Studies or Preliminary work or paintings to be finished, oil and watercolor (and a drawing/sketch or two)
Abiquiu Cottonwood Pencil Study 5x8
Title
Abiquiu Cottonwood Pencil Study 5x8
Size
5x8
Material
Pastel
Price
NFS
Study in pencil to use as a reference for.a larger oil painting. Note the armature marks in the study. The armature is a golden spiral armature with an expanded dynamic symmetry grid. There are four possible focal points with one near the trunks of the tree. I will highlight that area in the painting, using contrasting light and color. The reference photo is a Cottonwood in the fall along the Chama River near the dam with a beautiful backdrop of the deep red rocks. I intend to do many studies of trees as a preparation for the August Workshop on Trees.
Abiquiu Cottonwood Pencil Study 5x8 5x8
Georgia's Spires 9x12
Title
Georgia's Spires 9x12
Size
9x12
Material
Oil
Price
$500
Painted behind Georgia's house at Ghost Ranch.
Georgia's Spires 9x12 9x12
Diablo Canyon 8x16
Title
Diablo Canyon 8x16
Size
8x16
Material
Oil
Price
inquiries
Painted en plein air at Diablo Canyon, down a 7 mile waterboard dirt road near our home in Santa Fe. Utilized the 2:1 Dynamic Symmetry Armature (some pencil marks still showing).
Continuing the series with more abstract landscapes.. Highlights to be added.
Clliff Study 9x12 9x12
Los Alamos Cliff Tops Study
Title
Los Alamos Cliff Tops Study
Size
9x12
Material
Oil
Price
NFS
En plein air. 80% done. White lines added to show the Expaded Dynamic Symmetry Armature used while painting. We found a great painting spot on the "treacherous" highway up to Los Alamos, by pulling off the road and using 4-wheel drives to climb a short hill. We were then on top of the cliffs facing the Jemez Mountains in the disctance.. In this way, we avoided the noise and the feeling of danger as trucks speed by.
Los Alamos Cliff Tops Study 9x12
Abstract #1 in Raw Umber and Van Dyke Brown (gift)
Title
Abstract #1 in Raw Umber and Van Dyke Brown (gift)
Size
9x12
Material
Oil
Price
gift
Painted in the studio on a gessoboard with a Squeegee (window washer), Caralyst Wedge and Brushes. Exploring the techniques that I first heard about years ago from Charlie Hunter, of Bellows Fall fame.
Abstract #1 in Raw Umber and Van Dyke Brown (gift) 9x12
Balboa Park Museum of Us (gift)
Title
Balboa Park Museum of Us (gift)
Size
11x15
Material
Watercolor
Price
NFS
At my family's San Diego home, selected by the family from a series painted during the winter of 2022.
Balboa Park Museum of Us (gift) 11x15
Balboa Park Tower II Detail
Title
Balboa Park Tower II Detail
Size
12x9
Material
Watercolor
Price
NFS
Selected the detail that might be a better painting if cut.
Balboa Park Tower II Detail 12x9
Balboa Park Tower II
Title
Balboa Park Tower II
Size
15x22 (half-sheet)
Material
Watercolor
Price
NFS
Another attempt at the iconic scene. Removed figures from this one.
Balboa Park Tower II 15x22 (half-sheet)
Moonlight in Hawaii-after Roy Tabora (gift)
Title
Moonlight in Hawaii-after Roy Tabora (gift)
Size
16x12
Material
Oil
Price
gift
Following along with Roy Tabora.
Moonlight in Hawaii-after Roy Tabora (gift) 16x12
Ghost Ranch Hilla
Title
Ghost Ranch Hilla
Size
12x24
Material
Oil
Price
Ghost Ranch Hilla 12x24
Ghost Ranch WC
Title
Ghost Ranch WC
Size
8x18
Material
Watercolor
Price
NFS
on 300 lb cold oress paper.
Lessons Learned:
1. Don’t forget the focal point with its dark and light contest
2. Try again with a limited palette of familiar colors (these colors happened to be available from a old palette which happened to have many colors laid out) 3. Try to get darks without having to go back over them.
Ghost Ranch WC 8x18
Chama Cliff Detail
Title
Chama Cliff Detail
Size
8x6
Material
Oil
Price
300
Painted in the studio from a cropped photograph of the Chama Cliffs near Ghost Ranch. Also from a Plein Air painting.
Chama Cliff Detail 8x6
Luminous Lands III 9x12
Title
Luminous Lands III 9x12
Size
9x12
Material
Oil
Price
Inquiries: karen.halbert@gmail.com.
The light illuminates the cliffs and land of the Southwest.
Dynamic Symmetry Grid with Added Rabatment lines.The intent was that the upper right cliff ‘polar’ point would be the focal point, the left part of the right line of cliffs. A main diagonal leads up to this cliff. The bushes along the hillside seem to lead up to this point also, as do the bushes at the bottom of the left-hand group of cliffs. Also, the top of the left-hand mountain ridge leads down to this focal point, especially as a curve was introduced that brings the eye down toward the focal point.
Painted under the cliffs near Georgia's home at Ghost Ranch.
Georgia's Cliffs I 12x16 12x16
"Ghost Ranch Cliff after Okeeffe bw"
Title
"Ghost Ranch Cliff after Okeeffe bw"
Size
10x8
Material
Oil
Price
nfs
Black/white (tonal) version.
"Ghost Ranch Cliff after Okeeffe bw" 10x8
"Ghost Ranch Cliff after Okeeffe"
Title
"Ghost Ranch Cliff after Okeeffe"
Size
10x8
Material
Oil
Price
NFS
Study of O'Keeffe's techniques with a copy of her "Ghost Ranch Cliff" painting. Careful attention to paint strokes gave way to my usual palette knife techniques. See Dry Waterfall for more successful 'copying'..
"Ghost Ranch Cliff after Okeeffe" 10x8
"Dry Waterfall after OKeeffe"
Title
"Dry Waterfall after OKeeffe"
Size
8x6
Material
Oil
Price
NFS
Study of O'Keeffe's techniques. Use of blending and careful attention to values and tones to create volume.
"Dry Waterfall after OKeeffe" 8x6
Luminous Lands VII
Title
Luminous Lands VII
Size
8x13 Aspect Ratio PHI
Material
Oil
Price
$450
Painting with Armature.The light infuses the cliffs and land of the Southwest. Near PHI aspect ratio. Note: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21... is the beginning of the Fibonacci Series, whose ratios tend toward the Golden Mean, PHI = 1.618... 8 and 13 are part of this series.
Luminous Lands VII 8x13 Aspect Ratio PHI
Diablo Canyon
Title
Diablo Canyon
Size
8x16 Aspect Ratio 2:1
Material
Oil
Price
$550
"En Plein Air" with the Santa Fe Pleinarians at Diablo Canyon, only 12 miles up the road from my house. But the road is rough so it takes a while. Based on a Dynamic Symmetry Armature. Visit my blog for detailed posts on the use of Dynamic Symmetry Armatures and Fibonacci Spirals for compositions over the ages. Perhaps begin with the post, Basic Dynamic Symmetry Armatures (including the Golden Spiral).