PLEIN AIR CLASS San Juan de Dios market ,Calle Guadalupe

plein air class will be meeti

ng here,Tues. Nov 30th  2 pm.

El Tropico, Ice cream and fruit drinks at the market

Guy's stuff at the market

 Herbal shop, natural remedies.
Only a very small sampling of the many interesting stands. Tom and I took some time Sunday to walk around the Market, finding some wonderful places and colorful shops to paint.
The plein air class will be meeting in front of these shops on Calle Guadalupe at the corner of Ignacio Allende....in front of the bright RED , white and yellow Pollo Feliz outlet. From there we'll walk around and pick out our painting spot.  Nov 30th Tuesday afternoon. 2 til 5 . We'll probably be on the shady side of the street but you should bring a hat just in case you find that your spot is in the sun. Hope you can make it. I'll post some plein air paintings from this area next time. Until then happy painting, Donna

Great Students Work

I thought it was time to showcase the wonderful students I am lucky enough to paint with. They are really doing well and this is a very small sampling of what they've been doing. Yvonne is a watercolor enthusiast who loves to paint, paint, paint!  Leslie and Karen had adamantly given up on watercolors until we pulled this project out of the hat. So they're going to give it another chance .They and Gary  are dedicated oil painters,and  are really improving in all directions in their work. Each level has it's challenges, but keeping with it is the key. As Robert Genn says on his site "go to your room and put paint on canvas!" Check out thepainterskeys.com lots of interesting info. there and twice weekly newsletters all about art.

Thanks for now Donna

A Watercolor class that captured the interest of some of the oil painting students!

Yvonne on the left with Great Blue Heron ,Leslie and Karen with Egrets.

Gary's Manadarinas.  You can almost taste the fruit. A challenging subject Gary did on his own.

Leslie's roof top vista. Good patterns leading to the church .

Karens colorful roof top view  Great work . Good contrast.

Plein air oils in San Miguel November 15th 2010

                     Bajando El Chorro 9 x 12 in. oil                               

Lately we've had great sunny weather and it's been fun to get some on the spot sketching in.                                                             This I sketched in pencil while waiting for my group to arrive. The actual oil was done in the studio with reference photos as a class project It was tricky to get the depth and distance, but by graying and cooling the background I finally got it to fall back.El Chorro is the area of San Miguel that was settled first, and leads down into Juarez Park.The El Chorro is now a cultural center for the arts. 

Botanas in front of San Juan De Dios Church 9 x 12 in. Oil

Now this one was truly a challenge to paint! As luck would have it, about 15 minutes into the painting 2 of the 3 carts pulled away!! Groan! Luckily my students and I had done a thumbnail sketch first.It reminds me of our painting on the east coast of Canada, in Nova Scotia. Tom and I would be painting boats in a harbour and happily into the painting when the fisherman would arrive and leave in their boats!Subject matter gone!There was no way to predict which ones would leave. Some of the fisherman actually felt sorry for us!. There are 3 schools in this area where morning and noon hundreds of kids and parents pour through the San Juan de Dios church yard. Thus the many vendors and their colorful carts full of snacks!(Botanas)

                                                      '' Distant View" 9 x 12 in. oil                                                  
This was  done a couple of weeks ago, from my roof top terrace. I did it in watercolor first, but wanted to try it in oils too.See Plein air Oct 27th,for watercolor view.  In this one I zoomed in on a small area of the vista, looking towards neighbouring Colonia San Antonio. The colorful patterns of the houses and the church in the morning light is what attracted me to this scene. Some of my students did well with this one too. I'll try to post some of their work as well.

Thanks for now, Adios Donna

plein air trip cancelled

Our planned trip to Tierra Blanca has been postponed for now due to the cold temperatures in the morning. A week ago it would have been great but now with overnight temps just above 0; it's too cold to plan on a plein air painting session. Afternoons are okay but we'll stay around town for now. Day time temps are sunny and 75 or78 F.. but it cools down as soon as the sun sets.The good news is the studio with 2 foot thick walls stays warm retaining the heat from the sunny afternoons.
Our next plein air will be in front of the San Juan de Dios Market  in the afternoon. We'll meet in front of the San Juan de Dios Church  at 2 pm and go from there to the market. It's a colorful neighborhood and one we haven't painted much so far. I'll post some of our recent work in a few days and add some photos from the market. Bye for now. Donna

Celebrating 'The Day of the Dead ' in San Miguel, Mexico, Nov. 1st 2010

People viewing the altars

In front of the Parrochia and the Clock tower

One of the Altars

Late Afternoon Sun

A big celebration this week end, for the ' Day of the Dead '. Many Foreigners and Mexican visitors. Colorfully decorated altars honoring loved ones. At Galeria Izamal where we are presently showcasing some of our paintings ,we had a well attended opening Friday night with the gallery decorated with  bright orange marigolds , and colored cut out papers in the Day of the Dead theme.
Despite the title it is a very festive and happy family celebration.
I just passed by the Jardin where there are altar displays completely surrounding the park.I got some nice photos which I  will add to this post.
The new studio is looking good with a new brass lantern hanging from the high boveda ceiling. For cloudy days (which we've seen very few of ) we'll have light!

NOV. 2nd Tuesday , In the studio,we'll focus on loosening up our watercolors. I'll be demonstrating some wet on wet techniques.

Nov.3rd  NO PLEIN AIR ,class.
   are planning on an out of town, painting session for next Wed. Nov.10th. 2010I
We will leave early as it is about 1 hours drive from San Miguel.( North East) at a place near San Luis de la Paz. If we want to catch the morning light we'll have to get there early.We will take snacks and plan to have a noon lunch at a wonderful look off view, a restaurant called El Salto. We will be painting very near by.If  there is enough interest we could do an afternoon painting as well. The valley opens up below you and it's is almost like being in the air.Let me know if you would like to join us for this adventure. Incidently they have paragliding from this location so you could really be in the air! More about this shortly. meeting place ,exact location ,time and carpooling etc. Should be fun!

THURSDAY NOV 4th ..In the studio; we will continue with oils and how to get the effects of light and shade, really filling our paintings with light.
Adios from festive San Miguel, Donna