Birthday and Deserts : 2024-04

To celebrate Kimberly's birthday, we had some cake and drove to Taos. The original plan was to fly a bit further, but it was super windy and Taos was a shorter drive. I hadn't been so it was nice to see and nice of Kimberly to compromise. I'm sure we'll make the original planned flight someday.

We found a pretty great room on the drive down and the hotel, The Taos Inn - or now the Historic Taos Inn, was a great spot. Right downtown, two places to eat and live music almost every day. We were lucky to get a suite in the new building. Apparently environment control is a big deal in the older buildings.

It was nice to walk around and see the 'art' scene. And we found a great Mexican restaurant, La Cueva Cafe. They don't have a lot of room, but the food was about as good as you can get! Above left is me listening to Kimberly's wisdom. On the right is a great picture - of her.

On the way back, we drove west for a bit to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It was very nice as was the scenery. You can walk back and forth on either side. If you want a rest area, bathrooms and local merchants, those are on the west side. We also saw some bighorns - both in the valley of the gorge and right along the road. They were neat to watch. We were surprised to see a baby with two males and no females in sight.

Since we had most of the day to drive back, we were looking for places of interest. This one was very cool and only because we saw it from the road. It's up the hill west of the oldest town in Colorado, San Luis. It's called the Stations of the Cross Shrine. The only way I know that is because I backtracked in on the web. The sign by the chapel simply reads, "CHAPEL". One very cool part was it was completely empty of people - and the chapel door was open! Another was that it is a Stations of the Cross so there are 14 statutes representing each station.

On the left was a statue of Christ on the cross but not nailed. I had never seen that depiction before. It was not a station. On the right is inside the chapel. It was so great the door was unlocked. When we entered, it couldn't've been more than 60 degrees. That is the benefit of adobe construction.

Jesus on the cross with the sun behind and the front of the chapel.

A side view looking north and Station 11 - Jesus is nailed to the cross.

I thought this was a great sculpture.

Thank you for Kimberly for her adventurous spirit and a great couple of days!

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Rufus Hunt : 2024-04

Rufus Hunt

09 April 2024

Acrylic on wood

7.75 x 24.25 in (19.7 x 61.6 cm)

The hunt will cover a lot of territory.

FOR SALE

I found another well-priced frame but it had quite the unusual dimensions. I wanted to work on rock formations and people. So I prepped a piece of wood from an old dresser and kind of followed the motif of Buffalo County and Long Mount. I liked the very first sky with the streaked orange and blue, but I also wanted some dramatic clouds in there. I was pretty happy with the end result.

The gif covers six days - but I lost track of actual time spent painting.

Above right is the frame it was designed to fit. 

This was image in the frame when purposed. I was entertaining "Living Room" as the title.

It would have worked as the cowboy is in a pretty cool and very spacious living room.

However, I thought I'd go with something a little more pertinent to the gun.

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Belle and Stars

I bought this for Christmas and K did a little rearrange - very cool.

Also, she put those tiny lights around a painting of mine (BRK) and they fit perfectly. 

I was tired of Belle's side window popping open during flight. The latch would vibrate itself until it could no longer hold. And, if in flight, it slams up pretty hard. I cut an insert from one piece of wood (for strength) and it fit like a glove. However, I neglected to foresee the extraction. I.e., it was too difficult to grab securely enough to pull it out. I just added a little eye screw and I think it's going to work very well.

A gif of the insertion and extraction.

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Bad Stairwell : 2024-04

Bad Stairwell

06 April 2024

Acrylic on canvas

11 x 14 in (27.9 x 35.6 cm)

FOR SALE

The original concept is gone (didn't take a photo) which had several people climbing or on rocks. An earlier stage of this version had a body without the horns. While that may be accurate, I thought the horns would add a little extra intrigue. Also, the smoke wasn't billowing into and from the crevasse but it seemed a bit unrealistic to have an arbitrary barrier there. I still struggle with rocks from time to time and I'm not sure how I feel about these.

This was the frame intended for the canvas so black seemed to match nicely.

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Keep Walking : 2024-04

Keep Walking

04 April 2024

Acrylic on board

9 x 11 in (22.9 x 27.9 cm)

It's easy to do but often some level of guilt creeps in.

FOR SALE

I made a frame from left over edges and cut a board to fit. I played with some custom finish(es) on the frame. The end result (shown below) was something of a gold, bronze, black finish. I was more pleased than I thought I'd be. However, I still had a 9x11 board without a subject. I was reading a Smithsonian magazine which my brother gives as a gift (great gift, by the way) and came across some pictures from Sep-Oct 1941. They reminded me of the rather scary reality that humans can let almost anything become 'normal'. The though of 'just keep walking' or 'it's not my problem' really facilitates that normalness.

The gif covers about a day and a half.  The frame seems a good fit.

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Pierced One : 2024-04

Pierced One

01 April 2024

Acrylic on hardboard

12.25 x 21 in (31.1 x 53.3 cm)

“They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

FOR SALE

This was an Easter tribute that I wanted to enter in a call for art, but didn't finish it in time. I was rather pleased with it and doing the Roman guard with no reference added to that pleasure. The quote is from John 19:37, but he is actually referencing back to Zechariah. Zechariah 12:10, to be exact. I also relearned this Easter that Psalms 22 predicts much of what happens on Good Friday. 

This gif covers three days - started after Good Friday and didn't finish until a day after Easter.

The hardboard was cut to fit this frame which was holding a copy of

With My Rabbit by Hélène LÉVEILLÉE. I didn't plan to use the mat, but

it looked better than I thought - if you're willing to lose some of the image.

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2024-03 : Stones Will Cry

Stones Will Cry

30 March 2024

Acrylic on canvas

14 x 18 in (35.6 x 45.7 cm)

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Luke 19:40

FOR SALE

This was another painting for a call far art called "ART ALOUD". It was Easter weekend so I wanted to paint something as a tribute to He who allows me to paint. This was a very frustrating painting. The gif below shows how much it transformed, but if it were actually filmed, you could better appreciate my frustration. The original canvas deserves some attention. It was a vase of daisies and was painted 49 years ago. That was pretty cool. There was a note on the back from Mozelle to her mother. It reminds me how a simple note can add a lot of history.

The gif took place in one morning.  Stones Will Cry in the frame in which it was purchased.

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Crown of Thorns : 2024-03

Crown of Thorns

29 March 2024

Acrylic on hardboard

11 x 11 in (27.9 x 27.9 cm)

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

They clothed him in a purple robe...

John 19:2

FOR SALE

This was painted for a call for art titled "ART ALOUD". The intent was

to link art to something written. I was pleased to actually finish this on Good Friday.

This was the frame intended for the piece.

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Lunar Jolt : 2024-03

Lunar Jolt

22 March 2024

Acrylic on canvas

16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Can you imagine seeing something like this?  A lunar eclipse is awesome enough, but this?

FOR SALE

This was the final (at the time) painting I made for a call for art titled "TEMPEST". At the moment, this isn't really having an impact on the earth, but I would imagine it wouldn't take very long to start feeling the repercussions. I think seeing something like this would be incredible, but would probably be better in a simulation.

Gif showing some steps along the way - two days elapsed.

FOR SALE

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