. “Let's not let it be so long between calls,” we agreed.) From Vermont, we traveled to Indiana to spend a couple of days with a painter friend. Doug was the one who introduced me to gouache a few years ago, and it was thanks to him that I was able to ride the crest of the initial wave of this new fad. This time he introduced me to Tom's Donuts. It's a “thing” in that part of Indiana. We also did a little sketching each day.
From there, it was on to Chicago to visit more family. My sister-in-law, Greta, is a painter. She's doing very well painting and selling large canvases. Although I don't paint anything like her, I find her work inspiring in color and brush work. She also is a wonderful baker and gave us some bread that has now traveled with us to New Mexico. Then it was a pedal-to-the-metal, making overnight stops in Topeka, Kansas, and Clayton, New Mexico. Topeka, we discovered, has some beautiful streets paved with bricks and lined with historic Victorian homes. Despite the heat—it was probably 90 and definitely very humid—we walked up and down these streets to admire the architecture.
And now I am home, still unpacking. We were greeted on our arrival with a yard full of fantastic wildflowers—sunflowers, chest-high—and paths that had somehow vanished in the weeds. The monsoon season this summer was apparently of historic proportions. Unpacking is happening between bouts of clearing pathways. (It's still rattlesnake season here.)
So, what about painting? In two weeks, I'll be participating in the Escalante Canyons Art Festival in Escalante, Utah. The event runs from September 12-25, 2022. Stamping of canvases starts Friday, September 16, followed by painting on-location. Finished paintings are due on Wednesday, September 21, with judging on Thursday, September 22. The exhibit and sale happens Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24. It's been several years since I've been to the area, but I remember it as a fantastic place of canyons and cliffs. For full details, visit https://escalantecanyonsartfestival.org/
Also, I'll be painting in the Prescott (AZ) Plein Air Festival, October 13-16, 2022. Prescott isn't far from my old stomping grounds around Sedona, and I'm excited to go back and paint. The reception that ends the event is on October 16; the sale and exhibition continues through December 21. For full details, visit: https://highlandscenter.org/prescott-plein-air/
I have an opening in my October 2-7, Taos, New Mexico, painting retreat for experienced plein air painters! It's only a month away, and if you're at all interested, you need to contact me immediately. Cost is $300, which does not include lodging, meals or travel. What it does include is my expertise from painting in the area over many years, daily critiques, visits to local museums and galleries, plus the camaraderie of like-minded participants. I've included some photos of the area below to whet your appetite. Contact me now if interested!
Besides the Taos retreat, I have the following teaching events coming up:
- November 3, 2022: Phoenix, AZ, demonstration for Arizona Plein Air Painters
- November 7-10, 2022: Sedona, AZ, painting retreat for experienced plein air painters
Contact me if interested in any of the above. After these, I will be sequestering myself over the winter in my studio for studio work.
Finally, if you're ever in New Mexico, I welcome you to visit my studio, where you can see (and purchase!) some of the work I've created in the last 20 years of painting in the Southwest. You can find the contact information on my website: www.MChesleyJohnson.com
Here are a few of the 5x8 gouache sketches I made while in Indiana:
