Day two & three - PAPNM paint out

Old Church in Hondo 

On day two, we painted at a beautiful Iris Farm in Hondo.  I did do a painting, but I ended rubbing it out, as it was much to busy and confusing.  During the middle of the day a big thunder storm threatened to spoil the day, but soon it was gone, and we decided to paint the old church next to the farm.  

Painting the church in Hondo

Day Three

On day three we woke up with smoke in the air, in fact it was so thick we decided not to go out to paint, so we spent the morning painting from our balcony.  The time share where we were staying was on top of a hill overlooking the town, so we had a birds eye view of the distant hills.  

                                                          Morning balcony vista.

                                 Another balcony vista, from Inn of the Mountain God's hotel.
The smoke was a little less over at on of the big casino's called Inn of the Mountain God's.  Our friend Karen Halbert was staying there, so Nita and I went over there, and painted from the balcony of the hotel.  the view of the distant mountains was beautiful with the lake in the foreground.  The wind was also quite strong, which was the problem for the fires.          

                                Karen and Nita, with my painting in the front.  A fun afternoon despite the smoke and wind.  The winds and smoke continued to be a problem most of the remaining days of the paint out, but this day was the worse.  More next time for....