Kaia Thomas - A path with ART

"Blackstone Sunflowers" 10" x 8" oil on canvas panel Contact me for pricing and availability During a recent trip to one of my favorite places on Earth - The Blackstone Hotsprings Hotel , I was struck by grounds keeper Dorthy's amazing sunflowers that were growing there. Having brought my painting gear along, I set up and produced this plein air piece. I am always deeply inspired whenever I stay there!

Sometimes I find I take for granted places I see day after day, like my driveway, and skip over potential paintings because of this. So...I set up my easel in the driveway, and in no time at all, was inspired to paint. My focus landed on the shadows cast by the Salt Pine tree.  "Driveway Shadows" 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel 

"Afternoon At The Amerind"                             6" x 8" oil on canvas panel Contact me for pricing and availability My friend Clement Scott and I had a recent plein air adventure near the Amerind Foundation in Dragoon, Arizona.    It is an area full of history, and about a million paintings waiting to happen! We had a blast, and this painting is the result of that day.   If ever in this neck of the woods, a visit to the Amerind Foundation is a definite must! Well worth it.

"Northern Arizona Hillside" 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel Up for auction! Sold! Yet another in a series of small paintings of Northern Arizona and Southern Utah.  I don't think I am ever going to tire of the beautiful colors and contrast of this area. This scene is from the Navajo Reservation just before sundown.                          (Underpainting)

"Alluring Hillside" 6" x 8" oil on canvas panel up for auction! Staring bid $35! Click Here to see auction.

"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.

"Playground of The Ancients" 24" x 30" oil on stretched linen up for auction! Click Here to see auction. This is one of my favorite places to hike and paint, which is just a few miles from where I live in southeastern Arizona. I painted a 9" x 12" study on location, and later in the studio,  painted this larger version. This painting is up for auction on DailyPaintworks . Painting on location

"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

"Grazing Trio"  6 x 12  oil on canvas panel  $100 Up for auction with a buy it now option! Click Here to see auction. Well, Happy New Year everyone! A little late, I know. I hope it's off to a rip roarin' start for all. I recently became obsessed with painting horses! Yep, and I couldn't have picked a more difficult subject to paint, I might add.  It seems it takes a very tiny flick of the brush, to go from horse to dog. It's magic really...a very frustrating magic!  Anyway, I'm having fun with it anyway. I have collected a great deal of horse reference photos over the years from my outings, and in the case of the painting above, from right here in my home town. They are a very beautiful and majestic creature, and fascinating to paint. I also recently discovered that at the end of this month is the Chinese New Year, and lo and behold, it's the year of the horse! How fitting. Perhaps explains my new obsession. For those interested, this...

 North View with Agave" 8" x 10"  Oil On Stretched Canvas $160   Click Here for details!   I painted this for a facebook challenge put on by a friend just for fun. The challenge was called "Looking out my front door", the only rule being the painting had to be within 50ft of the front door. I painted this view about 5ft from my front door. Plein air magazine actually got wind of what he was doing and did a blog post about it. 

From now until December 16th, you can get 20% off any artwork in my Etsy shop.  Just use the coupon code HOLIDAY13 during checkout.  Here are few of the available paintings you will find for sale! Please visit my Etsy shop and take advantage of this opportunity. Sale ends soon! Click Here to enter the shop.

 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!

"Garden Delights" 10" x 10" framed oil on linen  Available through 55 Main Gallery ! " Garden Delights " was inspired from a particularly beautiful summer garden we had here in Arizona. The sunflowers were in full force and in turn attracted many varieties of butterflies including the Monarch Butterfly, which is what I chose to paint here atop a vibrant and prolific type sunflower named the Mexican Sunflower. These are two of my favorite things in the natural world and of course means a real joy to paint!

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

" Playground of the Ancients" 24" x 30" o/c     My latest project has been painting a rock landscape series. This painting is the first in the series. This series is being done from field studies and photo reference taken over the last few years. This place is one of my all time favorite spots to hike and hang out in. It is part of the Chiricahua mountain range located here in Southeastern Arizona and only a short distance from where I live. I have been visiting this magical spot for over two decades (okay, that just made me feel old - lol).  Here are some photos I took during the painting's progression - enjoy!  Underpainting....  Adding darkest darks and lightest lights...  See the small original field study?...  Boulders are nearly complete... The pose...lol...

Free Rangin' 20" x 16" oil on canvas framed $650.00   Available Here! This was such a fun painting to do and definitely a different choice of subject for me. Never thought I would be painting cows but this particular circumstance came from a great photo shoot that landed me some wonderful reference photos to work from. I really loved the playfulness of this cow and worked to express that part. This painting is available in my Etsy shop . It is framed with a rustic style, handmade, mesquite frame that suits the mood of the painting well. Here are some evolution shots for those who enjoy watching a painting in progress...

"San Pedro in Bloom" 18" x 24" acrylic on canvas board custom made Redwood frame $395 + Shipping click here

I am happy to say that my Etsy shop now has greeting cards! This one would make a wonderful Mothers Day card... "Tulip and Bubbles" digital painting 2009 5 x 7 blank greeting card w/envelope $5.00 + shipping  click here This one would be great for a western fan...or a Ghost Riders fan! "Ghost Riders in the Sky" oil on canvas 2008 5 x 7 blank greeting card w/envelope $5.00 + shipping    click here                       

Finally completed "Earth Song", a carved and painted gourd done in the style of Pueblo pottery. This piece turned out better than I anticipated and I'm so excited! I took photos of the process so I will share with you here how I did it. After cleaning the gourd and cutting the top off to create the look of pottery, I drew in the design... Once I was satisfied with the drawing, I had to determine which parts I wanted to carve out.  Once this was decided it took me two days to complete the carving (not all day - 2 hours each day). I probably spent at this point 2 or 3 days trying to visualize a color scheme. I loved how it was coming along and I didn't want to mess it up with the wrong colors. I finally chose earth tones and painted on the first color... This was exciting - it was really starting to manifest a personality now...I was going to leave it basically with the natural gourd colors and others that saw it at this stage agreed but then ...