Here is and older sketchbook done in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2004-2005. As with all the sketchbooks, they are a place to gather ideas and feelings of a place at the time I am there and to later go back and relive in the studio.
This scene is the old Artisan store when it was on Canyon Road. I was teaching in their back room. I did an oil painting from this sketch, called “Let the Sun Shine In”.
This painting is at the garden on Canyon road built by Bandolier.
The many gardens of Santa Fe are always uppermost on the list of subject matter because they are so stunning and abundant. They bring a sense of clam and relaxation, especially placing chairs or a chase lounge in the mix.
To me, a chair in a painting is like a person, it is observing the scene, and the posture of the chair may express an attitude. For instance the chair on the left is talking and the one on the right is listening.
Casa Del Zorro
Usually I take my sketchbook with me wherever I go. I may just start with pencil and finish in watercolor on site or perhaps once I’m back in the studio. The next few paintings are from Casa Del Zorro out in Anza Borrego desert, outside San Diego. We used to go there for my birthday for a few years in a row.
The Casa del Zorro had tents you could get inside to escape the sun, and at night it was so nice to be in the pool and watch the sky and then snuggle up in the tent for a moon nap. I did a painting from this sketch called “Solitude”.
La Quinta, CA
One Easter we went to La Quinta, it was beautiful weather and everything was blooming and fresh. Terrific sunshine and shadows.
Santa Fe, NM
Sky is also a great subject while in the Southwest, with such expansive skies available there are endless varieties of colors and emotions.
Thunderheads are always exciting and dramatic.
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On the Easel 
Cathy I really needed to see these right now. I am so lacking in creativity, & inspiration it’s killing me. These sketchbooks really help.
Thanks for that feedback Karen! I am posting my next blog on the wc sketches and the paintings they inspired. I will be having another student at Santa Fe interested in working on juicing up inspiration and promoting more creative solutions in their art. It is going to be a creativity excelerator!