That yellow sign there is absolutely no lie. It always gives me pause at this point, faced with a road that just drops off and the Rio Grande River Gorge straight ahead.
This is the road from the west side of the gorge down to Pilar and the Taos River Road: steep, winding and a lot of signs that warn about falling rocks- you know the ones that show some helpless car threatened with a boulder dropping out of the sky.
I am headed to the Village of Pilar to join up with the High Desert Painters for a day of plein air painting.
It is always somewhat miraculous that we even meet at all, there being no cell service in this part of the country but we look for cars, or painting umbrellas and amazingly we connect. It was a week of some harsh weather changes with high winds and rain - not ideal - but Friday was perfect. When we eventually found each other on the hillside above Pilar we enjoyed views in almost every direction. Judy Howells and Janis Loverin looked to the view over Pilar and Jana Van Wyk set her sights on the river. The piece on my unmanned easel on the right is of the view to the west and down the canyon.
Click on the photos to view them larger.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Spring in Taos
Labels:
Ann Templeton,
Coni Grant,
High Desert Painters,
Jana Van Wyk,
Janis Loverin,
Judy Howells,
Nelson Hubley,
Nita Harper,
Plein air painting in Taos
After 20 years in a design career I turned to painting full time. Plein air painting is my niche and the outdoors is where I find my greatest inspiration. I have been influenced by painters of the American West and Canada where plein air has a great tradition, but also by the expressionist painters of the early 20th century.
In the studio I use plein air sketches to create work in oil and acrylic that push the landscape genre beyond conventional boundaries into more varied forms of abstraction with a focus on design.
When not painting in the landscape, I work out of my PleinView Studio in Alamosa, Colorado - where I live, paint and teach Painting all year around.
I am represented in Colorado at Earthwood Collections in Estes Park, at the Fare Bella Gallery in Manitou Springs, and in New Mexico at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art in Taos.
See more of my work at www.ConiGrant.com, follow me on Instagram, and read about the painting life - at www.PleinView.blogspot.com.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Painting in the Rio Grande Gorge
In May 2010 the High Desert Painters met in Taos, New Mexico to paint on location for a week. Above, back left-to-right, Janis Loverin, Jana Van Wyk, Judy Howells, Nita Howell. front, Coni Grant
Janis Loverin
Janis Loverin
"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures." -Henry Ward Beecher. This is my journey of dipping my brush into my own soul and painting what I find. I have a passion for our American West and those landscapes are my primary focus. But, averaging 6-8 weeks of travel a year, I will paint whereever I am. I usually paint on location, i.e. plein air, but also revel in taking a plein air study and my photographs and using them to create a large, more thoughtful, studio work. In addition to bold brushwork and vibrant color, the power of the composition is becoming more important to my work. The work of Vincent Van Gogh, Maynard Dixon, Edgar Payne, Birger Sandzen, and Walt Gonske has been a huge inspiration to me.
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