The session started off pretty shaky for me. I ended up making a few thumbnail sketches for composition. I did another to work on color, light, and surfaces. Once my palette got a bit toned down I worked a bit on the last sketch that focused on the basic shapes and relationships.

Hopefully sharing the steps will be useful. Of course, at the moment, it is a bit embarrassing. The sketch may seem a bit wonky, and in a sense it is. With all the clumsiness, or in spite of it, the likeness is there. I am just taking it one little painting at a time.

It was good to see Elizabeth Jose, George Chacon, and Adeana Carlyle again.

I really need to arrive a bit earlier to get a good spot.

Will has been interested in identifying the local flora. We stopped in several places to grab photos of the tiny bunches of flowers that sit near the edge of the trail.

At this altitude, these are the first days of spring. Fresh bunches of leaves are pushing out of young but almost bare branches. The air is alive with the scents of new life mingling with slight musk of steady decay below the forest floor.

I have been doing abstract stuff for a while now. I didn’t know if I could make the transition to the demands of working with the model and the tight window of time everything has to happen in. Getting all my paint gear together is usually enough of a challenge. At best I was thinking it would be an exercise.

Our model for the day was Kevin “K2″ Lewis from Arroyo Seco. His mother has an organic soap business that he helps out with. They sell their soaps at a shop near the pottery studio there. He is a solid and handsome 6’3″. He did a great job, even with each of the painters pushing him to move back into position now and then.

I arrived without a full range of brushes. There were four 1″ and 1.5″ cheapy things and a couple tiny detail brushes. The challenge of the day ended up trying to make the painting work even-though the face was only four times the size of the brush. It is actually something I wanted to try for a while. I love thick and confident brush work. Oh, and yes, his hands are very large.

Looking at the painting as a thumbnail on the computer makes me cringe a bit. There are quite a few things to solve (resolve) in the image. Well, at least it was a fun start and good way to get my wheels spinning for the day.

Looking down at the John Dunn bridge in Arroyo Hondo. About to walk down to the hot springs.

Pottery hit with a shot gun

Acequia at Taos Pueblo

Cemetery and old church at Taos Pueblo

We stopped in at the Taos Cow for some ice cream in Arroyo Seco. A scoop of ice cream costs more than a gallon of gas.

It was a gray day but still beautiful. There were a couple horses just outside the town. They were sweet, calm, and curious. Maybe they were just bored.

I noticed a scattering of lichen or some sort of rootless plant sitting on the warm dusty earth. It was like they had fallen from the sky like mana or confetti.