Taos Memory

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. My annual watercolor Workshop in Taos New Mexico is rapidly approaching and this old adobe casa is a subject that I have painted year after year. It is located next to the famous Saint Francis Mission and each year it is in a further state of decay. Sadly the last time I was there it was so far gone that it was no longer an interesting subject. It was sad to see the rubble that was once a favorite painting subject. I am glad that I have several paintings to remind me of those days gone by.

The sunlight and cast shadows were my main interest especially the cast shadow on the facade that resulted from the decayed roof. It was a sunny morning and I set up quickly because I new the light would be changing. I always try to remember to take pictures of what ever I am painting and I did so from several different angles. First I laid down a wash of cerulean blue for the sky then painted the leaves with olive green and the branches with a mixture of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue. The adobe was next and I used a mixture of yellow ochre and cobalt violet with the addition of a little mineral violet for the shadows and cast shadows. For the roof over the patio and the doorway I used a light value of cerulean blue and a darker value in the cracks and crevices.

A combination of hard and soft edges gave realism to the adobe and a mixture of cerulean blue, raw umber and cobalt violet was used for the muddy area between the two main shapes. The overgrown foreground is a combination of olive green, yellow ochre, and the boards are gray mixed with cerulean blue and brilliant orange. Finally the old tree was painted with different values of burnt sienna mixed with French ultramarine blue.

An artist muse is not always a person, it can be anything even an old rundown adobe building. There is still one space left in my Taos Watercolor Workshop for this year and the dates are May 17 - 22. If you are interested send me an email pendletonstudio@gmail.com. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton