"November Fields" 14x18 ins. oil on canvas

We're going back to the same location tomorrow afternoon. I liked this scene right away when I saw it but realized that the corn stalk stacks and all that stubble were going to be a challenge and a half. It turned out O.K. I think but IT WAS A BIT OF A CHALLENGE! The whole thing has that kind of forlorn, "waiting for the first snows" kind of look.................. of course we could be in for a very long wait. That's a dormant volcano in the background and we did spy snow on the upper slopes one cold morning a few years back. We had a maid back in the 80's who saw flakes in the air when she was a little girl. 

People used to tell us that they couldn't move south permanently because they would miss the changing seasons - fact is the seasons do change here, only they just don't slide into that long, ghastly deep freeze one and all seasons are plein air painting seasons. You just have to find a little shade from time to time when it gets too hot. Am I gloating? You bet - this place is a painters delight!

new ones ..........

..... so far untitled. Les will recognize this one. We had a great day together a week or so ago. We started in the morning at the Presa and ended up painting near Dolores Hidalgo later on, 'till about 5 pm. It was very gray by the late afternoon so I added a little sunshine back in the studio.

Well now .................... I see I have taken a picture of the wrong one. I meant to post the other we did that day but this one was from a few days prior - Elaine will recognize this'n ......so confusing to the old man! It is from the Presa area however - no cigar I guess but close. I will put the other on real soon.

Sunny Monday Morning

Start

You wouldn't know it from the look of this but it turned out to be a very busy location. Busy, maybe a bit chilly in the shade with a constant cool wind but in some ways perfect. There is motorcycle parking just behind where we were standing, with a 20 foot open space to the corner, so we were again in nobody's way. Not that it matters much in San Miguel - it's pretty hard to strain the peoples seemingly endless patience. But the sidewalks are only about 2 feet wide in places, so it feels a lot better to plunk our easels somewhere a bit out of the way. Being the slow season we only had 1 student again this morning and that too opens up a larger number of places to set up. We had a cool morning, all doing well. Elaine has painted with us for years and is freshly back from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She  thought the morning here was really warm and balmy. Donna and my blood has obviously thinned in the usual heat because we were freezing! I guess we won't be flying back to Canada to paint snow this winter - we would most certainly perish. 

Well, the colors of this scene really caught our collective eye and I was reasonably happy with my work this morning. I'll probably do a few strokes yet and maybe add some hominids. We had hundreds go by us and they seemed pretty appreciative, so we didn't have to yell at them to go away when they stayed to stare and stare.

"Calle Codo Colors"  9x12 ins. oil on panel

In the end I decided I'd seen bastante people today so I left all trace of the folks out. The interest in this picture was the color any way and I thought it was better left nice and bare. Maybe I'll do a bigger one of it some time and add some human interest - for now es completo.

This morning on Recreo

3 hours into this mornings subject

We had another small class this morning as not too many student painters are in town this time of year. I was a little late to the site but Donna and Yvonne had found a really great place to paint from on this busy, busy street. There's a parking lot inside the large gate to the left and the muchachos put out pylons to keep cars from parking too close to the gate - the street is so narrow that if they parked too close, cars (especially long ones) couldn't make the turn. As it is, biggies like suburbans have to do it in 2 or 3 goes. Well, there was a small car parked behind the pylon to their backs and the 2 of them squeezed into the space left between the trunk and the pylon. Best of all, the 2 of them let me squeeze in between them to paint. It worked out fantastically well and we all had a great time. The lot gate kept the view mostly clear in front of us and the guy with the trunk behind us didn't move his car.

I don't care for the alignment of the red car, dark doorway and church dome. However, it was even worse in reality and I had to alter things a bit to get the composition to come off as well as it did. I'll put a few finishing touches on this, this afternoon or maybe in the morning when I'm a bit fresher. I could almost leave it as is but I think it would be fun to tweak it a bit.

the subject

I used some license in removing both the yellow pylon and the back of Yvonnes head. Also, I should note that it was sunny at first but I didn't get around to taking the photo 'till about noon. Remember - always take your reference photo BEFORE you begin !!!  NO EXCEPTIONS !!!!

"Calle Recreo" 9x12 ins.

FINISHED

and while on that same theme

"Market Day"  8x10 ins. oil on panel

An obvious variation on the same theme as the previous. I may end up doing a larger one of this and probably more of the type but for the moment I'm going to move on to another large landscape for a break.

I've been getting more interested in color as a compositional element. Light was always my first concern up until now. That's still a primary consideration and will continue to be but I always felt that if I ever got that more or less under control I would really like to fully investigate color. Well, it's about time and I'm pretty excited about it. There is lots of color to play with in San Miguel and I'm sure it'll keep me going 'till eternity. Back in art school, oh so many ages ago, I was looking forward to the color class more than any other subject. The teacher killed it for me on the first day with the statement "anybody can make a painting work using dulled down, grayed colors - we are going to use pure, bright hues to make our paintings sing "etc......

Well folks, a hall full of trumpets does not make for a timeless symphony. 

You're going to have to arrange your instruments  in some way .............

As in most aspects of painting, subtlety, balance and rhythm is where the beauty lies in Art. Go for it! and remember the best sailing is on  "the uncharted sea".

Very Fast Food

"Platicando" 16x20 in. oil on canvas

This is a picture of one of the vendors and amiga over near the San Juan de Dios church. She's waiting for the kids to get out of the school next door to the church and she'll sell them a bunch of stuff that is actually pretty bad for them. However, the ninos love the stuff and she, her set up and friends contribute  much appreciated color and charm to the scene. No, it's not a plein air study but it came to life owing to the fact that the camera was at hand on one of our Monday morning outings. The tasteful table cloth and the pea green cart wheel simply blow me away .....................

How Time Flies when you're painting .........

First up, - this mornings plein air. It's not signed and I'll probably do a little work on it but not much. We went back to the San Antonio church and managed to find a new angle or two off the square. Only 4 showed up today as it's really slowing down for this fall's shoulder season but we had a lot of fun and went for lunch and a beer after. While we painted a guy who lives across the calle was watching us from his upstairs window and finally came down to have a word with me. He liked what he saw and told me he was a guitar player. Great! - I love live Spanish guitara when painting outside .....one of the perks of this line of work. So he nipped up and got his guitar, sat down on the curb and picked some of the worst guitar music I've ever heard for the next 30 minutes or so. It was a painful surprise, for when a Mexican tells you he plays guitara you can generally rest assured you are in for some class entertainment. Well ..... I didn't know how to react - didn't want to embarrass the guy. So, I pretended I was REALLY CONCENTRATING to cover for the lack of applause. It was a bit of a tooth gritter. You never know what's going to befall you on the streets of old Mexico.

Below:  some of the new ones I've been working on over the last month. 

"The Corn Seller" 16x20 ins.  oil on panel

"Afternoon Shadows along the Rio Laja"  30x40 ins. oil on canvas

"Evening after the Rain"  20x30 ins.  oil on panel