Kaia Thomas - A path with ART

Shown here left to right: Kaia Thomas, Don Dean, Clement Scott, Lili Laurin, Cynthia Rosen and Glenn Renell.  Not shown: Harry & Linda Stacy, Susan Akridge and Sarah Thomson. Back in February I created a Facebook group called the Cochise County Plein Air Painters. My intention was to provide artists and art lovers in our area, along with artists who enjoy painting and exploring in our area, a place to come together and share art, photos, paint out opportunities, pretty much anything related to our beautiful Cochise County and painting outdoors. After inviting those who I thought would appreciate the group, it quickly sprang to life with enthusiasm - paintings and photos of loved locations were shared, and an interest in Portal, Arizona arose. In a very short amount of time a paint out had been planned and reservations were made for the first weekend of April to paint in Portal!   Located on the extreme eastern edge of Cochise County, onl...

Triangle T Guest Ranch 7th Annual Garlic Festival On July 30th & 31st, I was invited to participate in a garlic festival held near Dragoon, AZ., in Texas Canyon at the beautiful Triangle T Guest Ranch. I not only had a booth with art to sell (first time adventure), but also did live demonstration painting both days! What a great experience!! Smells of garlic wafted through the air, garlic everything was available and when I say everything... how about garlic ice cream?? Of which was sold out both days and I never got to try :(   Both days ended with a show of dancing horses - an impressive scene to behold. Some horses looked to be natural dancers, others looked more like controlled tantrums lol! In preparation for the festival I painted a series of small garlic still life paintings, which was a fun discipline and found myself learning a great deal in the process. Who knew the variations one could achieve painting garlic! However,  4 days of modeling garlic in ...

 "The Ol' Egg Room"      8" x 10" oil on canvas panel   Contact me for pricing and availability When painting pal Clement Scott and I, discovered an old barn to plein air paint in Pomerene, Arizona, we didn't realize the history that would be revealed about it after asking permission of the land owner to paint in his yard. This old dilapidated structure, tucked away amongst a grove of pecan trees and knee high weeds, had once been an important egg sorting room, where special lighting allowed them to reveal whether the eggs were keepers or not. It was a main supplier of eggs to many nearby towns. Who would of known??! Hearing a story such as this can help breathe life into a painting.  I added the chicken later on, as a sort of homage to the place and our experience.

Okay, so I have a bit to catch up on here - it's been a while since I've posted... Biggest news would be winning Best of Show at this year's Ann Boyd Wade Fine Art & Photography Show in April!! Very excited, and deeply honored by this!  I did a solo plein air event for my gallery for the April artwalk... It was so much fun, and one of the paintings sold! There was another plein air event in the month of May, again during the artwalk weekend. This was a group event, which included a wet canvas sale and show.  We all had such a blast! Diane Hayes, Clement Scott, Kaia Thomas, and Michelle Cook One of the pieces created during the weekend... "Off Main" 8" x 8" oil on canvas panel Available through 55 Main Gallery 55maingallery@gmail.com Well I think that about covers it for now...there will be more news to come :)

"Arizona Colors" 6" x 8" oil on canvas panel up for auction! Sold! Click Here to see auction. Another study of my trip through Northern Arizona. I was very taken with the late afternoon contrast and colors that were happening. The Juniper trees made perfect subjects for capturing it. The underpainting... Establishing the darks ... I have been spending the last few months really focusing on my planes and values. I feel like I'm starting to get a feel for it. Although, as an artist, I don't think I will ever arrive at anything. It's a life long journey of learning and growing.

"Thunderhead" 24" x 20" oil on stretched linen up for auction starting bid $350! Click Here to see auction. I saw this scene while driving home one summer afternoon. What really struck me and made me reach for the camera, was how tiny the farm house looked next to this massive thunderhead building over the mountains. It had a very humbling effect.  One of the many things I love about living in the desert, are the intense and invigorating summer monsoon storms. The progression of "Thunderhead". For those interested, this painting is going up for auction on DailyPaintworks.com

"Creek Reflections" 10" x 8" oil on stretched canvas  Starting bid $75 Click Here to see the auction This is a painting of The Gila Box area, near Safford, Arizona. An oasis, and welcome escape from the relentless heat of the summer. Also an endless source of inspiration for the painters spirit. I really loved the way the three trees were casting their reflection on the water in this particular scene. This painting is up for auction on DailyPaintworks.com.

"Colorful Dwellings" 8" x 8" oil on canvas panel Starting bid $50 Click Here for details. Last weekend I took my Mom to Bisbee, Az. for her birthday. She had a great time and got a much needed break. We stayed at The Jonquil motel , a favorite place of mine. They have a really nice back yard area for sitting, with views of one of  Bisbee's appealing qualities, colorful homes and unique architecture. I got inspired to paint one particular scene that had a nice grouping of colorful Bisbee homes. I set up my gear and created this little painting. 

"Velvet and Leather" 12" x 12" Oil on Canvas     Happening right now at Heather Green Studios is an art exhibit celebrating 3 years in Bisbee, Az., which I am currently participating in. This years theme is Leather, the 3rd traditional anniversary gift.     So, (I asked myself) "What do I do with THAT theme!?" I almost didn't have an entry for the exhibition after some time with no inspiration, BUT, one day, as I was puttin' on my boots, it occured to me that they were leather... aha! An inspiration at last! I don't have a lot of experience with still life painting, and more specifically, painting boots. I love a challenge though:) I not only decided to take on painting a still life of my leather boots, but I decided to use only two colors + white. I chose the complimentary colors of purple and yellow. In the end, I was pleased with the results. My background ended up having the look of velvet, which was not my intention, but I...

"Agave Grande" 8 x 10 oil on linen panel $280  www.kaiathomas.com  I decided to set up and do some plein air painting in our front yard. Over the years our cactus garden has really taken off and I am seeing paintings everywhere now! I was really happy with how this one turned out.

April 13th, 2013 Taken during my show at 55 Main Gallery in Bisbee, AZ pictured here are gallery owner Cristina Plascencia (left) and myself with the artwork.   I was having one of those insightful moments a few days ago and it lead me to the thought "I should write a post about that!" So here goes...   It came to my attention that I have had this blog for nearly four years now. Of course, there were periods of time where I seemed to endlessly fail to find the time to write a post but I did my best to write when I could and share some important aspects of my journey and artworks I created.   I had pondered in the beginning what to call my blog - I wanted it to be fun and interesting and of course pertain to what I was going to share - thus the play on words  A Path with "Art" was born. It wasn't until recently that this blog name took on a much more profound meaning for me.  At the beginning of October 2012, at a very low point in my lif...

 About three months back, I started painting miniature sunsets in oils. I was doing it as a sort of discipline and exercise at the time but found that it became a passion for me, painting these tiny, concentrated, desert skies. After some time of doing these miniatures, I had the urge to go BIG! I wanted to see how the larger versions would look and would I be able to capture the same potency.  "Brilliance"  24" x 30" oil on canvas Available Here! The first of the larger versions is seen above. I was very happy with how it turned out and thus began my new passion - painting large sunsets! "San Pedro Sunset" 24" x 30" oil on canvas Available Here! "Sky Symphony" 20" x 16" oil on canvas Available Here!

"Brilliance" 2.5" x 3.5"  oil on archival primed card stock Contact 55 Main Gallery Another miniature sunset added to the series!    

So I finally found some time to dust off the plein air equipment and get out to paint! It's actually been so long that I am embarrassed to say. The kick in the butt is my upcoming workshop with Chris Morel and not wanting to show up to paint too rusty. As usual, it was an adventure...it was a pleasant, first cool day in 3 months and all seemed to be going well...We went to a favorite spot of mine that I've known about for many years and it's just loaded with magical beauty. Unfortunately it's also a favorite spot shooters...I was about an hour and half into my painting when the gun shots started. The shots would make me jump and added some unwanted brush strokes to my painting. I tried to endure but soon became very uneasy about ricochet bullets. So I had to put an end to the painting... We went to another area away from the flying bullets but by then the day was nearly spent... So I spent the rest of my time taking photos of the beauty... All in ...

So much has happened since the last time I posted a blog. Life just got too busy for cyberspace:) Many adventures to tell! I will try to play catch-up here and start with what happened in September... I attended the annual Bisbee Plein Air Competition the second weekend of September. This was my second year with a whole lot of learning under my belt since my first attempt. I had only been doing plein air painting for about a month when I participated last year. Needless to say I felt awkward and my paintings didn't go so well.  This year, however, was a very different story. First off, I had some confidence in what I was doing - helps for sure. Second, I had a very good painting session - you never know! Sometimes it just doesn't click but this was a definite YES! At the final festivities there is a silent auction with a chance to sell your work and a reward ceremony (first place $500). I was in total shock when both the paintings I entered sold in auction! Really! This was...