Design and Inspiration, and Fire!

  We take the "high road" from Taos, NM to Chimayo on a warm and beautiful morning in early October. It's the high road because it veers immediately through the mountains, twisting and turning slowly through the forests and small villages. "It's the scenic route" I tell my painter friends and we laugh because the other road to Chimayo  follows the Rio Grande and it is pretty gorgeous, too! We are here to paint for a week and already finding much to inspire us. Suddenly there is smoke ahead, and before long the smell of burning and the urge to cough. What are we driving into?

  We are in the state forest and a controlled burn of the old understory is going on. Before long we drive right through the fire zone. It was amazing to see the rangers all around and the fire on the ground everywhere. Did we want to stop and paint it-you bet we did- what a great, real, subject ---earth, wind and fire! There was of course no way to stop without getting in the way but my friend did get some pictures and I share them here-

 



  We did stop in a small town with a central adobe church and a couple of farms. We took a short time and did color studies as the mist lifted from the mountain valleys and you could still see some smoke. I wanted to capture that effect of smokiness in the background mountains, but two inquisitive horses insisted on their inclusion in the scene. I could not resist quickly sketching one in, the light on his form was outstanding.

  Back in Maine, I am working with my sketches of New Mexico, drawings,  and my photographs to see if I can keep the idea and mood of the place in more thought out compositions. Artists have worked this way for as long as they have painted, but I am not settled in a way to work away from the subject. I want to share my process of the moment as it seems full of possibilities. I am making a series of small sketches from my references and experimenting with each sketch. Here, I am trying to get more "air" around the painting:

original sketch on site 

marker design sketch

marker design sketch 2

second color sketch working on design

  Shown here are some of my ideas to sort out my thoughts on whether this will make a good painting or not. The process itself is the art to me, I like working through ideas and feel that sometimes the stream of experiments is more informing for me than shooting for a finished piece right away. I may not get there with this idea, but if I do I'll post it here.

  I'd love to know if anyone else has a good method to share for designing and fleshing out an idea. Do share it here if you like!

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The fire photos are © Elizabeth Kelley Erickson-check out her art at
www.elizabethkelleyerickson.com