More On "Brushes" And My IPHONE

Most of my battery life has been used up painting on my phone. Not such a great "phone" at that, considering the failed and dropped calls, but such an amazing tool in other ways. My new sketch book, address book, calendar, news source, e-mail tool. I feel as if I've skipped a century, technologically speaking. Now if I could just get through a phone call without having to call back and apologize for the lost connection!

Airplanes and IPhones

Four images painted during a recent airplane trip are shown above. It's amazing how my new phone can make the time traveling bearable. The hours speed by. I used only my fingers as a tool, and the "Brushes" application. A stylus would perhaps make the drawings more exact, but I enjoy the clumsiness, which prevents me from being compulsively accurate.

"Out of the Mud"

Just finished this canvas of the waterlily and lotus pond at Hudson Gardens in Littleton, Colorado. I've painted several versions of this pond - the frustration of always looking at it through the reeds and grasses which surround the water seems a metaphor for so much of life - futilely reaching for that object of desire.

"The Blue Tree"

The first painting I've completed from my recent workshop in Santa Fe, a gate in the midst of Mrs. Bobb's garden.

"The Art of Women" In Downtown Denver

Andra Archer and the Archer Concept Group have curated a surprisingly strong show consisting of very diverse images from 31 of Colorado's women artists. I'm pleased to be included. I was unfamiliar with a number of the artists, and enjoyed seeing all of the work, mostly wall pieces but some sculpture.

The show is co-sponsored by Brookfield Properties and the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce, and continues until August 19th on the main and lower levels of the Republic Plaza, in downtown Denver.

Elspeth Bobbs' Gardens

Thanks to David (owner of Blue Lake Ranch, and the Don Gaspar Compound) Alford's online introduction to garden photographer Charles Mann, my group of painters had the rare privilege of painting for a day in Mrs. Elspeth Bobbs' gardens, La Querencia, just a bit away from Canyon Road in Santa Fe.

The individual gardens, each with its own theme, are visually, intellectually and perhaps botanically challenging. The Funky Shui garden, for example, pokes fun at most of the world's major religions. Under development is a labyrinth demonstrating the theory of evolution. Another garden has at its center King Arthur's sword. Hiding in one of my photos above is a dragon. It's difficult to give a sense of the whole.

Here is a selection from the 400 photos I took during a sun drenched day last week.

Photos From My Santa Fe Workshop

Lynn Diamond paints in the shade of a small porch at the Don Gaspar Compound.







After shoulder surgery a few weeks before the workshop, right handed Kathy Knaus successfully painting with her left hand.







Marsha Feuer and Kathy Knaus paint adobe buildings.










Suzanne Kramer, Lynn Diamond, and Patti Spranger having lunch in the garden of the Don Gaspar Compound.

Suzanne Maxwell and Judi Weiss painting in Rick and Wendy's private desert garden.

Group photo from the left: Suzanne Kramer, Lynn Diamond, Judy Weiss, Terry Buswell,Kathy Knaus, Sheila Carter, Marsha Feuer, Patti Spranger, Mrs. Bobbs - the creator of this spectacular and intellectually inspired garden,

Me, and Suzanne Maxwell.

Sandra speaking with Mrs. Elspeth Bobbs.

Suzanne Kramer and Young Hee Back enjoy the desert landscape.



















Bert Lutgens in a contemplative mood at the Don Gaspar.

Terry Buswell interprets the landscape in her abstraction of Mrs. Bobbs' garden.










Sheila Carter with her sister Wendy Schiller in the Don Gaspar Garden.