My blog has moved to Substack, where I’m continuing to share essays and reflections on painting, landscape, and the creative life. It’s called on the camino of creativity, and I’d love to welcome you there. You can read my posts online or subscribe to receive new ones...
musings from the studio and beyond ~
dawn chandler’s reflections on art and life. . . .
Dawn Chandler
getting comfortable with discomfort ~ in the studio and beyond
Oh… how long I’ve been meaning to write here. It’s been a strange and unusual year — Hmmm…. maybe we all can say that? Yet for me it’s been a year of unusual uncertainty, especially in my studio. That’s wholly unfamiliar terrain for me. Which is what made it so damn...
“this is the camino; miracles happen all the time.”
“This is the Camino. Miracles happen all the time.”* I smiled to myself when I watched and heard him say this. I smiled because I know his statement to be true. And when someone in our audience asked for a show of hands of who among us has walked the Camino, with my...
my annual late summer ritual
I have a ritual that I perform every August 26. It began four years ago on the day I had to put down my sweet old dog Wilson. Earlier that week I had the staggering realization that the time had come for her life to end. On the 25th I called our vet in Taos and,...
the very large triptych, part 9 ~ reflection
"How long did that take you?" is a question I'm asked often about my paintings, though rarely by other painters. That's because they understand that the creation of a painting involves far more than simply applying paint to canvas. And maybe that's the key point I've...
the very large triptych, part 8 ~ delivery & installation
All along as I painted the Very Large Triptych I had three concerns:1) Was the Very Large Triptych really going to fit on the wall where it was intended? TAC and I had triple-measured the wall, and throughout the creation I had checked my notes multiples times. Yet on...
the very large triptych, part 7 ~ the big reveal
Let's step back for a moment. Recall the study paintings; I never revealed which one RAS chose. In the photo below, the studies are numbered and were painted in chronological order:1 - late April sunset over the Jemez2 - mid May sunset over the Jemez3 - late June...
the very large triptych, part 6 ~ new studio & first strokes
The most dreaded phase of this whole Very Large Triptych project involved zero skill or creativity. It required planning, patience, hefting and heaving. That dreaded phase? Swapping my living room with my studio. Why bother? I needed to be able to step away from the...
the very large triptych, part 5 ~ painting the studies
I need to go! I apologized to my hosts. The sky is going to be incredible — I HAVE to photograph it! That was Sunday, July 2nd, and I couldn't believe I was bowing out early from a fun party filled with old friends I'd not seen in a long time. But the sky was calling!...
the very large triptych, part 4 ~ experiencing the sky
I was worried about clouds: I needed clouds to pull off the Very Large Triptych. But clouds were no guarantee. Just the year before, the only clouds over New Mexico from April to June were smoke clouds. And the year before that, our traditional summer rains never...