"Looking for Ring 5"

"Looking for Ring 5" New painting I just completed in my studio. It is 9 x 12 on canvas board. I did most of this with a palate knife, using the palate I just worked with at my recent workshop in Napa Valley. I also used photos for references that I had taken in Pomona at some recent dog shows. The people and dogs changed from the ones in the photos. Artistic license.....The Afghan Hound and the cavalier in the ladies arms with the pink dress, spot each other as they are going in different directions. Each stop to take a stare as their handlers keep on walking.

The reason I named this "Looking for Ring 5" is when my friend Abbe and I went to deliver one of our Afghan Hounds to a handler, we found ourselves very lost. The last time either of us had been to these set of shows and these grounds was about 4 years ago. They have moved them indoors in a very nice convention center type building with air conditioning and carpeting. The vendors are set up on the sidewalk outdoors and I loved the beautiful scene.

An added improvement from the old days when we showed outside under these hot tin roof canopies with some shade cloths thrown in here and there. The pavement was the flooring, and very difficult to run on. We always hated the grounds and the last time we were there it was so hot that we decided we would never go again. I guess you should always ask if the grounds have changed. When we arrived and as the superintendent where the Afghans were showing, I also asked them when they moved inside, they said about 3 years ago! We laughed and walked on.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART. Notecards and giclee prints of this little jewel will soon be available. Terry

Please share my blog with your friends and family. If you enjoy this blog, please subscribe so you too can get updates on my artwork.

Napa Valley Plein Air Workshop 2009

"Rutherford Winery Garden" http://www.rutherfordgrove.com/


Last week I spent the week in Napa Valley at a workshop with my all time favorite instructor of plein air Susan Sarback. I was drawn to Susan's technique of using the palate knife to get beautiful light and color in her paintings when looking for someone to teach me to paint en plein air. She had studied under Henry Hensche The Henry Hensche Foundation who was highly influenced by Charles Hawthorne. Any artist who has studied under Henry Hensche has always grabbed my attention so I felt this must be what I am attracted to and the way I wanted to go with my painting. Five years ago I attended 2 workshops with Susan in Laguna Beach, Ca. One of the workshops was Plein Air and the other was a color study at the studio of Ken Auster. Since then I have taken several workshops and classes with noted plein air artists to continue growing in this wonderful way of painting.



Before this most recent workshop I felt I had grown a lot in my painting skills and technique and decided to go back to Susan for a refresher course. It took just one demo of her fabulous way of painting and I knew I had made the right decision. The first painting on the upper left of this blog was my first painting of the workshop and just by listening and watching her that morning, I felt so much more secure in what I was doing and the little tid bits that I was missing were now making more and more sense.


On Sat. June 13, Louise Smith and I started out driving to Monterey to meet my son Matthew. We had lunch and I gave him his birthday present (a painting that is in a previous blog). After a very nice lunch we were on our way to Windsor to meet up with Ada M. Passaro and Luz Perez. Luz was gracious enough to invite us to stay at her time share condo. On Sunday we took a tour of Napa Valley to find our first painting location which was Rutherford. The group, Ada, Louise and Luz, I am sitting in the front. This is the view from Beringer Winery Beringer Vineyards Winery, Napa Valley and at the time we did not know this would be one of our painting locations. We had hoped it would be after seeing the beautiful grounds and tasting the wonderful wine. My favorite wine was the 2007 Chardonnay which I was told I could only buy there. It is considered their in house wine. So I bought 4 bottles to bring home. On Tuesday we arrived at Berringer for the second day of our workshop. We were restricted to an area in the back of the property but there were plenty of places to paint with beautiful views, just not the front where we had been the day before.
"Beringer Morning Light"


This was my first painting in the morning and I was not happy with the turn out, but learned by my mistakes I felt I had made. You always have to get an ugly painting out of the way..... During lunch we decided to go to the winery for some wine tasting. This always makes for a better afternoon of painting. :-) And it worked. The painting below is my afternoon painting.

"Beringer"


On the third day we were treated to a winery which had distant views of the valley and the vineyards. "Diamond Oaks Winery" Diamond Oaks Winery In the morning we had another demo by our instructor Susan Sarback founder of the school "Color and Light" in Sacramento, Ca. Susan Sarback





"Susan Sarback"



After a wonderful lunch and wine tasting with friends we had met from the workshop, I decided to paint the following view. The florals in the foreground were beautiful at this time of day and the distant mountains showing atmosphere drew me to this location.


"View at Diamond Oaks"

On the way home from the winery and painting we stopped at the Castello di Amorosa winery. This beautiful castle was breathtaking. You cannot see it from the main road and you literally drive straight up the driveway to the top of the mountain. http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/ Luz asked to see if it would be possible for us to come back and paint on Friday and they said yes. We were very excited and could not wait.

The last day of the workshop was off of the Silverado Trail. Pine Ridge Winery Welcome to Pine Ridge Winery - Napa Valley We had a chance to paint in the morning, have another nice lunch and meet for wine tasting.


"Pine Ridge Morning View"

After wine tasting I had time to complete a small 6 x 8, a row of grapevines before our afternoon critique session with Susan.

"Shadows"

Susan asked us to line up some paintings that we had done during the week and she went through the group and made remarks about the paintings. Her remarks about my paintings made me feel very good and that I had accomplished what I had come to do.


On Friday we were back and on our own. No Susan to work out the difficulties, just to see what we had learned. My first painting was a view from the castle looking down into Napa Valley. I really loved the little prayer cottage and how the beautiful light this time of day was making it just glisten in the middle of the grapevines. The florals in the foreground I felt just made the painting.

"The Cottage"

It began to get very hot after I finished this painting. I think this was the hottest day of the week and on top of this mountain it seemed unbearable. We had seen the views from the bottom of the mountain and so we went down to the bottom to paint our late afternoon paintings. This was about 4 pm. I had this painting in mind, I think from the very first day. I was so glad to get the chance to paint the view.

"Grapevines Up the Hill" 6 x 12 on canvas board

I enjoyed the freedom of being able to pick my place to paint and to paint what I was attracted to. I think that was the hardest part of the workshop. I know there are painting scenes everywhere, but there are certain scenes that I am attracted to. I hope you enjoy the paintings. All of these paintings are available to the first person who contacts me, they are all 9 x 12 on canvas board unless otherwise noted. Note cards and giclee prints are also available. Please contact me for information and be sure to share my blog with your family and friends. Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

On a final note, this was the way to the bathroom at the Rutherford Vineyard. Even the way to the potties are beautiful in Napa Valley......

Update from emails:

Hi Terry, Glad to see that you're back safely. It sounds like the Napa experience was a wonderful one and I love your paintings...you are a remarkable woman and watching your work develop has been fascinating. Thanks for sharing all that you do. Lynda Snyder

"Beautiful Terry! You are sooooo talented" Karen Irazabal

Jeff Simpson writes: "Wow. That's it. Just wow."

Carol B. Wright writes: "wow! nice"

Lovely to read all about what you did in Napa Valley. Lovely paintings. I don't agree about the"ugly" painting you had to get out of the way. It is beautiful.
Geeta Pattanaik

Update: Lolita is complete

"LOLITA"

From a fabulous photo taken of "Lolita" the afghan hound, at the AHCA Nationals in Sacramento by Marco Sagona of Italy, to a vision by artist Terry d. Chacon, sculpted in plasticine and now complete in lost wax bronze. This is #1/20. It is 15 inches in height which includes the marble base. The patina is rich in colors of black and chestnut with beautiful bronze highlights. The photos do not do this piece justice. "Lolita" will make her first appearance at the Afghan Hound Club of America Nationals Sept. 14, 2009 in Lancaster, PA. Hope to see you there.

Congratulations to new owner: Abbe R. Shaw of Santa Barbara, Ca. Please contact me to order your "Lolita" The edition is at #9. shacone@aol.com You are welcome to share this information with friends and family.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART. Terry d. Chacon

Foundation Events

Community Foundation Event (Sunday May 31, 2009)





"Paulden's Lady in Purple"


Community Foundation Event


The Plein Air Artists of Riverside were asked to be part of the foundation event. We arrived around 3 pm to find a place and set up to paint before the people started to arrive. I chose to set up at the back of the property near a fabulous yellow metal sculpture that our host Paulden Evans had created. I loved the sculpture, as well as, all of Paulden's work that is throughout his garden. The surrounding foliage, including the beautiful Jacaranda tree in the far upward distance was a sight to behold. After setting up and blocking in most of the painting I realized I did not want to paint Paulden's sculpture in yellow and wanted to change it to fit my painting. Paulden came by and I asked his permission, he said absolutely. Before I left the event he came by to see the result and was very pleased. The following photos of the event were taken by Sharon Vandermeiden. Thanks for sharing Sharon.




Terry and Mark Schooley. Mark served delicious wine from Vintage Vaults. Mark is the head of the Riverside Community Art Association. PAAR will be having their annual event there starting June 11, 2009 through July 18. The reception is July 2, 2009, I expect to see everyone there.Greg Adamson put on quite a show with his larger than life 12 minute paintings to music. This was the big hit of the event. If you ever get a chance to see Greg be sure to check him out, he is fabulous.





The above photos are with Katherine Lundgren and Helen Bell. Both PAAR artists who enjoyed painting at the event.





Evergreen Community Foundation (June 6, 2009) (photos by Michael J. Mazgai, thanks for sharing Mike)

Over 200 people attended this very special event at the Evergreen Cemetery in Riverside, Ca. Here is a link to their website to read more about this wonderful foundation that is restoring this very old cemetery.

Friends of Evergreen Cemetery

Ada Passaro, PAAR's locations chair was in charge of getting the artist who attended and participated in the event. You could display art, paint or do both. I was going to paint, but the day was quite windy and cold, so decided just to display a few items. My husband Eddie came along and helped. Boy is it a lot easier when he unloads and loads up the car. Gives me more time to partake in the wine and chat with friends.........




Well I know everyone will be sad to hear this, but I will be gone for the next week. I am taking a plein air workshop with one of my most favorite contemporary artists Susan Sarback in Napa. I know it is tough to have to do this, but someone has to!!!!! I will have plenty to share with you upon my return. So until next time, ENJOY THE ART. Terry d. Chacon

"Mija" turns 1 year old this month!

Here are some photos I took of Mija yesterday. Mija is turning 1 year on June 18. She was running and playing in the dog yard. The Jacaranda is in full bloom and the lovely flowers are all over the grass. Makes for a beautiful scenes with one heck of a beautiful puppy. OK, I am prejudice! Enjoy the photos. Terry

Mija at 4 months, just in case you forgot what she looked like. She is also on the homepage of the blog with her siblings at 4 weeks. She is a black and white domino Afghan Hound.

Mija standing in the Jacaranda blossoms. I think she must have some Pointer in her, she seems to always lift one of her front legs in her photos. Have several like this.


Mija running around like a crazy woman!


Mija taking a break! Dog tired! Sitting on this hill is darn right uncomfortable!


She got really tired of me taking photos and ran back inside through her doggie door and peaked her head out to see if I was still there. Thanks for indulging me and looking at Mija. Later I will be posting a new painting I had the pleasure of painting at the Community Foundation Event last Sunday. Until then, Enjoy Mija. Terry d. Chacon

PS: My website sale is still on. Please contact me for more info. Sale ends June 10, 2009!

press on the title to this post and it will take you directly to my website. Contact me for details:

shacone@aol.com

Comments:
What a lovely blog link Terry. Mija is lovely, like an artist's palate. Makes you feel like having some wine, cheese on a blanket in the sunshine!
Thanks for keeping us updated with your endless talent!

Sheila (Florida)

Hi Terry,

She looks SUPER! I love her!
Reminds me of a mixture of things, all very lovely:)
How are you?

When will you hit Facebook with your paintings and art?

Liv (Norway)