Woodmansey Artist-In-Residence June 2025

Today I learned that one of the Carlsbad ranger's cousins is an endodontist in Missouri. Surprisingly, I don't know him.  I completed another painting of the cavern. This one closely resembles one I did last week. This is acrylic on canvas, approximately 10 x 14". Next, I completed the cactus flower painting that I had started yesterday. I think it turned out OK. It is simplistic and stylistic. This is acrylic on canvas, approximately 14" square. Last Saturday evening, I was sitting on my patio and waiting for the bats to fly, when a double rainbow appeared to the south. I was hoping the bats would fly across in front of the rainbow – – because that would look really cool! But unfortunately, the sun went down and the rainbows disappeared before the bats flew. I'm not a photographer, I'm a painter -- so I was able to create the scene as I envisioned it. This is watercolor on paper, approximately 8 x 12". Today at 3 PM I was asked to give a 30 minute "...

Last night, as I was driving back into the park after a quick trip into the city of Carlsbad, I saw a huge herd of barbary sheep. It is hard to see them in this photo, but there was more than 100 animals packed together in this brushy area. The barbary sheep are not native to this area. They were introduced in the 1950s, I think from the Barbary coast of Africa. They have thrived here; but unfortunately, they have pushed out the native bighorn sheep. When I woke up this morning, there was only around 50 feet of visibility. The fog was packed in thickly. This was the view from my patio. It rained all day. Sometimes it was just a drizzle and sometimes it was a downpour. They called this a monsoon here.  I am so grateful that Carlsbad NP has such a great studio area for me to work in. At other national parks the past two summers, I was always painting outdoors on a trail somewhere – – so this set up is awesome! As I am nearing the end of my residence here, I counted up the works I hav...

Today was quieter at the park. Caverns entrance tickets had sold out over the weekend, but today seemed quieter. Even so I had some really great conversations with interesting guests today. I was super productive art-wise today. Yesterady, an employee of the visitor center's Western National Parks Bookstore suggested and image idea to me. After some thought, I decided that I could best produce that idea as a digitally created image (instead of with wet paints). In preparation, I got a posed photo of a ranger along with an image of the caverns entrance and a stock image of an eagle. There are lots of turkey vultures soaring around here, but I haven't seen an eagle. Even so, my idea-suggestor was very specific about wanting an eagle. Using Adobe Photoshop Elements, here I what I digitally created.  I started 5 other pieces today -- but they are not done yet. They need to dry overnight and then I will easily complete them tomorrow. So just a teaser -- tune in tomorrow to check the...

 I have now been at Carlsbad for a week. I am impressed with the numbers of images that I have created in this brief time. A friend suggested that I paint the NPS casita where I am staying. I used this photograph as a guide. Instead of painting the image, I lazily did a pencil sketch -- which actually took a long time because of the detailing of the stone walls. You will note that I simplified the foreground. This is  a 5" x 7" greeting card.  Next I made a quick and simple, mostly monochromatic ink on paper image with a dot of pink gouache for the flowers. This is a 5"x 7" greeting card. I am still thinking about Georgia O'Keefe's bold use of colors. Without any specific image of hers in mind, I was inspired to make a colorful image of something resembling a yucca plant. I took several photos to here illustrate my execution of this 5" x 7" watercolored greeting card. First, I sketched out my image-idea using a watercolor pencil, and then I started...

  Here I am in the studio ready to paint. I have a thermos mug of coffe and I am prepared for my day. I have great natural light. Today I am painting watercolors on paper. First, I used this Georgia O'Keeffe abstract landscape as inspiration. And here is what I ended up with in a 5"x7" greeting card format. Mine looks like a cartton of the original! But I expect that hers was done with oil paint and not watercolors on a much larger scale. I actually really like the boldness of my colors. This painting actually took quite a long time, because I had to wait for each color to dry before I could add an adjacent color. After I was done, I questioned whether it might look better rotated 45 degrees? What do you think? Next I wanted to paint a larger watercolor image of the 5x7" watercolor cave image I created last Tuesday.  I think this is may be a 10" x 14" format.  ...And that was my day. I'm not sure why these 2 images took so long. The abstract landscape r...

 Today seemed much busier at the visitors' center; assumedly because it's the weekend. Many of the visitors I spoke with were local or regional. I had some great encounters today with interesting visitors. Although I didn't remember him, one of my former dental students from Texas A&M College of Dentistry (class of 2012) remembered me and re-introduced himself to me. We had a nice catch-up conversation. He is now a successful periodontist. Another great conversation came from a fellow Fulbright Scholar awardee. He had served two Fulbrights: one to Tunisia and one to Botswana, both as an a ecology scholar. I spent most of the morning working on this painting. It's a 9 x 12" acrylic on cardboard portrait of my Montanan friend, John. In 2018, he and I visited Carlsbad Cavern National Park together. I struggle with painting human forms. I used a photograph from 2018 as the basis of this image, and that was quite helpful. I think the image bears at least some resemb...