Donna J Caulton ----- Paintings and Prints

Millicent Rogers Miniature Exhibit

2019-02-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos will is presenting its annual miniatures exhibit February 8th til March 3, 2019. This exhibit, year after wonderful year, never disappoints. The opening takes place Friday evening the 8th at 5:30 PM. It's a great time to meet the artists....scores of them...including multiple artists from the High Road: Jean Nichols, Lise Poulsen, Joel Lage, and yours truly, Donna Caulton.

My painting this year is one of the Fire in the Sky series, this one called August Blaze. Summer wildfires are dangerous and way too frequent. The colors, however, in sunrise and sunset horizons are magnified and dramatic, characteristics irresistible to artists who like painting the sky.

August Blaze

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Don't miss Gaucho Blue when visiting this year's High Road Art Tour.

2018-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to let everyone know that this painting, Halo Ark of the Golden Aspen, has sold at Gaucho Blue Fine Art Gallery in Penasco, NM. There are some really good reason why this makes me happy.

To begin with, this painting is particularly important to me. It is the first painting to sell from my Shield series. I particularly like that almost everyone who saw it was drawn to it in a way that makes me believe I'm on the right track with this new work.
Also, I am thrilled that Gaucho Blue, http://www.gauchoblue.com/, was able to sell it. I have had work there for years, but this is the first piece of substantial size that has sold. I am thrilled and it is also good for the gallery.

Now you really MUST stop in at Gaucho Blue when you Take the High Road for this year's annual art tour. My studio, for the first time, will not be open for tour but you will be able to see my work at Gaucho Blue and at the High Road Art Gallery in Truchas, so don't miss it!!
Art tour happens for the next 2 weekends, Sept. 22nd, 23rd and Sept 29th and 30th. There are some new artists and some old standby's. Happy Trails!!

All visitors are now able to view your blog over an encrypted connection by visiting https://donnajcaulton.blogspot.com.

Mangione Designs

2018-07-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

OK all friends, followers and lovers of the entrepreneurial spirit: Let me introduce you to the new web page of my ingenious granddaughter, Olivia Mangione. She is a student at Western WA University in Bellingham, WA and, as you will note, exceeded the expectations of many of her peers. She is creative, edgy, urban and very much in sync with the "times" in which she lives. Please check her website for your graphic needs.....and thanks.
https://mangionedesigns.weebly.com/

Penasco Area Garage Sale, Saturday July 14, 2018

2018-07-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Summer's End, giclee print

More than 40 sellers will be peddling their wares during tomorrow's annual Penasco area garage sale. I will be setting up in the parking lot of Gaucho Blue Fine Art Gallery, where there is bound to be a large selection of "stuff" with something for everyone. There will be fibers, art supplies, household goods, electronics, walking sticks, a myriad of odds and ends with something for everyone. At my table I will also be selling my small giclee prints and etchings at a greatly reduced price of $10 each.
Here are a couple of examples;

The Turning, solar etching

Rainbow Jubilee, giclee print

Summer's Moon, solar etching

And of course Gaucho Blue will be open where there is a lovely exhibit of arts and handcrafts by local artists, as well as the fiber arts of Tejadoras.

"Late Day Desert", acrylic painting.

2018-06-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

Always love having a new painting to post. This one is called Late Day Desert and was submitted for this year's museum show for Women Artists of the West at Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK. Wish me luck!!

Evolution of an Artist's Studio

2018-05-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

For a long time I've been thinking it would be fun to put up a series of posts that showed how my studio came together...on the cheap. However, since the work took place between 8 and 10 years ago, I can't offer any real-life figures regarding costs...I just didn't keep them. And I also was not really very good at taking photos...too busy working! I would say everything came in under $4000, maybe a lot under that amount. That includes labor and material costs and permits where required.

The space that inhabits my studio is an adobe structure that originally looked like a two door garage, 24 ft square. The doors were the heavy 2 x 4 and plywood type barn doors. The floor was on a slant and was dirt only.

The wall straight ahead in this photo is an adobe mud wall. The wall to the right is a sheet-rock wall that separates the space, leaving about 7 x 24 feet of space in the back for storing lumber, tools, etc.

Ceiling Vigas

The main reason I could do this on a smaller amount of money is because not all of the work is done to code. The electrical most certainly is, however, as is most of the construction. Basically I did whatever I had to do to make a safe and comfortable work space as well as a space where I could show my work to studio visitors.

The first step: the floor. I hope I can locate some photos before the next post.

New Shield Painting

2018-03-06T08:48:00.001-07:00

I just finished a new painting for the "Shield" series of work. It is called Halo Ark of the Golden Aspen. I wanted it to glow .....like the aspens in fall light up the mountains. See how you like it. D

New Paintings: Shields for the Environment

2018-02-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

As soon as the election happened a year ago, I knew I had to do whatever my art-self could for helping keep the world safe. I'm a painter; and the natural balance has been a focus since I began this journey 35 years ago. So my personal inclination was to extend that focus into my interpretation of preserving and protecting that natural balance in the best way I know how. Thus began Shields for the Environment.

It's been a slow start, but I am rolling again! You saw my first attempt at this in the previous blog post of 9/22/17, Guardians of the Night Sky.
Ark for the Golden River is the new piece, fresh off the easel. Hope you like it.

Love Those Magpies!!

2017-11-27T09:43:00.003-07:00

Magnificent Marauder

I have painted a lot of birds over the years, but the ones most prevalent in my immediate environment are the magpies. They are here at my place every day of the year, they nest just across the field, and good grief!!, they are such posers!! Here are a few of the paintings I have done, bringing them all together.

A Quiet Moment

Cherry Picker

Late Day Leisure

Eyin' The Grapes

Fall Colors

True Blue

Alice's Circle of Enchantment

Hope you love them too!!

High Road Art Gallery Honoring Work of Art Tour Organizers

2017-09-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

When you drive through Truchas, the High Road Art Gallery, previously known as the Marketplace is a "must see". On display are a wide range of artworks by the cooperative members, including traditional and contemporary arts of the region. There are retablos, pottey, paintings, corn husk dolls, cards, jewelry, prints, wood carvings and much, much more. This year there is also a special display from some of the original artists involved in the High Road Art Tour, now celebrating its 20th Anniversary.

Multiple pieces of my artwork are available there. Here are two:

Summer's End, giclee print on paper

Winter Heart, acrylic on canvas

AFTH Penasco displays "After the Cooling Rains"

2017-09-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

A highlight of the High Road Art tour is always Art for the Heart in Penasco, a coop gallery that displays the fine art and handcrafts of artisans in the area.
You can find my cards, some giclee prints (at reduced prices), and several originals. Here are two of my paintings available there now and and until the end of the season.

After the Cooling Rains, acrylic on canvas

The Long Journey Home, acrylic on board with collage

"Guardians of the Night Sky" at Gaucho Blue Fine Art Gallery

2017-09-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

Guardians of the Night Sky, acrylic on paper

Every year during the High Road Art tour, Gaucho Blue Fine Art Gallery in Penasco shares exhibit space with select artists of the area. This year, as you travel to tour route, you can see two of my pieces there. Please stop by for a look at some of the fine art on display.

Also in the same gallery is the work of "Teodoras de Las Trampas", a Northern New Mexico fabric artists' collective.

Between the Realms: Blood Moon Eclipse 2015

2017 High Road Tour: 20th ANNIVERSARY!!!

2017-09-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

Dear Art Tour Family: The 2017 High Road Tour is just around the corner, September 16, 17, 23, 24, 10-5. This is our 20TH ANNIVERSARY!! Can you believe it?!

Regrettably it will also be my final year to be on the tour trail. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am selling a lot of my artwork at reduced prices and am also willing to look at all offers. So please come and visit my studio and also the rest of this spectacular tour.

We have also produced an Anniversary Commemorative coloring book which includes High Road Artisan history, some of the historic sites along the tour route, and images from many artists who have participated in the art tour over the entire 20 year history. These will be available at my studio and multiple other sites along the tour route. Thank you for being a visitor to this most amazing New Mexico region, THE HIGH ROAD TO TAOS.

Late Day Leisure

Journey Between Two Worlds; Tir Na Nog

Final Weekend for 2016 High Road Art Tour

2016-09-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is the perfect fall day. Last night there was a frost, so today there is a true fall nip in the air. The mountains peaks have a light dusting of snow. The leaves have begun to turn. The ground is covered with purple asters and golden chamisa everywhere you look. And the Maxamillian sunflowers have opened, as always, just in time. You will be glad you made the drive once you feast your eyes on all the amazing scenery and incomparable art. See you later!!

High Road Art Tour starts THIS WEEKEND!!

2016-09-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

OK folks; I am definitely out of time! This is the last painting, titled Oh Those Magpies, I can possibly finish before the tour starts. I only have today and tomorrow left to finish organizing, hang the work properly and get the studio clean. Time to put the paints away! Sure hope to see you here this weekend or next, Sept 17, 18, 24, 25, 2016.

www.highroadnewmexico.com

http://www.donnacaulton.com

"Drifting into Winter" Finished in Time for High Road Art Tour

2016-09-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

The process piece, Drifting into Winter" is finished just in time to be displayed during High Road Art Tour, which happens the 17th and 18th, 24th and 25th of this month. This painting, along with "Heralds of the Dawn" will be available at Gaucho Blue Fine Art Gallery in Penasco.

On careful observation, note that these two paintings have been created with basically the same palette. In greater abundance are burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium yellow light, chromium oxide green, phthalo blue and titanium white. In lesser amounts are alizarin crimson, Indian yellow and a pinch of cadmium orange hue. The big difference is in one pair of blues.

"Drifting into Winter" takes place close to sundown in the autumn. Light is losing its brilliance, shadows are darker and coolness is evident. As was stated in the previous process post, this effect was achieved mostly with the addition of a new blue, called iridescent blue in the Novacolor paint line. The painting "Heralds of the Dawn" is a spring painting, but it is not yet really warm outside in spite of hawthorn blooms and bluebird presence. Dawn has barely risen. A mix of cerulean blue and cobalt turquoise make up this blueness, along with some phthalo in the darker area. But this sky is, none-the-less, cool in tone; just not quite so cool as in the other painting.

Now let's face it, blue, by nature, is a cool color. If you want to wear clothes that speak "summer", for instance, they will not be blue ones, unless they are very light blue. But that can be true of any blue....why? It's because of the addition of white, which warms up any darker color. Since blues are by nature cool there are a myriad of opinions out there about which are comparatively the warmest blues. It breaks down to this, I believe, for painting; if it appears brighter to the eye, it will seem warmer. Add white, add warmth, with one caveat. There will be a mid point beyond which the addition of white will make it appear more cool again. Add a little yellow, add a little red, again blue becomes warmer. But again, beware the midpoint. Darker greens and purples are going to again become cool.

So what is this confusing mish mash? Don't go telling your art teachers I said this, but warm and cool, in the realm of paints, are more in the eyes of the beholder than any other sense. Phthalo blue is considered a warm blue by color theorists because it has an addition of red. But to my eye, phthalo blue is cool, cool cool. These designations are, after all, visual perceptions that are seen through sight sensors, of a temperature perception, felt though skin sensors; both of which can result from the lack or presence of light. It's all in perception, which includes more mental processes than those provided by the senses alone. Nearly everyone will associate warmth with summer and daylight and coolness with winter and darkness.

If you put blue next to orange, it's compliment, the result pops, giving the combination warmth, as does friction. But if you mix blue and orange, the result is a neutral, which generally, by nature, is cool. It moves back in space, it calms colors around it, etc. If you are totally confused buy now, just go paint....it works! And while you're at it, remember those same blues show up in that cool water and those dark neutrals.

Taos Library Shares Space for High Road Art Tour

2016-09-05T09:49:00.001-07:00

On September 1, Clodie Francois (Mesdames Carton) and I had the opportunity to promote our High Road Art Tour by placing a display in the lobby of Taos Public Library. Hopefully we will see some new folks from Taos visiting the tour this year. The display will be up until the end of September. Many thanks to Taos Library and the city of Taos.

Here are a couple of photos.

ABOVE IMAGE:
Artists represented (top down) Sadie Davis, TDLT Penasco, Barbara Ann Downs, TDLT Penasco, Kathy Riggs & Jake Willson, Ojo Sarco Pottery,
Isabro Ortega, Truchas, Jean Nichols, AFTH Penasco (brochure cover image).

IMAGE TO LEFT:
Donna Caulton, Chamisal, wire sculpture and mica clay sculpture, AFTH Studio Penasco, Sally Delap John, Truchas, Clodie Francois (Mesdames Carton), Vallecitos.

FINAL IMAGE:

Lise Poulsen, Gaucho Blue Fine Art Gallery, Penasco, eRic Luplow, eL Gallery, Truchas.

https://mesdamescarton.com

http://www.donnacaulton.com

"Goddesses" Go to Taos Fall Arts

2016-09-05T09:08:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to share that this painting, When Goddesses Walked the Earth, was selected to be in the Taos Select Exhibit for Fall Arts Festival!

Process Painting; Drifting into Winter

2016-08-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Well as you see, this painting has acquired a title since my last post. Drifting, however, has more to say about the fall leaves than about the speed of this water. With more definition and more white areas, the water now seems to virtually be rushing, at least into the far left where is has widened out and gotten deeper.

Besides the leaves, which have begun to take on some definition, the most striking thing that indicates the coming of winter is the coolness of the light. Well the whole piece is cooler in tone than most of my work. This in part is due to most of it being in shadow as the sun moves down behind the rocks and toward the horizon/evening. Overall it is still a bit too cool and will change as I progress.

However, the biggest thing that has made this piece so cool is the addition of a different blue than those I ordinarily use, both in the sky and in the water. I have been painting with Novacolor paints which are very pigment dense. I ordered one called iridescent blue and this is my first time using it. That really does not say which blue it is. My best guess is that is is a cobalt/ultramarine mix with some iridescent medium. Can't say for sure though, but I can say it is very cool in tone. So I used this in place of cerulean and mixed it with phthalo turquoise and white and more iridescent medium (love that stuff!!) and you see the results. I also mixed with burnt umber and burnt sienna to get those very rich dark neutrals. I kinda like it so far. We'll see how it all plays out by the next time. Stay tuned!

High Road Art Tour Fast Approaches

2016-08-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

As we enter the fall season, artists along the High Road to Taos are busy trying to finish artwork and prepping their studios for the annual Art Tour. Although the leaves are not turning, there is a nip in the morning air and a change in the angle of the sun that clearly indicate the time is near.

The High Road to Taos is an area rich in art of many types. The most prevalent type available to the eye is the art of nature. The mountains, although as high as 12,000 feet, are rolling and covered in green sprinkled with gold and russet colors. The landscape speaks of a world long ago, acequias run free, adobe architecture abounds and the brilliant sunny sky engulfs you. It is truly breathtaking.

The works of artists along this road span a wide time frame. Traditional methods like retablo painting, bulto carving, weaving, micaceous pottery and furniture carving have been mastered by families of artists for generations. Newer on the scene are many artists whose works range from fiber art to photography to metal sculpture, to painting. pottery and more.

But the very oldest art from human hands to be seen along the road is the architecture. New Mexico is well noted for its old mission churches. The Santuario do Chimayo is the most frequented and well know of any. But farther north on the high road is the church of San Jose de Gracia in Las Trampas, the original land grant village of the High Road to Taos. This church is believed to be the most well preserved of the Spanish Colonial churches in the United States. The full set of original paintings for this church survive and the names of the artists who did some of the original art work are known today, an unusual circumstance.

Ceiling

It was tradition, in the early days of settlement, for the adobe structures to be coated with mud plaster, stripped down and re-applied as needed from the wear and tear of the elements. In the villages, families and neighbors gathered as a group to re-plaster the outside walls, going together from house to house as needed. This has gradually faded into the past as more structures have turned to stucco plasters which last much longer.

But in Las Trampas the community still gathers nearly every year to re-surface the mud plaster facing of the church of San Jose de Gracia. Here are two photos that show separate stages of the work.

In the first the damaged plaster coat has been removed and the mud bricks of the structure have been exposed.

In the second photo, taken in the morning when many people are busily working and the shady side is a more comfortable place to be, the first coat of plaster has nearly been completed. The second coat may take a while as weather has been very wet and plastering cannot proceed. Perhaps when you travel the high road for this year's annual High Road Art Tour, you will have the opportunity to see work still in progress. See you then!

highroadnewmexico.com
donnacaulton.com

Working Title: "Moving On" (new process painting)

2016-06-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

So new, in fact, is this painting that I do not even have a name for it yet, which is unusual. Well I did have a name for it before I started it, but already the name is not right, so Moving On will do for now. For those of you who have watched these process paintings, you have a seen that I generally have a pretty systematic way of working on my pieces. But for a long time I have been saying that I want to loosen up, not be so prescribed in the work. I thought that I would try, then, to go back to making abstract work as a jumping off place. I was imagining big textural color fields against one another in basically opposite color schemes. Well already this painting wants to be something recognizable after just a couple of days working on it. OK, it has to be what it wants to be. This is what it looks like the first two layers of working.

What you see are the beginnings of sky, fall cottonwood leaves and water. As always, I am learning as I work. What have I learned in this short time span? Well there are a few things: 1). I really like to paint on a diagonal right to left, top to bottom, particularly when painting sky; 2). Whether I am painting sky, clouds, land masses or water, I use similar linear patterning with all of them. But this linearity is created by the brush strokes, not by the intent of "line"; and 3). Although I have always felt that I am not really very good at painting water, I am finding, in water, the same shapes that I put into clouds. Since I do feel I paint clouds well, then maybe, indeed, I can paint water. No matter what, this entire painting so far has a fairly fast moving right to left flow to it.
I'm feeling pretty good about that learning process revealed in the first two layers of paint, so I'll stop there for now. Stay tuned!

Process Painting: Ancestral Messengers, part 3

2015-11-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well the 2015 High Road Art Tour has come and gone, and a very exciting and well attended tour it was. This painting has been finished since the beginning of October, but in prepping for the Creation/Migration "Under a Common Sky" exhibit I forgot to finish this process description for you. As co-curator of the exhibit, with Creation/Migration artist Betsie Miller-Kusz, there has been much to do to get ready. Please find out about that upcoming exhibit on our blogspot: creationmigrationstories.blogspot.com.

But back to the Ancestral Messengers. In my last post I promised input about the Spirit of Raven. The white Raven, which actually does exist in the Northwest, particularly in British Columbia, and a few other spots in the world, is utilized here in opposition to the black Raven. I have long used dark against light in my work as one of the tools of creating visual and metaphoric balance.

This painting, however, captured my waking and sleeping consciousness so strongly when I was working on it that I am really not willing to say much more about it. The way the spirit of Raven is represented in this painting will be up to you to determine. The symbols are so strong, and so consumed my thoughts, that they seemed to intensify as I finished the work. It is a piece I am very happy with, and it has a very strong presence that is, in part, of it's own making; meaning, it helped me paint it the way it wanted to be. And it held me so strongly in a way that left me with a spiritual essence, but not with descriptive words.

It was featured last Saturday night, with nine other works of art, in the Preview Poetry Event for the "Under a Common Sky" show which opens this Friday. The poetry was wonderful, the event was well attended and everyone was pleased with the quality of the poems and the artwork, and with how well the poets captured the essences of the artworks. The words of Max Early, the poet who responded to this painting, demonstrated that he understood the spirit of the work, and also related it to a story in his life that perfectly matched the intent.

This painting and two others of mine will be in the upcoming exhibit, "Under a Common Sky". The opening will be at Taos Town Hall, Friday the 13th from 5-7PM. Please come if you can.

Ready for High Road Art Tour, 2015

2015-09-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well I guess it's safer to say I'm 95% ready. The studio is almost there; just a few finishing touches tonight and tomorrow AM. It is going to be a really great tour this year and I hope you will all come put to see it this weekend and next (Sept 19, 20, 26,27).

High Road Artisans is a non profit organization run by its member artists. We all work hard each year to make sure everyone enjoys our 55 miles of incredibly scenic road and an amazing array of art. Some of our studios and galleries are in the villages and some are way off the beaten path. Mine is just a few blocks off Highway 76 in Chamisal, just south of Penasco. There is something for everyone in my space and throughout the tour.

High Road Art Tour starts this weekend, Sept.19th, 20th, 2015

2015-09-17T16:40:00.001-07:00

We are getting started at 10 AM Saturday morning for the 18th....yes 18th....annual High Road Art Tour. It runs 2 weekends and is the fall best scenery and art tour of northern New Mexico's fall tours. Find the full brochure on the website: http://www.highroadnewmexico.com or pick one up at the north or south end entry sites: Centinela Weaving studio in Chimayo or Loretta Romero's studio in Placitas, or at any artist's studio on the tour. I will be showing in Chamisal at site number 24. Watch for my signs with the magpie logo: Love those urracas.

"Ancestral Messengers" part 2: Process Painting

2015-09-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes nothing is better for painting than the nighttime, a glass of wine and a song you love. Years ago, when I was living in my studio in Seattle I would listen to the same album over and over and paint from about 10 PM til 3 or 4 in the morning and get up and start again the next day. Now I'm lucky if I can work from 7 until 9 or 10. But I can really get into that groove of the perfect music. For 3 nights in a row Bobby Dylan and I have kept good company. You may wonder how many times one can listen to the buying power of the proletariat going down, but when it occurs in the same thought sequence as the evenin' haze settling over town and starlight by the edge of the creek, well it's hard to resist. It plays as mantra over and over and over. Truly when you are fiddling in the night with the spirit powers of Datura and Snake at the same time, it is best to have some sort of protective vibe moving around you. I trust Bobby for those moments.

The painting has definitely progressed since the last post and has begun to take on the character that is intended for it. A couple of layers have been added to the sky using the same palette as before and adding richness to the colors. The rocks were finished off using their same palette, and now I'm working on Datura and Snake. Not much depth in layering has taken place there yet, but as usual, I am selecting placement, palette and balance as early concerns.

Both Datura and Snake have strong presences in the lore and native traditions of the southwest, and relate to one another within some of those traditions. As Datura is a powerful hallucinogen, the ceremony of its use often has distinctly prescribed traditional practice. In many desert tribes the ceremony is intended to contact an animal spirit guide for interceding with departed ancestors. When Snake, a powerful symbol of both transformation and a guiding force from the underworld, shows itself in the Datura vision as an ancestral intermediary, their combined power is enormous.

But, wait for it, more is yet to come when Raven appears. More about that next time. There is still so much work to do on this piece, but I am loving working on it. At this point it has a bit of a life of its own and I am just helping it along.