Fine Art and Daily Paintings from Raya's Studio

New Experimental Works

2011-07-08T11:56:00.016-06:00

SPIRIT OF THE SOUTHWEST

Inspired by an earlier experimental painting

I began a series of 6 x 6 x 1.25 inch mixed media on panel paintings

Here are 9 of them before finale layers were put into the paintings.

I used the dirt/sand from my yard

and shredded linen and handwoven hemp fabrics.

Plus I made some stamps then experimented with adding gold foils as well as layers of paint.

I wanted these to be small jewel boxes so I painted the edges black

then I carried the gold foil over the edges.

Cutting and trimming the linen/hemp plus deciding where I wanted the turquoise bead to go.

Here is the finished front of one.

Infusing the linen in acrylic medium changed it's color.

And a side view of the same.

Here is another one finished.

I love the various textures and layering on top of each other.

Using the turquoise bead along with New Mexico "dirt" is central to the concept of

Spirit of the Southwest.

Up and Running

2011-06-04T21:05:00.003-06:00

Despite wicked winds which brought stinging dust storms followed by smoke from fires in Arizona...my booth is up and running. I'm so pleased to be able to show so much of my work. The response I've gotten has been just great! There are still some tweaks I hope to make but this is a super beginning.

I hope you'll beable to drop by and visit sometime during the season!

Opening Weekend

2011-05-12T11:40:00.000-06:00

FINALLY!

The spring winds have been doing their usual screaming dance and slowed the tent going up but it's up. This weekend (May 14 & 15) I'll be out there. I won't have had time to build the walls and add the lights which will turn it into the Gallery I hope to have but It's beginning!

I'll eventually have a small studio space there and will be painting . Sharing inspiration and techniques with my visitors. Please come by and say hello.

I'll be in booth # 6 in the ARTIST TENT.

There will be so much for visitors to see and do while at the FLEA!

Please note that there's a free shuttle service from downtown.

I'm looking forward to a fabulous season!

2010-10-14T16:38:00.003-06:00

Thank You!

The Las Vegas New Mexico Arts just printed an ad in their first arts directory for my studio and this BLOG. I had no idea they were doing this, Check out http://www.lasvegasnewmexicoarts.com/ to see other artists working on the east side of the mountains...

I'll need to post more often than I have....!

2009-06-20T09:56:00.000-06:00

Finally a Valley View done in Acrylic which makes me happy. Tho the textures are more subtle than with oils they are still visible in the many layers of paints. This painting gives me direction and enthusiasm for where I can go with this process!

20" x 16" acrylic on canvas

2009-06-20T09:34:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I begin a painting with great enthusiasm and then must put it aside as other works such as commissions come up...this painting began that way. It sat for at least a year, with me pulling it out of my canvas closet occasionally, but the momentum had been lost...

So several months ago as I began exploring various ways of using acrylics towards the Aerial/Valley Views I pulled this canvas out and said why not (!) and totally re-painted it. The under textures from the originally intended painting are still there but now has many layers of paint on top.... I spent days adding and subtracting from the composition as I looked for ways to capture the feel of what I loved about my work in oils...but in acrylic.

This is a painting of learning for me; one of those paintings where I let it take me where it wants me to go and not just where I demanded it. Even adding the "veils" of color is a revisit to aspects of my days with the "Serenity" Series... as then; here it brings to my mind the passage of time...as day flows to night and night flows to day.

A View From Above (series) (image shown) 38" x 49" Acrylic on canvas

(has extended painting to be gallery wrapped (total 52" x 42" plus 1" all around)).

2009-06-20T09:27:00.000-06:00

This Valley View oil on paper (over gesso) painting sold 2 weeks after letting it go to market. It has at least 5 layers of paint tho large areas have a smooth and blended surface that accentuate the heavily textured areas. I loved the intense colors and dramatic composition in this painting.

2009-06-20T09:15:00.000-06:00

This painting (18 x 18") was done on paper with oils (over gesso). It has numerous layers of paint and various levels of textures all playing with each other and it took over a month to complete. It also sold 2 weeks after putting it out for sale....which makes it hard to keep a consistent amount of paintings available to my agents and galleries to choose from!
I love the play of composition and pattern that this series allows me.

2009-06-20T08:37:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since my last posting; a lot has been happening. Out of state family visiting (with the new babies playing a prominent role) as well as getting my new vegetable garden planted and then rabbit proofed.

My agent has asked for new works based on the Aerial/Valley Views which have been loved by so many since I began development of them just over a year ago. I had been using oils to paint them which with the multiple layers of paints; building the colors and surface up it could take a month or more to finish off a painting (what with drying time between layers). So for the past few months I've put a concerted effort towards finding a comparable approach using acrylics.

I absolutely love working in oils, the lush and juicy abilities of the paint, the ease of mixing color and building texture as I paint, the ability of changing things as I go so easily, such as softening edges or blending. Yet the drying time can cause me to loose some of my focus (unless I make notes to myself) and the vapors from the mediums can be harmful...

Acrylics have their own pluses and negatives. I love how easily and quickly numerous layers of glazes can be built with a great deal of control over the tinting. But building up of the textures with acrylic has presented me with challenges! The paint shrinks so very much as it dries...working in wet paint I get where I just love the depth of texture but then come back after it's dried only to be disappointed. Now I haven't tried out all of the Heavy Body acrylics that are on the market (that can get VERY expensive to do...) so how to achieve a comparable "look" from the oils but with acrylics?...In a process that I can control and repeat as needed...?

This 16" x 20" View From Above acrylic on canvas is the first painting that came close to what I've been striving for. Multiple layers of paints and those paints ranging from thin glazes to very thick (heavy body) texture paints combined with a bold and simplified composition works for me. Now...will it work for my agent and his clients?

The Valley View concept is proving harder to achieve but I've made some break through this week...see some of the up coming posting here for my progress.

2009-04-24T17:43:00.000-06:00

I've posted so many landscapes!

Yet I have been working on some abstracts as well. This acrylic on canvas is one I'm particularly fond of. The color and balance with an underlying sense of architecture and garden worked well. I did a series of similar explorations on paper and those are available through Progressive Editions. The canvas shown here is available through WildeMeyer Gallery in Scottsdale AZ.

2009-04-17T11:29:00.000-06:00

This painting is of the view up river from my backyard. We've had a warm and dry winter here in New Mexico. I painted a small en-plein-air painting during one of the rare overcast days...decided to paint it again larger...took the canvas out to do a brush/sketch and finished it in the studio.

20" x 20" oil on canvas Winter View Up River

2008-11-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

The day after painting at Ghost Ranch my car was still in the repair shop so my painting partner and I took off again to paint, driving just a few miles South of Santa Fe where there's a small area full of unusual rock formations. Both Nancy and I choose to paint this one. My challenge was to simplify in order to catch the essence of the "flow" of the rocks...not so easy! I like this painting yet feel as though it's a bit flat in that I really didn't capture the light right (it was a hazy day)...maybe this need to be painted again?

20 x 16" oil on canvas

2008-11-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a great deal of time to get out to paint plienair this year but I did take a day this summer and went to Ghost Ranch and painted this arroyo scene. I'm challenging myself to work larger when I'm out for a day. That means I can't get caught up in the small details but focus instead on the shapes and colors of the most important elements of what I'm painting.

16 x 20" oil on canvas

2008-11-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

I painted this pathway at a nature preserve just south of Santa Fe a couple of years ago. It's rather classic for me and stylistic going back to my earliest plienair painting style.

16 x 20" oil on canvas

2008-11-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

A different view of the same garden as in the last posted painting. When I'm on site for several days I often will do more than one painting as the light shifts. This is a looser and thinner approach. I was experimenting with an additive to my oil paint which made building color over color difficult while working into the wet paint. Again I didn't finish this for several years, liking it as it was and finally just doing the smallest amount of touch up to finish it off.

16" x 20" oil on canvas

2008-11-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

I painted this several springs ago and nearly had it finished but didn't do the last 1% needed until just before the show....I liked this painting so much and finishing it meant it could sell! Originally I painted this on site over 2 days. It's a garden along Canyon Road in Santa Fe, but could be almost anywhere.

20 x 20" oil on canvas

2008-11-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

This little painting was done in the studio partly looking across the river from my studio window but also mixing up memory views from my neighborhood. Thick paint and pushing the color made this fun to do.

6 x 8" oil on canvas sold

2008-11-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Again; another 6 x8 painting of the view from my studio. I don't normally frame my art but these small works really benefit from a frame, setting them off and making them extra special. I don't always like the traditional foiled and carved frames for plienair works and looked for a more contemporary approach, using linen liners and simple wood tone frames 1 1/2 to 2" deep. I wanted the painting to stand out, not be overwhelmed by the framing...

View from the Studio 6" x 8" oil on canvas sold

2008-11-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

I've recently started to paint very small 6" x 8" canvas, having bought a thumb box for plienair painting. I'm so use to working larger! This little painting went through various changes over it's birth and it ended up with thick paint in a stylized manner...I was thinking of the painting I saw in the Orsay Museum (I think) that Paul Serusier painted under the direction of Paul Gauguin in the late 1880"s. Not so similar really yet that was in the back of my mind as I painted this one.... It's of a view from my studio window.

8 x 6 oil on canvas, sold

2008-11-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

This is the other painting based on the photo I took from a bridge down in a canyon of the Rio Grande. Working off photos in the studio can be a challenge to keep the freshness and spontaneity happening. I often paint more than one painting off a subject; trying different view points, playing with color or experimenting with different painterly approaches. I used brush and palette knife for this painting.

16" x 16" oil on canvas

2008-11-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

This painting received a great deal of interest during my show at Aura Dez Fine Art; yet it didn't sell. The strong contrast and background colors seem to be what people really liked about it. I worked off a photo I took down in the Rio Grande while I stood in the middle of a bridge looking down river and into the sun. The photo made the canyon walls very dark and mysterious. I actually painting 2 paintings of this view, this was the second.

16 x 16" oil on canvas

2008-10-28T14:20:00.000-06:00

This is the painting i did during the Canyon Road Paint Out Oct.18. I had a great time, so many other great artists and appreciative audience with live music! To see a photo taken of me painting go to www.giacabbefritzfineart.com and click on the black and white image of a painter at his easel outdoors...I'm standing with my back to the camera, white hat and shirt, with a good view of the painting in it's early stage.

Great weather here, though a hard freeze turned too many of the deep yellow-gold leaves brown over night...I'd only gotten a few of my favorite places recorded on my camera before the batteries went. I'm dividing my time between studio work and yard work to get ready for the winter.

The Yin and Yang of Canyon Road 20" x 16" oil on canvas

4 more of my plein-air works sold yesterday....

2008-10-26T07:08:00.000-06:00

I sold this plein-aire gem yesterday. Letting go of some art can be a bit bittersweet, but I know this painting is going to a good home. I painted a year or so ago, on the southside of Santa Fe, looking up-river, just days before the river flow was shut off (to keep the reservoir full). I felt it was a very good painting.

Santa Fe River 16" x 12" oil on canvas framed in traditional gold foiled frame. sold

2008-10-21T08:14:00.000-06:00

My apologies for not posting for the past few weeks. I was so busy finishing commissions and getting everything organized for my show of plien-aire at Aura Dez Fine Art on Canyon Road in Santa Fe along with the paint-out the next day ( this past Friday and Saturday). Everything was just lovely and I reconnected with many old friends and fellow painters as well as making new friends...great fun; the weather was perfect, there was live music and lots of interested and interesting people walking Canyon Road to view all the artists working.

This oil I did last spring just down the road from my house/studio. Only 6' x 8", I sat in my car with a small paint box and painted the view out the open door. Green is often a disliked color among artists but I embraced it here...the lush and intense new growth after a long winter.

Spring Field 6' X 8" oil on canvas sold

2008-10-06T10:16:00.000-06:00

This small work on paper sold over the weekend along with an earlier posting; to several women who had taken a balloon flight during the first day of the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and these paintings reminded them of their experience. Apropos since the first imagery in this style came from my own experience ballooning in rural France in 1996. All those wonderful patterns viewed from above; the footprint of humankind on the face of nature.

Untitled Valley View 14" x 11" oil over gesso on paper

2008-10-04T06:55:00.000-06:00

A more detailed and involved (than I've done to date) fly over based image. I worked a long time building up layers of color and adjusting patterns. One of the things I like most of this series is how very abstracted I can take the compositions as well as "playing" with the patterns within.

Untitled Fly Over 20" x 26" oil on canvas

2008-10-04T06:49:00.000-06:00

This little gem of a painting sold yesterday, to other creative people; which always makes me feel so honored. Oil over a gesso base on paper; it's part of my continuing exploration of the Valley View concept.

Untitled Valley View (10-01-08) mixed media on paper 14" x 11"

2008-10-03T08:25:00.000-06:00

I've been working on some paintings in the style of Abstracted Farm Fields post 9-14-08. Related to Valley Views this perspective is as though I'm flying directly over and looking directly down. I'm particularly happy with the possibilities of this series for my "play" with pattern, color and texture. Look for more works in this style.

Untitled Fly Over, Farm Fields 20" x 22" oil on canvas

2008-10-02T14:23:00.000-06:00

I took this painting into Aura Dez Fine Art yeasterday; starting to pull art together for the show opening Oct. 17. This in oil and unfortunatly the photo has a bit of glare off the varnish but I think you may still get an idea of it. Diffenatly inspired by some of the red rock canyons I've hiked through here in the southwest.

Canyonland 26" x 20" oil on canvas $2,200.

2008-10-01T12:56:00.000-06:00

The newest Valley View. I worked this one in primarily acrylics. Winters coming and with the cold and closed windows; even working with a very good air purifier I'd rather not be living with those oil paint fumes... Working with acrylics (instead of oils) actually takes longer to create the "feeling" but it is do-able. I love the oils, and may try the water based oil paints. Finished 4 Valley Views and 3 Fly Overs today!

Untitled Valley View 18" x 18" acrylic on paper, available through Aura Dez Fine Art Santa Fe

2008-09-29T08:32:00.000-06:00

With the fear about the financial crises dominating the news I'm reminded again that in uncertain times getting truly creative is the road to salvation. While painting this very large mixed media painting several years ago I was reminded of my beginnings as a professional artist.

I had just turned 18, living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Fransisco CA searching desperately to move my life forward towards my goal; to be an Artist. Feeling unqualified about my technical talent to make it as a painter, having NO MONEY, what was I to do? Tossing all fears aside, I took the clean bones from the chicken dinner the night before, some bits of red yarn I had and stripped the copper out of some old electrical wiring I'd picked up some where and wove and wound it all into some jewelry. I took those rough affirmations out to the streets and offered them up. Needless to say I made no money from those efforts but it was the response to my determination which shifted the world for me and allowed the "vehicles" (my own thoughts as well as a few helping souls) to arrive and start me on the path that I still walk today.

Don't let fear stop you from achieving your dreams.

Busting Loose; the Red Yarn about 70" x 80" mixed media on canvas

2008-09-27T17:49:00.000-06:00

On October 18, 2008 the City of Santa Fe is hosting a paint-out on Canyon Road to celebrate the history of art making on Canyon Road. I've been going around looking at my plien-aire works to hang a show at Aura Dez Fine Art for that weekend. I painted this maybe a year-an-half ago at the rest area pull off on the road to Taos. I joined a number of other painters that were all focused on the Rio Grand Gorge that opened up on the other side of the road. It was a stormy afternoon and I was working on a larger than normal canvas...had to hold on when the wind picked up. I managed to paint this completely on site and only needed to do a few touch ups where it got smugged during the drive home.

The Rio Grand Gorge 20" x 20" oil on canvas plien-aire

2008-09-27T17:33:00.000-06:00

Today I sat down to finish up a mailer going out to former clients and a few hopefully new ones. I was including images (many that I've posted here) of newer work. Searching through my photo folders I was reminded how much I loved and appreciated the many works I've done and sold from the Serenity series.

From the Serenity Series mixed media on canvas, probably sold and probably 36" x 48"

2008-09-26T09:16:00.000-06:00

This painting recently sold.

It generally appealed to a more sophisticated person who enjoyed it's abstract quality but who also appreciated the representational elements. Worked in mixed media I used various applications of foils, glazes and textures; finished with thick paint. An overall dark tone to this painting yet the foils over texture created interesting variations as you would walk by. Then there was the pops of color to balance the whole image. It's a favorite of mine.

Abstracted Still Life 30" x 20" Mixed Media on canvas

2008-09-25T13:00:00.000-06:00

I've just finished this Valley View painting. Again I was playing with combining different perspectives into one image and I used palette knife and brush. A sunset sky, far distant view, and flying into and over farm fields.

Untitled Valley View 26" x 20" on canvas

2008-09-24T08:47:00.000-06:00

This small painting is part of the 20 piece series I worked on over the summer. Later in the series; I really like the soft colors, composition and loose brush work combined with some drawing using ink and water base crayons.

Working in the studio this week instead of on the computer, I sleep better at night.

Fly Over #1 9" x 7" water medias on paper

2008-09-23T09:22:00.000-06:00

Another Valley View sold. This one is a very abstracted and minimalist approach. It was a favorite of mine and many people were drawn to it. The "softer" color with pops of red-orange and a very strong composition are I feel what makes this painting work so well. Unlike the earlier Valley Views this painting did not rely on heavy texture which gives this painting a more sophisticated feel.

I need to finish up (about 10 works on paper and several canvases) and begin some new explorations of the concepts within my understanding of what I call Valley Views...since most of the earlier works have found homes!

Untitled Valley View 18" x 18" oil on paper

2008-09-22T08:45:00.000-06:00

This acrylic on canvas painting is all about energy healing; of letting go of old, outdated emotions and thought patterns. It's about the unraveling of those tangled patterns from the physical, mental and ethereal "body" which impede health and healing. The imagery is based on my personal experience while particapating in an energy healing session; I "saw" a tightly tangled ball of strands inside the left side of my brain, and I "felt" it begin to loosen and unravel it's stranglehold. It was a very startling moment. I've been developing a series of works on paper and canvas since that experience. This canvas available through WildeMeyer Gallery, Scottsdale AZ

From The Rising Series 48" x 60" acrylic an canvas

2008-09-21T08:19:00.000-06:00

Over the summer I began a series of larger canvases using acrylics. Imagery is water. My focus is with building a depth to the paint, textures over texture, transparent or translucent layers, sinking and/or floating foils in intense color. I had fun making what I call "acrylic paper", a thick layering of paints which I can peel off it's original support and then cut and "paste" where I need. This particular painting absolutely sparkles under the Gallery lights at Aura Dez Fine Arts, Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM.

Floaters 48" x 30" acrylic and foils

2008-09-18T08:26:00.000-06:00

I'm dipping back a few years with this painting; an early version of Valley View(s). I worked with Oil on paper using brayer, palette knife and brush. Sent to one of my agents (along with some other versions), I was hoping it would be a hit. Like many of my creative efforts I'm ahead of the curve and it's taken till this summer before this concept has begun to resonate with the greater art buying public. So I'm glad to return and further the many and various ways I'd hoped to explore (abstraction, pattern, color, various painting processes, my affinity for those far distant views, especially from an aerial perspective of landscape) that this single painting represented for me.

Untitled Valley View 16" x 16" oil on paper

2008-09-17T07:55:00.000-06:00

There's a nip in the air this morning, and the trees here in the Valley are just starting to show some color other than Green. Have started to change the studio over to winter use (moving stacked canvases away from the wood stove and getting plants ready to bring indoors. So why have I posted this painting?

A couple of winters ago I did a small series of Fruit in a red glass bowl. A friend had come over and we set up a still life to paint. Inspired by a show I saw at the G. O'Keeffe Museum of 4 painting she did where each one was pushed further towards non-objective abstraction. She started with a still life, her colors were cream, greys and browns; though I love primary colors they are not so easy to use with any subtlety! With winter coming around again I'm hoping to make the time to do another series-study of this concept. I learn so much from the process.

Red Bowl With Fruit 12" x 12" on panel, oil

2008-09-16T09:03:00.000-06:00

Major financial companies failing and the stock market sinking yet still there are people out there willing to invest in art! This work on paper sold along with a companion piece yesterday, I am so grateful.

I've been up-dating my website (more time in front of the computer than the easel...) and will continue to update it. My focus will be to keep adding newer works as well as some older works that seem relevant. Check it out @ www.rayasartstudio.com and give me some feed back.

Crazy Canyonland 16" x 16" Mixed Media on paper

2008-09-15T08:40:00.000-06:00

This one in a series of 20 works on paper and are very small for me, only 7" x 9". I was experimenting with ink, gouache and assorted water media drawing pencils and crayons. Exercises like this series I find are wonderfully freeing for me. If I feel stale or a client is looking for something that's really new.

I will admit that I went to a showing a the Harwood Museum (Taos, NM) this past year to view a show of Richard Diebenkorn's paintings done when he lived in New Mexico. I appreciated his interpretations of landscape from the air and his loose brushwork and mark making have a bit of influence on this series. I used this series to explore also my continuous love of patterns and joyous color.

There seems to be so much doom and gloom in the news that sinking into those joyous colors and warm to the heart art making seems to be a great antidote for me to keep on an even keel.

Happy at Home 7" x 9" mixed media on paper

Abstracted farming feilds

2008-09-14T10:16:00.000-06:00

This work on paper is a new favorite of mine and was purchased by a lovely couple from England. They mentioned some of it's elements reminded them of David Hockney's newest works, which they described as his study of farming fields. Though I haven't seen any of Hockney's newest works I was pleased. I've been intrigued with the natural and man made patterns in nature since I was very young and after a balloon ride in rural France back in 1996 the ariel view point has been added to my arsenal of design/composition language.

Untitled Ariel View 16" x 20" on paper, Mixed media

New Oil Painting, Abstracted Landscape

2008-09-13T14:56:00.000-06:00

I'm finally joining the 21st century and am starting to blog. I'm excited to see where and how I (and hopefully readers) will take this.

I've been working for years with developing an intuitive understanding of abstraction and how to express landscape through abstraction. This painting was inspired by the gorgeous stormy sky's I watched while driving home from Santa Fe this summer. I've played with my extreme love of color and long standing appreciation for patterns with this oil painting.

Untitled Valley View 20" x 24" oil on canvas