This past summer my husband and I took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and naturally we wanted to take some art supplies with us. In the past I’ve been a bit jealous of landscape artists because they have the freedom to draw and paint just about anywhere, and the equipment required is so much more portable than what a sculptor would need. So this time I decided that since I couldn’t take stone and chisels and an air compressor with me, I would give plein air painting a try. Painting outdoors is a great way to spend time in nature and to slow down, really taking in the beauty of a place. The other great (and also challenging) thing about plein air painting is the immediacy of it. The sun or clouds or weather conditions may make a move at any moment, and that can change everything about the shadows, shapes and colors that you are seeing. So it’s important to work quickly to capture the essential composition and mood of a scene.
One day we drove up to the Sandia Crest, an incredible spot overlooking Albuquerque at more than 10,000 feet in elevation, and set up our easels side by side to paint this scene. I found it interesting how we ended up with such different interpretations of color even though we were looking at the same thing. Larry is an experienced landscape painter while I am more of a beginner in this area, so our ways of working are quite different.
My painting on the left, Larry’s on the right.
Another day we were on our way back from visiting Ghost Ranch and stopped at a roadside rest area to do some painting. I set myself up near the back end of the vehicle to get a little bit of shade while I worked on this view. I was looking across Abiquiu Lake to the dark peak in the distance called “Pedernal, while Larry chose a view of the red rocks across the road in the opposite direction.
And then there was the day that we visited Pecos National Historical Park and the weather refused to cooperate! We walked around in the rain carrying umbrellas while exploring the remains of the pueblo and church that used to be there, and wishing the sun would come out so we could paint some of the beautiful scenery surrounding the site. In the end we went back to where we were staying and set up our painting gear inside. Here is the painting that I started that day, working from a photograph of a New Mexico landscape on my tablet.
All in all it was a very good trip and there were so many beautiful places to paint, we’d both like to go back to New Mexico again. Experienced plein air painters can often complete a painting on site in one sitting, but I found it necessary to work on each of these some more in the studio after returning home. Here you can see how the finished pieces came out. You can also view these in my Landscape Paintings Gallery and you can check out Larry’s work on his website, lawrencesexton.com.
View from Sandia Crest
View of Pedernal
New Mexico Landscape in a plein air frame
