MLK day

Monument Creek.  Cheena Hot Springs, Alaska.

Another beautiful day.  Walked the dog, fetched the dog, rode my bike to the MLK parade.  Unloaded the kiln and started glazing the load for thursday/friday delivery.  lots of neutrals, so the glazing goes pretty quickly.  Had to (figuratively) grit my teeth as my helper repeated some mistakes in the waxing process. I think it will take though, and I am looking forward to the improvement.

I'm in a forgiving mood. The result is paintings finished.  Or, perhaps, abandoned with intent to frame.  Montana Wheat is close to completion. I'm calling it Oklahoma Pop, with reverence to  mid century northern California painters.  (Painting as cakes. Thank you Wayne Thiebaud).  It needs  some lining for details and some forgiveness.  A reprise of my large Taos canyon paintings from 1985 is attaining texture, and a great sand dunes painting is beyond improvement.  So - I am moving back to Snata Elena Canyon and the Rio Grande River, and looking forward to starting another large painting.

January thaw

The January thaw is here. A week of days nice enough to ride the bike and to bring thrown pots to the table in the outside courtyard.  I'm glad to be filling a wholesale order this week.

Here is a new painting in progress for the spring show. It is the first large painting from the Alaska trip 2014.  Near Lewistown in the Judith Basin. I imagine the buffalo loved it here.

Montana Wheat (oil on board) 22" h x 30" w

This impasto treatment of Oklahoma canola fields (below) has been in progress for several months.  I haven't added anything for a while, so perhaps it is done.

Oklahoma Canola ( oil on board) 9" h x 12" w

Scene near Santa Fe, NM.

oil on board. 8" x 10"

Clay three ways

Here is a view of Caprock Canyon Park, located about 80 miles south and east of Canyon, Texas, which itself is just south of Amarillo. I talked about it in a previous post, but didn't have the picture available. This, I think, marks the eastern edge of the palisade plains.

This is palo duro canyon just 10 miles east of Canyon.  We drove in and traversed three water crossings that dipped right down to the water with posts showing water levels.  I guess in the spring and during storms, you can become stranded in the park while waiting for flood waters to subside.  The canyon itself is supposedly about 120 miles longs.  I have yet to check the maps.  At Caprock park, they seemed to think they were not a part of Palo Duro Canyon.  When we left Palo Duro we met a line of cars about 8 miles long arriving for a hot air balloon event.  

Santa Fe, was a lively spot for the holidays; much busier than winter 2008 when the economy was down.  The gallery owners are still tending the store, however, so I don't believe it has ever recovered fully.  We took one day to drive a close friend to Red River Ski area north of Taos.  On the way back we stopped at Michael's Kitchen for some comfort food.  I had hash browns covered with green chili stew.  This image is of the famous church in Ranchos de Taos.  The Ravens were out in force. We saw an eagle dance at San il defonso pueblo and visited Bandelier Nat'l Monument.