I’ve donated “Stumbled Upon” to the KCOS Art Auction this year. It will go on auction Friday April 27th in the 5:30-6 slot. Get full information here: https://www.kcosartauction.org/april27
This is my fourth year donating to this great cause, I love public television, and I hope that you’ll check out the auctions and take home some lovely artwork.
These are the last three paintings I’ve donated to the KCOS Art Auction! The big sunflower (Flor del Sol) won the Juror Award in 2018.
‘In the Spotlight” and “Cactus Queen” will both be on display for sale at the Cafe de Mesilla, a charming breakfast/lunch and coffee shop at 2190 Avenida de Mesilla. The show is hosted by the NM Watercolor Society and it’s part of our Alternate Spaces, an informal display of watercolor and morel The show will be up now through the end of May 2019. The Artists’ Reception is Saturday, April 11th from 2-5 pm as part of the 10-10 Second Saturday Art Hop in the Mesilla/University area. Galleries and museums will be open through the day for you to take a tour of the area and a bite to eat. Hope to see you there!
Hello, and welcome to March! Today is the deadline to enter the New Mexico Watercolor Society exhibit of the Southern Chapter to be held in Las Cruces in mid May. I just entered these two paintings and I’ll hear mid month if either or both have been accepted. Fingers crossed because entry into this show will be the 5 entries needed in the time frame in order to have “signature status” in the membership. That means that from then on, I can sign my paintings with NMWS after my name.
The painting on the left is Apache Plume Morning (that’s the common name of the pink shrub in the foreground) and Standing Proud (flowers and seed pods — my favorite! — of the Yellow bird of paradise shrub.
These needed some additional tweaking this week and I’m happier with them than I was before. In the meantime I’m working on paintings for the Albuquerque show of NMWS also in May. Working more hours as a librarian makes finding painting time challenging, but I’m learning the balance…
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I’ll be sure to let you know what happens with these entries.
My piece for an exhibition opening Friday night is called Keep on Truckin’. This toy truck has been played with young ones in our family for generations and is now living the quiet life of retirement by my brother’s hearth.
Keep on Truckin’ seems to be my life theme these days. After being sick several weeks over the holidays, then our house flooded due to a water filter becoming dislodged, so it has been noisy with fans and turmoil at my house this past week. So I think painting will be on the back burner for several months until decisions are made on repairs and life returns to normal. C’est la vie I guess!
The show’s theme is “For the Love of Toy Trains, Models, and Miniatures” (and also includes antique toys) and is hosted by the New Mexico Watercolor Society – Southern Chapter at the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, 351 N. Mesilla Street . The opening is this Friday, February 1st, from 5-8, and the show runs until March 2nd.
Hello everyone! It’s been a productive week so far including doing several value sketches, finishing Cactus Queen and hopefully finishing this piece to submit both to a show this weekend! We shall see…
I wanted to share the progress on this piece including my set up. I paint exclusively now standing up at my easel for the most part with the painting almost vertical. If I need to I can quickly level the painting to not have the paint puddle. So on the left I have several reference photos, not working completely and specifically from any of them, but largely using the value sketch to guide me.
And I’m happy to announce that pendants made from prints of my watercolors are now available at Dorsey’s Cards, 6101 Dew Dr, on El Paso’s Westside, along with greeting cards. Stop by and say hello to Andrea Dorsey and her staff!
My prints, cards, and magnets are available at the Marketplace @ Placita Santa Fe, 5034 Doniphan inside the Magic Bistro!
Throughout the week I kept adding blooms and pod stalks to the practice piece and it looks pretty good cropped to this size, so I’m calling it done! It’s an 8″ x 10″ painting which would mat to an 11″ x 14″ frame. The price for it matted but not framed is $95.
Why is it called Paradise in Yellow? Because the flower is a desert shrub known as Yellow Bird of Paradise. Thanks for stopping by, and as always, I’d love to hear your comments.
And that means back to painting for me! Getting back to a regular schedule just feels so good. I spent a couple of hours in the studio yesterday painting yellow Bird of Paradise blossoms on scrap paper in preparation for working on the larger painting I blogged about the other day.
I was really happy with the bloom on the left but then I used too heavy a hand on the delicate red stamens that are so distinctive. On the right blossom I used a smaller brush, less paint and tried to do each in one “take”. I painted the stamens first, let them dry and then painted the bloom.
These blooms were done without drawing first. I wanted to use the paintbrush as the drawing tool and focus on the shapes, curves and 3D effect of the petals and using warm and cool yellows to achieve it. I enjoyed the practice session a lot!
Yellow bird of paradise in progress
I’ve had some time off from painting because summer with teens is busy and I’ve had knee surgery and other stresses. But now I’m on the mend, and school starts soon, but when will painting start? HMMMMM…. that is the big question I’ve been asking myself for a week now, as I find time to mop the kitchen floor, organize cabinets, etc.
Does any of this sound familiar? I bet I’m not the only artist to feel like this.
In the organization, I found a handwritten note that I had made and then lost, and I want to share it with you. It’s tips on how to get back into the groove, Here are three that I got by listening to this art motivational podcast by Alyson Stanfield: https://www.artbizblog.com/reboot-podcast/
So how did this work for me? I showed up today, I worked on a piece that I was already not happy with and had put masa paper on top to have a fresh start with background colors coming through, and I remembered to squint to see values. I’m excited by delicate flowers, especially desert ones, so this project worked to get me rebooted today. I like how the masa paper which is a Japanese thin paper that puts a texture down helps the delicate blossom effect. And what I found is that I LOVE putting paint on paper. that’s the thing I need to remember when I get out of the groove again.
I also used to paint from computer screens thinking that it’s better to be able to zoom in, but I’ve found that I prefer painting by referring to a printed photo.
So, what works to get you back into the groove? any tips you can share? I’d love to hear some…thank you for stopping by today!
Apples a la Blasdell
Take a break from the heat this Friday evening — it’s cool inside the watercolor show at EPCC! I will have almost a dozen paintings on display so it’s a great place to see a lot of my work in one place. L’Alliance Francaise d’El Paso is hosting their annual watercolor show at the Administrative Services Center of EPCC at 9050 Viscount. this Friday, August 10th from 6-8 pm. The food and drinks are yummy and there is a lot of fabulous art to view.
To get there, take the Hunter/Viscount exit, turn left, go past Montwood intersection and turn at the light with the EPCC sign on top.
Spurge Among the Prickly Pear
The show continues until Labor Day and the hours are 8-5 Monday through Friday. The pieces are not for sale at the show, but can be purchased directly from me after. Remember, as an email subscriber you get 10% off the price of any original purchased directly from me! The prices of these pieces run from $295 for the 16 x 20 size to $425.
Here are some behind the scenes views as I got ready for the show this weekend. First, I needed to round up framed paintings, and because there’s only so much storage room at my house, I needed to go to my inlaws’ house where I happily “store” them on their walls! I am so fortunate to have them, in many many ways.
Then I made sure no smudges or dust was on the paintings/glass and redid the labels if necessary. I don’t remember where I found this idea online, but I make bags from old towels by sewing up two sides so it makes a pouch to carry each painting. For the 1/2 sheet paintings, or the ones that are 20″ x 28″ or larger in size, I’ve used a larger shower sheet/beach towel size and sewed a hand towel sideways at one end. The smaller towel is not quite as long but it works to make a large enough bag to carry the bigger framed pieces. I am normally quite the procrastinator, so I was proud that I got all this done and in my trunk a day before the show setup!
Here’s one of the “X” freestanding walls that holds my work. I’ve included what I call the painting “backstory” on the labels along with media, my name, phone and title of the work. It’s what I was thinking, or what inspired me, where I was, etc.
Rachel Murphree Watercolors 