I Went to Sante Fe and Loved the Mailboxes

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Originally uploaded by Renee paints

Thats sounds crazy! My husband Jay and I recently returned from a trip, (our first) to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I heard about the landscape, the art, the food...adobe, green chile everything, and 50 shades of brown...It is a beautiful city, along with the wilderness that surrounds it! As all the gallery staff explained...Santa Fe is the 2nd largest art market in the country. Truly remarkable art, everywhere!
Armed with my trusty camera and my iphone, I took hundreds of photos during the trip. Along with taking pictures, I instructed my husband on the shots I wanted him to take..."bend down and shoot up through the tree branches", "get more of the blue sky", "before you eat that...let me take a picture". He is a good sport and used to being married to an artist.
I think the first Santa Fe image I will be working with are the mailboxes in a row. I just love the colors and designs! Then...on to cowboy boots, green chile enchilada plate and lovely images of the mesa.

Sanctuary

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Originally uploaded by Renee paints

I have been enjoying my yard and all the vegetation that I have planted and watered and coaxed over the years. My somewhat new addition is my little fountain. I grabbed my phone a few weeks back and headed outside to explore. I have this phone app thats lets me take photos that have an altered appearance, somewhat vintage-esque.
Being a visual artist, I am always intrigued by imagery with a different perspective. Often, these images find a home in one of my paintings. My fountain may appear in an upcoming painting, (minus my toes in the lower center of the picture). I am working on lots of new pieces this summer! The hard part will be narrowing down all the choices of inspiration.

Blank Books

Ahhhhhh....blank books. After the Hopes and Dreams art exhibit that I organized last year for the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, I order a few (a bunch) more blank books. So many ideas for ways to make wonderful one of a kind art books...I realize now, that I probably didn't need a whole box of blank books, one or five may have been enough.

I not only have those blank books, but I have boxes of "things" to use in those books; images, stamps, tags, ink, paint, ephemera...love that word. It sounds so lovely and innocent.

I am hoping to tackle some of those wonderful blank books, very soon. I have some fairly concrete ideas. My problem, as an artist is that I love all the possibilities, and don't want to leave anything out.

I did finish my first book a while back...it is all about my admiration for the lovieliest of God's creatures, the bird.

I love birds and for years have felt a connection to them. I feed them and provide an almost always filled birdbath for them. I have saved them from cats, revived them after they crashed into my window. Once, several years ago, I helped a woman in a beautiful linen suit rescue a large bleeding heron from the roadway. She had hit it with her car...a white BMW with white interior, and she was so upset. I helped her wrap the injured bird in a blanket and put it in her car so that she could drive it to the wildlife hospital.
I love birds. So, my finished book is all about birds, and why I would enjoy being a bird...
I will never forget my bird Scout, a quaker parrot that lived with us. He was a character. He could say, "here kitty, kitty, kitty, and "Go Gators" and "whats up". So for all the birds God has sent my way...my book, "Birds are Wonderful"

Hope you enjoy :)

Inspirations

"Blue Shift"'
I am really enjoying the challenges of my newest series of paintings. Finding inspiration from the ocean and moving water means a cooler, more tranquil palette of colors. Water has been an important element in my environment since childhood. Part of growing up in Florida is embracing the springs and ocean as a means of cooling off in the summer-time. Standing in a stream bed in North Carolina listening to the water fall above you...it's heavenly. This is the first finished painting in the series. More to come.

detail from "Blue Shift"

Oral

Oral
Originally uploaded by Renee paints

I was so excited to receive my copy of the book published for the Canvas Project II. This is the exhibition I painted the 5 small canvasses for, put on by the Arthouse Co-op Gallery in Atlanta. 3"x3"...so small, especially for me. The idea was to express the given word (5 in all) on a small canvas. The exhibit has been at several locations this summer, including the Atlanta airport.
Lots of fun.

Inspiration: It's all wet

Morning Koi
Originally uploaded by Renee paints

It might be the long months of extreme heat we have endured here in Florida this year, that has inspired me to explore water in my newest paintings. I grew up in Florida so the heat and humidity should come as no suprise, but the last few weeks have been especially hot!
I welcome the memories of those summer days spent at Ponce DeLeon Springs cooling off in the clear cold waters of the spring, or swimming in the ocean off Daytona Beach.
My two newest paintings are of koi fish in waters of blues and greens. I hope they evoke a sense of refreshment. I enjoyed exploring the textures, layers of colors and reflections that are found in ponds. I am excited to continue that exploration with several more large canvasses I have just begun to work on. I hope you'll stay tuned and enjoy the view.

workshop demo

workshop demo
Originally uploaded by Renee paints

Saturday, August 8th, 2009 I did a demo at the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery in Melbourne. The focus was on texture and color. I showed several ways to create texture on my painting surface. The next step, before deciding on the composition was to start adding several layers of color.
I took the piece to my studio and continued to work, now planning out my composition. I am now adding paint and making decisions on what stays and what goes. That constant challenge that I deal with until a piece is deemed finished. "Finished", the magic word. Then I get to do it all again.