Sites to see: NM-based artists showcase sweeping landscapes, portraits at Weems Gallery show

Landscape artists from the Pastel Society of New Mexico want viewers to experience the staggering sites they see in their state.

The show of award-winning pastels at Weems Gallery brings 90 pieces ranging from landscapes to portraits and still lifes by 50 artists, most of whom are from New Mexico. Sweeping skies and dappled clouds abound, along with tranquil still lifes and pensive portraits.

Mayor Tim Keller and Michelle Lanteri, head curator at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum, served as show judges.

Linda Boatwright created the glowing, cloud-streaked Santa Fe sky in “Dancing Clouds” from her own photograph.

“I think the vivid colors have such a glow to them,” the Santa Fe artist said. “I tend to do an underpainting of a deep blue, purplish color, then I go lighter and lighter. It gives it a richness and it balances the medium.”

An aunt introduced Boatwright to pastels when she was a teenager.

“From birth, I always wanted to be an artist,” she said.

A former metalsmith, she moved from Atlanta to Silver City, then Los Lunas, then Santa Fe two years ago. She loves the immediacy of the color in pastels.

“You don’t have to sit there and mix it,” Boatwright said. “You have the ability to put on different layers very quickly if you want to. You don’t have to worry about the paint drying.”

Sites to see: NM-based artists showcase sweeping landscapes, portraits at Weems Gallery show

She says most New Mexicans take the landscape for granted.

“I like to show it off,” she said. “It’s just an amazing state.”

Placitas artist John DeSpain captured the rugged beauty of the Taos Gorge on a recent visit, photographing it from the Taos Gorge Bridge before committing it to paper.

A retired marketing executive who was born in Montana, DeSpain had never worked in pastel before moving to New Mexico 2½ years ago from Joshua Tree, California. He lived in a 500-square-foot home after leaving Los Angeles. He moved after the heat shot up to a scorching 117 degrees for two weeks.

“We sold everything and put all our belongings in a 5-by-7-foot storage unit,” DeSpain said.

He and his wife traveled for three months through Utah, Arizona and Colorado before discovering Placitas. He began his art career by attending workshops by the Pastel Society of New Mexico.

“I’d never done pastels before, but I thought, ‘This is a way to get color right away.’”

DeSpain also shows his work in Gallery with a Cause at the New Mexico Cancer Center.

“The scenery here is incredible everywhere you look,” he said. “Every day, it’s different. I love to capture that. When you start painting something, you hone in on the details. I like to show that to people.”

Albuquerque artist Marilyn Drake prefers figurative work. She leads a drawing class at the artist’s studio in the Hoffmantown Shopping Center. Her piece “Just Chillin’” emerged from there.

“That was done from life with one of the models we use,” she said. “I added the background; it’s Casa Rondeña” in Los Ranchos. “It’s on sanded paper. I just find it really fascinating to get a likeness of somebody.”

Drake studied fashion illustration in New York before moving into graphic design. She moved here in 1994.

“When I moved here, it had been so long since I had worked with oils,” she said. She began experimenting with pastels until she had amassed a collection.

“They’re the same pigment that oils are,” she said. “It’s very tactile. It’s great to be able to draw while you’re painting.”

The exhibit runs through Nov. 25, with Weems donating a portion of sales from the show to the Pastel Society.