After drawing out the painting FOUR TIMES!!!  “Reluctant Godmother” is FINALLY on the canvas and I will begin washing  in the sky after I finish with e-mails.
  
I drew out three different compositions on 46” x 68” paper (the size of the canvas) and just couldn’t get motivated to transfer any of them onto the canvas.  I thought it was my general despondency due to being stranded in this part of the country (but I’ve painted 15 paintings so far and have been extremely depressed about being in Oklahoma while painting them all, so that
shouldn’t have been a factor).

All 3 compositions depicted Georgia O’Keeffe in her “later”years, after she had become an American icon of the Southwest.  Apparently, “Georgia” wasn’t pleased with any of those and during a moment of frustration, a totally different direction began to emerge from the ethers as I began drawing the 4th version of “Reluctant Godmother.”  
  
Apparently, “Georgia” wanted to be depicted as the “young and sensuous Earth-goddess” her husband, the photographer Alfred Stieglitz depicted her as at the beginning of her career as an artist, while living in New York City.  As I look at many of her paintings, that “earthy” and youthful spirit continued to be expressed by her on canvas, until her eyes began to fail her (well into her 90’s) and she could no longer paint.  I am now happy with the composition and apparently “Georgia”is too, because I have spent the past few days completing the drawing, transferring the drawing to the canvas and will begin “washing” in the sky and background tonight before going to bed.
 
Depression aside, I am pleased with the direction and “message”of the painting and am FINALLY back at “slinging paint!”


 

Chapter One:
“The First Two Years – July 2009 to July 2011”
 
After living all of my adult life in cities like New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Los Angeles, and an important center for art, Santa Fe, I began the current “Life Chapter”in a location with no “tourist attraction” distractions (maybe that was the important factor for self-activation).
 
On the first of July 2009, I had a conversation with myself, during which time I finally “got” what I had heard others say so many times: “Someday is NOT a day of the week!!!”  So…I faced my fears (“what if I can’t paint or am lousy at it?”), began stretching canvas and started to paint two Collections with Santa Feand its lore as the underlying themes.  I decided to use Santa Fe and its eclectic topography, histories and cultures as the common “thread” for
all paintings - eliminating a common problem among many painters who constantly ask themselves, “what am I going to paint next?”  
  
Not wanting to limit myself to only one painting style, I began to paint two Collections: 1) Realism (“Santa Chi”), and, 2) Combining 
Impressionism, with whatever styles I felt were necessary to convey the message of the painting (“Santa Fauve”).  
 
Once these two Collections are complete I have many other topics and themes I want to express on canvas.  For example, I want to explore further Figurative paintings of Saints, Icons, Deities, etc. – similar to my interpretations of “Brother Sun” and “Our Lady of Guadalupe. I also want to experiment with the various ways I might express a Collection of studies and still life compositions, much in the style of my first Impressionist painting, “Geranium Morning.”