A visit with Gwen Fox in Taos

Gwen Fox is an extraordinary woman whose abstract paintings glow with inner light and compelling composition. I first fell in love with her work about ten years ago in a gallery in Colorado Springs and knew I had to meet her. So I signed up several years later for Gwen’s week-long painting workshop in Taos and loved every moment. Here’s a post from that 2012 workshop.

Gwen and I and have kept in touch since then, sharing ideas and conversations online. Yesterday, while I was in Taos, NM for the day, I got to visit her in person again.

Lyn and Gwen Fox in her Taos studio in front of a current painting that Gwen has done in oils on canvas.

I was so excited to see the new studio that she built herself – it’s completely inspiring and spiritually satisfying – a perfect space in a perfect place. It’s adjacent to her adobe house.

Everything on the inside and the outside has its place.

The view from her serene bedroom window is as layered as her paintings.

The bathroom sink in the studio is made from a rectangular piece of agate that glows with a translucent abstract landscape when you’re there and, er, sitting down.

And against the walls, Gwen’s painting glow with a resonant energy —

She has a video setup in her studio that I covet.

And here is the most exciting news that I learned from Gwen – she is filming and producing an extensive online class about painting and creativity that sounds amazing.It should be ready this fall and it is the first time her techniques and teaching/coaching expertise will be available online.

Be sure and get on her mailing list to hear more about it and gt updates – I honestly can’t wait for it.

I could go on and on about how much Gwen has influenced my work and my outlook, but I’ll let the video of her home and studio, below, reflect her amazing spirit.

Look for all the little touches she pulls together like grace notes in this home and studio space – like an antique Chinese chest in the pantry because she wants to look at something beautiful when she’s in the kitchen.

Lyn Belisle visits Gwen Fox in her Taos home and studio from Lyn Belisle on Vimeo.

I’m headed back to Texas tomorrow but I always feel inspired when I spend time with Gwen. Do subscribe to her list and follow her wise advice for every artist.

There’s something else that inspired me while I was here – fly fishing! I‘ll tell you about that in an upcoming post. It was a total surprise.

Copying Gwen Fox with unpredictable results

Gloria Hill and I have been painting together on Wednesdays at the Studio for a year and a half, and we always like to find inspiration from interesting sources. Today I said, “Let’s try to paint like Gwen and see what happens.” Gwen Fox is our beloved Taos-based painting teacher – she’s awesome. So I picked out one of her abstracts for us to copy, and off we went. Here’s the painting that we were attempting to forge (all in the spirit of artful emulation, of course). Scroll down for our results.

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We got as far as the layout and background before we realized that copying wasn’t working for us. So Gloria went her way and I went mine – how can two artists who start with exactly the same idea and example end up with such different results?? Take a look (and rest easy, dear Gwen – you are an original, and while we have learned so much from you, we won’t be competition for your glowing abstract style!) Here’s Gloria’s:

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And here’s mine – not only do they look like they came from two different artists, they look like they came from two different planets! Go figure –  but it was fun and very insight-full.

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