Woodmansey Artist-In-Residence June 2025

 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...

 Today I did some serious painting, finishing three acrylic panels. The first was an image of the prominent mountain, El Capitan, in the adjacent Guadalupe National Park. This mountain is visible from the visitor center here at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This is a 12 x 16" acrylic on cardboard. I'm learning that cardboard isn't the best backing medium. You can see some of the corrugation showing through in the clouds. You will note here that I am trying some stronger and more unusual colors to make the landscape more interesting. Since I am in New Mexico, I've been thinking about the famed artist, Georgia O'Keefe. Her mountain landscapes of the Santa Fe area use exceptionally strong colors, including purples and rusts. With that in mind, I tried to expand my palette more broadly with this mountain scene. I think I'm still too timid with strong colors. I need to be even stronger. This is a 12 x 12" acrylic on canvas board. This last image was meant to ...

 It has been a beautiful day at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There was no rain, very light winds and moderate temperatures.  I saw another tarantula today as I was walking in the front entrance of the visitor center. That's now the fourth consecutive day in which I have seen a tarantula! It is amazing how I can go my whole life without seeing tarantulas and now I'm seeing them everywhere. They are beautiful. I read that the females can live to be 30 to 40 years old! That seems unbelievable for such a delicate critter. Today I decided to paint with acrylic instead of watercolor. I prefer acrylic to oil paints because acrylics can be cleaned up with water. There is no need for turpentine or flammable solvents. I started with this simple landscape, which is canvas on board, approximately 12" x 12". Next, I decided to go subterranean since I am at Carlsbad Caverns. I had brought several black canvases here thinking that would be appropriate for cave art, but I quickly ...

 Last night, I intended to walk down to the amphitheater and watch the bats fly out again; but even with my raincoat, I was getting soaked on the walk down there. Seeking dryness and comfort, I returned to my casita. The rain lifted before the bats' takeoff time and I was able to watch them from my patio. The view from up here was just a spectacular as in the amphitheater. In this photo, you'll see them as a linear dusty cloud, flying off to the right. It rained throughout the night, but around 1 AM. I woke up and looked at my window. Even with the rain, the view was cool. The view from up here is great in the daytime, but at night time you can see lights spreading across the Permian Basin. I don't think those are houses I think those arepump jacks/oil wells. Here I am wearing my NPS volunteer uniform. I look pretty official. Just walking into the visitor center today. I was asked, "Do you work here?" Throughout the day I had many interactions with visitors. It ra...

 This morning, I watched the sunrise from the front porch of my casita. Then, a soaking rain shower dampened the next few hours. One of the park rangers set up a spectacular studio for the artists-in-residence this season. This morning I settled in to this studio space. This space is located in the visitor center along a corridor between the ticket-selling area and the cavern entrance/elevator. Consequently, I am quite visible here. A significant number of visitors engaged me in conversation today. One of my favorite conversations today was with a precocious young girl who might have been eight or 10 years old. She asked me, "What is an artist in residence?" It was such a simple question that I had never even thought about that before.  I got warmed up by doing three watercolor sketches today. One of the rangers caught this camel spider. If you Google it, you will learn that it's not really a spider, but related to both spiders and scorpions. And then driving home after w...